Clipless pedals and sore ankle.

taksdd

Hi,

I've been a casual road rider for a while now and I finally decided to go clipless.. I went for road style shoes with SPD's

(Specialized BG RBX Sports) with M520 SPD pedals. I wanted to have double sided pedals with easy clip-in clip out.

Unfortunately after first ride my ankles are quite sore (red part)


Few issues that I spotted.

1. I am quite duck feeted.. so I set my cleats to compensate for that but I feel that I don't get enough "Q" factor. I.e. my feet are way to close to crank compared to how they were on flat pedals.

2. Next.. my feet are quite wide -> I couldn't find shoes that would be comfortable (all of them were pressing on my foot ball so I went for a slightly bigger size. The shoes feel superb on the sides.. but there is like 1,5cm gap between my big toe and end of the shoe. I am slightly concern that I cant press the pedal with the right part of my foot. I tried to compensate with putting the cleat on the right bottom

3. I feel that the shoe with cleats.. doesn't give my feet enough support. Like before I would press firmly using more than just ball of my feet where is now I feel like im pressing using ball of feet and part slightly above it.

4. Because the shoes are sligtly bigger I pulled the velcro straps really tight. Not sure whether that is good for the feet as well..


I really like clipless pedals but I started to question whether my body is ready for them. (duck feet, high arch, unfit)

cycleclinic

Road pedals with a long axle. The give better support and will move your foot out. Cleat placement may need looking at. Your feet should be in line with your leg and your legs should go up and down in straight lines.

Shoes that are too big and straps pulled tight means you will get sore feet. Buy new shoes.

term1te

Loosen the Velcro straps? Cycling shoes don't need to be so tight they cut off the blood to your toes. They may feel too loose if you are pulling up the pedals, but this isn't generally the most effective way to pedal anyway. I've got some shoes with a ratchet type closure. On warm days my feet tend to expand slightly during the ride and if I've done the ratchet up too tight my feet hurt in a similar place that you've coloured in so nicely. I just undo the ratchet a few clicks and its normally fine. Good luck, sore feet can ruin a ride.

fat daddy

yeah, loosen them shoes of !

my laces on the shoe are loose enough that I can get my shoe on and off without undoing the laces, then the velco strap just gets put on with enough tension to stop my heel lifting when I walk

when pedalling if you lift with your foot you tend to do so from the ball of the foot, so again the shoes dont need to be that tight

fenix

Does the soreness correspond with where your straps are ? Looks like it might.

If the shoes are too big you could try a footbed in them to take some volume out of the shoe.

You don't need shoes to be tight unless you're a track sprinter really. You shouldn't be putting that much effort into pedalling that you can pull your foot out of the hole. I use elastic laces on some of my shoes and they seem just as good as the rigid fastenings.

taksdd

I will try with loosing the straps - as you are right I may be putting them too tight! Also I was doing a lot of strong pulling motions... not the greatest idea I think.

I am slightly worried that my shoes might be slightly too long. But will try couple of things before looking for new shoes. My best idea would be to find some sort of heel cushion that could push my leg slightly further into the shoe.

May I ask how in general cycling shoes should feel?

How big the gap between biggest toe and end of shoe should be?

Should I be able to lift me toes up (i.e. shold there be space above toes or should the cage touch toes?

should the hill gently move up when I try to *stand on toes* while wearing the shoes?

Should I be able to slide (move) my feet a little bit within the shoe when the straps are not done?

I had this problem where 42 would feel a bit tight (but maybe because I always wear really oversized shoes)

and 43 would feel comfortable but there would be some space around toes (and toes only).



I tried some Sidi shoes and they feel nice (like in 42 the gap between my toes and shoe is really small) but the top of cage is pressing on top of my shoes a tiny bit (liek I can feel it). And I am afraid that after 30 mins of cycling I will get scratches/blisters...

I just cant seem to find this sweetspot.

Thank you all for your help

drlodge

I used to have my shoes quite tight, now I have them looser. If the shoes fit well they don't need to be tight at all (unless your'e racing).