I have a newish pair of LG Tri Speeds. I really like the shoes but for longer rides I find my big toes start to hurt. The longer the ride, the more it hurts. I am not sure how to describe the pain but it is entirely isolated to the big toe of each foot. Any thoughts on what could be causing this/potential fixes?
I have considered fiddling with cleat position but have been able to do my 100+mile rides with this set-up and am reluctant to change too much with IM Lou only three weeks away. The ironic thing is I got these shoes because my old cycling shoes were too tight and caused pain in the little toes.
The longer you ride, run, the more your feet swell. Not noticeable for a 5K, but causes toenail loss at marathon distance.
Your feet are literally wider and longer after a century ride. RRoof can weigh in on this, but my guess is that your new shoes are still too small for IM-length racing.
It’s the three middle toes on my left foot that is my problem. When I can stand it no longer I have to stop and try to get blood circulating again. Last weekend a friend of mine told me that I should make sure that I’m lifting my foot at the top of the stroke cycle. This seems to help by reducing the pressure. I’m not sure if this will help you. Good luck with the IM.
your shoes don’t fit your feet correctly or your feet don’t fit into those shoes correctly.
You can either swap feet or get new shoes to solve the problem and/or just race sprints and olys.
What I still fail to understand is how come people don’t invest in custom cycling shoes but yet think nothing of dropping over $1K for a wheel.
I had that same problem for a while when I got new shoes. Had the fitter at the LBS check me out, and he added some shims to both shoes, a bit more on the left, and have not had any problems since. It is probably due to improper alignment of cleats to pedals.
I have a newish pair of LG Tri Speeds. I really like the shoes but for longer rides I find my big toes start to hurt. The longer the ride, the more it hurts. I am not sure how to describe the pain but it is entirely isolated to the big toe of each foot. Any thoughts on what could be causing this/potential fixes?
I have considered fiddling with cleat position but have been able to do my 100+mile rides with this set-up and am reluctant to change too much with IM Lou only three weeks away. The ironic thing is I got these shoes because my old cycling shoes were too tight and caused pain in the little toes.
It is probably due to improper alignment of cleats to pedals.
I don’t doubt that’s what worked to solve the problem for you, but that’s not the first thing I’d have the OP check.
As someone else has already said, when you ride long distances (especially on hot days) your feet swell. As they do, if your shoes aren’t loose enough to accommodate it, circulation to your toes gets cut off. Some folks have different symptoms from others.
Watch the pros race at the Tour de France. Sometimes you’ll see them reaching for the straps of their shoes as they near the end of long stages and prepare for the final miles. They’ve had their shoes rather loose for the majority of the ride. They synch them down when the racing gets down to business at the very end.
When I put my shoes on, I spread my toes and arch my foot to make my foot take up as much space as possible inside the shoe. Then I do the straps … the top ones just snug (not tight) and the one nearest my toes I do rather loosely. This works for me quite well, but I wear custom shoes that conform to my feet pretty well. They don’t swim around in the shoe a lot even with the loose straps. This is what I do for training rides. If I’m racing a TT, I crank things down a bit more.
I completely agree with the poster who commented on the custom shoes. Mine have been fabulous.
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Thanks for everyone who offered advice. Just an update, I went to the fitter and he put in some shims. I only had a 70mi ride left but made it through without this problem. So either the cleat adjustment helped or I am going to have some fun past mile 70 in Louisville. Thanks again.