Cycling Foot Pain

Gear
21

I am somewhat fascinated by bike fitting, I have watched and read loads on the subject but as soon as I went to actually see someone the problems started to be solved, nothing beats a detached, experienced eye.

I do wonder about cleat wedges, but now that I have discovered a fix I am loathe to experiment further.

Interestingly not all Lake shoes are on the same last, it’s only certain models that work for me.

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22

am about to use my basso road bike instead of my cervelo TT bike for an LD event, reversing a trend of many years.

i will lower the saddle a couple of mm just to soften the position and take the pressure off…

I wear Mavic shoes with some wedges built into the insole and between the cleats and shoes…but my biomx are so shot, i am not sure this is anything but a part fix.

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23

And me.

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24

Well the adaptors have arrived and, after a small amount of head scratching, have been fitted … fiddly but straightforward enough once I worked out what I needed to do.

It might be that Speedplay are more awkward to fit but also, the base plates I had on my shoes didn’t have the 4 separate nuts which are required as part of fitting the mid foot cleats, as they were embedded in the plastic plate.
Luckily, I had an old pair of plates which had the separate nuts … ever since Speedplay bits for the V2 cleat became hard to get hold of, I’ve not thrown anything away, even after getting hold of some Chinese knock-offs.

EDIT to add a bit of detail - you can’t see what type of plates you have until you take them off, which is a pain with Speedplay if the screws have worn through the phillips head (I often have to cut a groove to unscrew them). However, if you have cleats that are uniformly charcoal, I think the nut will be embedded, if you have plates with the blue attachments for different shoes, then the nuts should be removable.

Anyway, will get out and do a test ride tomorrow :slight_smile:

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25

Never used speedplay. Would be good to get your feedback. When you first use the cleats you will find it strange to clip in as the cleats are in a very different position

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26

Did a short ride this afternoon and only have positive things to say about the cleats.

  • I found them easy to engage
  • Immediately felt like pressure was more evenly distributed across my foot, and it’s now the back half of my foot, not balls of my feet that are applying force
  • I finished the ride with the sense that I was generally more comfortable on the bike.

So, all good … need to see how we go on a longer ride during the week. :slight_smile:

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27

A midfoot cleat update after my ride round Wales:

  • I had no foot pain at all over the 6 days to the extent that I stopped expecting it.
  • Having no issues after cycling (in the evening and in the few days since I finished the trip) has also been a pleasant surprise.

So, I think this has stopped being an experiment.

Two small issues to consider:

  • I wrote about the first in my trip report - my toe is now closer to the front wheel and does catch it sometimes setting off if I’ve been holing the front wheel at an angle to stop the bike moving. On the trip I had to climb up a cycle path with tight turns to get from an estuary to the bridge above and one turn was tight enough for my foot to properly act as a brake on the tyre. This can only really happen when going very slowly (to get round the bends) so I was able to unclip safely. Going down the same hill you’d probably not notice as you wouldn’t be pedalling. I expect I’ll experience the same thing on tight gates and no doubt will quickly get used to it.
  • The second thing was a bit of achilles pain on the final couple of afternoons. I noticed it a little on day 5 and a lot on the final day 6 on my right leg. Due to having a sore bum, I was out of the saddle more on the final two days, especially day 6. The new foot position means that I have to flex the ankle more when out of the saddle and hence my achilles can rub a bit on the heel cup. I should add that my right ankle is the one I broke and doesn’t flex well so it may be that this wouldn’t affect anyone with a normal range of movement.

Both are minor issues in the grand scheme of things :slight_smile:

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28

Saw Steve McKenna posted today about shifting to them for aero gains by dropping the saddle.

I had plantar fascia pain after new TT bike first ride, but assume midfoot cleats wouldn’t help that (± could worsen?)

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29

I’m long past being bothered about aero gains :rofl: - plus cycling for a week with a torpedo is akin to dragging an anchor along behind you!

As with anything like this it’s best not to jump to conclusions too quickly. My experience of plantar fascia pain is that it doesn’t just suddenly occur so my guess would be that your new position is exacerbating an existing issue? … however, I think there are people here who are far more knowledgeable than myself to ask.

I haven’t dropped my saddle but it was already lower than a bike fit would suggest so I’m not surprised.
The big change is that I feel like I’m pedalling with my whole foot rather than specifically pushing down using the ball of my foot.
Worth adding (as already mentioned previously), that this is a cheap change, I think it was £30 including postage from Switzerland - so you can experiment without breaking the bank :slight_smile:

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