Plates of meat

pauldavid

Hi all,

Looking for a little advice.

Only been using spd's for a short while and having something of a problem.

Everything feels fine upto around an hour of riding, but after this I suffer pain down the outside edge of both feet from just behind the toes pretty much all the way to the heel area.

I am using Bontrager shoes with E-soles footbed things and have played around with the arch support and strap tightness but to no avail.

Any help gratefully received.

Wirral_paul

Your feet may be swelling after an hour - have you tried backing the straps off at this point?? I do wonder if the shoes are too narrow for you mind

neeb

No idea what this is or what specifically causes it, but I've had it too in the past. Feels sort of half way in between muscle fatigue and a cramp? For some reason it's something I associate with new shoes - for me it has always eventually gone away. Definitely try loosening the straps though, seem to remember that helped when I had it.

pauldavid

Thanks for your replies, I have played around with the straps but maybe I'm not knocking them off enough.

I don't think it can be anything too serious as it goes once I am home and take the shoes off.

You are right it is like a mild cramp but is very annoying whilst it is happening.

Oh well, looks like persevere and see what happens. :roll:

rozzer32

Sounds similar to a problem I had. My right foot would sometimes get sore and even if I loosened the straps of my shoes it wouldn't really help. Off the bike it was fine though. Went for a bikefit at cadence sport and had to have wedges put under my cleats. Never ever had the pain again and the knee pain went too. And I now use fixed cleats too.

neeb

Actually now I think about it I have angled wedges under my cleats too and can't remember having this problem since I got them. The wedges basically put the inside of the foot fractionally higher than the outer edge, it would make sense if it was related to this issue.

Duffer65

I'm not sure what type of shoe you wear but I had this problem when I used SPD cleats and MTB style shoes (Bontrager Race Mountain) with the recess for the cleat. After awhile the pressure from the pedal/cleat pushing into the soft recessed part of the sole and into my foot would cause a cramping type of pain. I switched to SPD-SL cleats with hard sold road shoes and I rarely get any soreness in my feet.

pauldavid

Hi guys,

Thanks for the info referring to cleat wedges, I have done a bit of rooting around on the net for information on how and what they help and I've got to say that on the face of it they seem to answer most questions about why the pain is happening.

Can any of you recommend the most cost effective place to get hold of some please??

neeb

pauldavid wrote:

Hi guys,

Thanks for the info referring to cleat wedges, I have done a bit of rooting around on the net for information on how and what they help and I've got to say that on the face of it they seem to answer most questions about why the pain is happening.

Can any of you recommend the most cost effective place to get hold of some please??

What cleat system are you using? I use the BFS wedges on speedplay 4-hole cleats, but I think you also get them for standard 3-hole cleats.

You can buy them online here:

http://www.bikefittingtools.com/index.php?page=wedges-and-screws
http://www.bikefittingtools.com/index.php?page=bfs-wedges-1-x-pack-8

Don't know if it's a good price or not but they are otherwise not so easy to get hold of.

The best thing obviously would be to get them fitted professionally (e.g. at cyclefit), but otherwise you need to decide how many to use. I was originally fitted with 2 under each cleat but now use 3 under each cleat, which seems (for me) to be even better. I got them to help with a knee problem but they seem to make the shoe / pedal interface feel more natural.

gmacz

More float on the pedal is the way I stop this.
New cleats and pedals and foot gets held in wrong position when cycling, this leads to pain.
My foot is fine at the bottom, but as it goes to the top of the stroke it naturally splays out and if stopped from doing this, it leads to a strain. Have a look when pedaling your bike.
This might not be a problem that you suffer from.

thescouselander

I sometimes get this while snowboarding - this is usually a result of having my boots too tight. I suspect you might have the same problem here.