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Does anyone else experience this? Usually about 90 minutes into a ride my toes get a bit numb, sometimes a touch like pins and needles.
"I'll fitting shoes" is what people are likely to say here but it happened yesterday on my road bike and the shoes fit nicely. If anything they are a touch loose.
What causes it?
It's was SPD's for me. Stiffer shoes stopped it.
Overtightening the straps causes this for me.
Could also be saddle.
Does it go away when you stand for some minutes? What %age do you stand for?
Don't stand up much unless it's extremely steep (seems to be on the road bike).
I could be over tightening the straps, I'll try them looser.
What about the saddle? How does this cause it?
I have this a lot and it's often worse the more power I put into the pedals. I once rode a 25 mile tt and the numbness travelled up my leg to a point where I couldn't feel anything below my knee!
Basically it's down to nerves in my back and hamstrings, so if I do plenty of stretching it can alleviate it completely. However in line with being a proper cyclist I do no stretching what so ever and just put up with it!
Try lots of hamstring and calf stretches and see if it makes any difference.
Hope this helps
Floss
Wriggle your toes. When you're on a flat bit or freewhweeling relax your foot and move your toes around in your shoe.
I used to get issues with cramp and numb toes on road bike rides - it's because I effectively 'locked' my foot the whole time. With mtb's you're moving around a lot more so it's less of a problem.
I found that my old, really stiff, Specialized shoes did this. It was buzz from sole/pedal/tyre. Fitting a sorbathane/better footbed insert solved it.
I can also cut off circulation to my feet with the ratchets on my current shimano and lake shoes...
I had this and it was due to a combination of where my cleat was and also some flexibility issues in my calf. It as fixed with wedges under the cleat, a preposition of said cleat and lots of stretching.
I get this too and its definitely a product of POWER. Normally get it on climbs, even when it's warm but even more so when its cold. I've been doing lower back exercises and stretching this year and I get it much less than I used to. Dont' think a desk job helps.
I suffered from this. My chiropractor is also a bike fitter ( very handy )
Has mentioned above. It could be tight hamstrings. Mine was caused by running the saddle slightly nose up.
Having the saddle level soled it. I no longer over rotate my pelvis which means less of s streetcar on my hamstrings.
Plenty of streatching also helps - but we all do this anyway - right !!!!!!!
Regarding shoes. Too loose or cleat too far forward and you could be clawing your toes on the pedals.
Try moving your cleat slightly further back. I had this, tried new shoes, looser straps etc. Finaly moved my cleat about 1/2 cm further back and no problems since.
I have this with my summer shoes. winter boots are fine as they are quite a bit more chunky and stiff, but the summer ones are not quite. I put it down to cleat position (quite far inboard) and roll and flex in the sole putting uneaven pressure at various parts of my feet.
tried custom heat mouldable footbeds which helped a bit.
winter is nearly hear, summer only lasts a few months so it's not a major issue for me as I swap over to my winter boots again.
Found this my laced boot, so the last ride I pulled the laces loose and re-tied then without pulling the bottom section as tight as I could.. much better feel on my last ride.
Thanks guys, glad it's not just me. Plenty to try out and see if it improves.
Cheers
Cleat further back, wider shoes and insoles all helped me a bit to get to the point where it is manageable