My toes go to sleep

[Suzanne]

:confused: Do any of you have your toes to go sleep when you are riding? It only happens on my right foot and usually not until around 20 or 25 miles. BUT on the Firecracker ride BOTH the left and right toes and then my feet fell asleep! I actually had to stop at one point to get the feeling back in my feet. :eek:

I wear basic sneakers and use toe clips. I have a reasonably sized saddle.

I'm asking all you experts;) if you have ever come across this or know some solutions for this problem.

Thanks, Suzanne:)

[Erica]

perhaps your clips are too tight?

[skiffrun]

elsewhere on this forum - I can't locate at the moment - maybe RickF will chime in with the link - there was VERY recently a question similar to yours, only it involved the whole foot and "clipless" pedals.

suggestions: Erica already suggested U check your clip tightness. Also:

adequate room in the toe box? You need to be able to wiggle those piglets on their way to market.
shoes tied too tight near the toes? The tightness needs to be near the ankle (ie, top of the shoe). U don't need so much tightness near the toes nor in the mid-foot (over the arch) area. The toes need to wiggle & the the mid-foot area tends to swell with exercise such as running or cycling. Perhaps try loose near the toes, semi-snug in mid-foot, tight near the ankle.
There is also the possiblity that with the clips your foot is not properly positioned over the pedal (this problem can also occur with clipless or flat pedals), but that your foot is positioned so that too much of the contact area with the pedal is toes.
If you are flexing / pushing with your toes (sort of like a runner) instead of your foot / shoes being an extension of your lower leg (I'm simplifying here) that could be a problem. You should feel that your toes are not doing the "work" of pedalling.I'm confident others may have good suggestions for you.

If nothing else works, U can try the suggestion I made on the other thread. But only after U have exhausted all other possibilities. ;)

[Pugslyyy]

:confused: Do any of you have your toes to go sleep when you are riding? It only happens on my right foot and usually not until around 20 or 25 miles. BUT on the Firecracker ride BOTH the left and right toes and then my feet fell asleep! I actually had to stop at one point to get the feeling back in my feet. :eek:

I wear basic sneakers and use toe clips. I have a reasonably sized saddle.

I'm asking all you experts;) if you have ever come across this or know some solutions for this problem.

Thanks, Suzanne:)

Most people doing distances like you are going to have graduated to clipless pedals, so I'm not sure how much advice we can give. My best advice would be that it is time to invest in clipless pedals and a decent set of cycling shoes. I guarantee you that cycling will seem easier.

The numbness is probably a combination of shoe position on the pedal, and flex of the sole. just my .02...

[TracyW]

http://www.trianglecycling.com/showthread.php?t=20276

[esther-l]

:confused: It only happens on my right foot and usually not until around 20 or 25 miles. BUT on the Firecracker ride BOTH the left and right toes and then my feet fell asleep! I actually had to stop at one point to get the feeling back in my feet. :eek:

I wear basic sneakers and use toe clips. I have a reasonably sized saddle.


I got the numbness before I switched to clipless pedals. It can start again for me on the tandem, if the cadence is too high for me to pull up on pedals - the solution is for me to say upshift, so that we can reduce the RPMs.

For a lot of people it is the padding in tennis shoes that causes gradual numbing of toes. One solution is to consciously pull up on the pedals for several revolutions - this is an attempt to halt the compression of the bottom of the foot into the soft stuff in the shoe.

Another solution is to wear a stiffer-soled shoe with less padding inside the shoe. For whatever reason, getting the padding from socks does not cause numbness for most people.
Also, are there toe seams in the socks that you wear? If there are seams, try wearing the socks inside out. If the numbness vanishes, it's the seam in the socks. Stop me from ranting that there are a lot more men's socks with gentle toe stitching than women's!
Esther

[skiffrun]

... . Stop me from ranting that there are a lot more men's socks with gentle toe stitching than women's!
EstherWe men need more gentle clothing than U women folk, because, as everyone knows, we men are wimps compared to U women when it comes to dealing with pain. ;)