Numb toes on the bike!

[Deleted User]

I'm not sure where to post this, but I am trying to figure out why my toes are going numb during the bike ride!  It has happened on my road bike on the trainer, but not awful.  The longest ride I've done is 90 mins. and I've noticed it mostly after a hard workout.  Today, I road outside for 2:45 on my TT bike, and about halfway through, I had to stop and take off my shoe and rub my foot/toes.  It actually was starting to work it's way up the calf!  I took my sock off but that didn't seem to make much of a difference.  I made sure the shoe is not too tight or anything, so I just don't know.  I do know that these are fairly new bike shoes and new cleats (since IMCHOO).  It's just strange that it's only my left foot.  It took about 20 mins for it to go away after I got home.  Any ideas?

Al Truscott

The usual explanation is that the cleat is set too far forward on the shoe. The best placement of the cleat to avoid this problem is to have the cleat as far back on the shoe as possible. This prevents the nerve impingement which causes this.

In 1997, when I was biking about 5-6 hours every day for 3 months, I developed this problem. I read about the solution, and switched my cleat position, but it took *months* for the numbness to gradually go away. Solve this problem soon, so you don't do long term damage to the nerves.

Dawn Cass

Carol, I would agree with Al. I had the same thing happen at the end of training last year when miles ramped up. It was only one foot so I looked st the cleat position of the other and changed it to a similar position. The pain went away after that. It did take a bit do it is important to try to figure it out as soon as you can. That would be the first place I start.

[Deleted User]

Thanks Al and Dawn! Well, the cleats are already as far back as they can go. Turby is going to change the angle a little bit and see if that makes a difference. I'm only riding a short one today, so I may not get a chance to see if this works - but hopefully soon!

NoMoreDNFs

After a few years of training it seemed that my toes spread and needed a wider toe box. I got the wider shoe and haven't had the problem.... Sad part is I have an almost new pair that I can't wear without the numb toes...

scott dinhofer

I was going for the forward part of the arch as suspect as it seems to line up with what Al said... I had my custom ski boat footbeds worked on for that issue this year and i get it with some of my bike shoes.. good info here on cleat placement that i will check on my remaining suspect shoes!

Patricia Rosen

carol, make sure you r cleats are as close to the heel as possible and move cleat in a little towards the arch. if using an angle, angle so your foot is a little bit canted medially... meaning outer part of foot is up a very little. focus on pushing down on your arch... I have had issues for several years with this and am better with the above adjustments... on long rides my feet would burn like fire...

John Bayone

Carol,
I was having same issue with my left foot and when I did a bike fitting with Todd, he put some thin plastic shims under the insole in my left shoe. Perhaps the new shoes have a different angle built into them then the older shoes. Perhaps emailing Todd @ ttbikefit might help with this since he would still have your fit data from when you were there in 2014. These were able to help even out the pressure under the ball of the foot and help with the numbness I was getting in the toes.
They look like this. https://www.specialized.com/us/en/shoes/bodygeometryinternalwedges2pk/104854
Not sure what kind of shoes you have but most manufacturers make these, and there are generic ones as well that you could find online.

Brad Marcus

I'll also chime in since I've been dealing with this issue for a few years. I ALWAYS have cold feet that also become
numb and tingly after 2+ hours on the bike. Last season I pushed cleats all the way back and although it helped some, it didn't solve the problem for me. I visited Todd (who John mentions above ^^) last fall for a pre bike purchase fit and mentioned the issues to him. He didn't recommend shims, but did recommend Bont shoes. Bonts have a wide toe box. I bought Bont Tri shoes and just started riding with them a week ago. They are also heat moldable, if you happen to have feet which are not "typically" shaped. I did a 2.5 hour trainer ride a few days ago without incident. Time will tell how they work over the season, and I'll be happy to let you know. Anyway, running shoes with a wide toe box worked well for me, and the bike shoes seem to make sense too so far.

Carole Harbison

Thanks for this forum! I've never had numb toes before, but got a new bike fit a couple months ago and this has started happening to me too. Had no idea what the deal was with it. I'll try moving the cleats back for sure. EN!

[Deleted User]

Thanks everyone!

@ Mark - Thanks! my shoes have a pretty wide toe box and I keep them pretty loose. Especially the short velcro. Hmmmmm.

@ Patti - Funny about pushing down on the arch. Turby was watching me the other day and said I push down with my toes down too much. So I have to work on that. Although I don't know what I'm doing differently now than I've done in the past 5 years! We changed the angle slightly on Sunday (toes are pointing out a little) and they still started to go numb after an hour, but not as bad as Sat. I also didn't ride that long so we'll see. I'll have Turby read your post and see if that's what he did:-) Thanks!

@ John - That's exactly what I'm going to do! I thought of emailing Todd initially, but thought I'd try out a few things. THANKS! My shoes are Pearl Izumi's.

@ Brad - keep me posted about the Bont shoes. I loved my old bike shoes (I forget what kind), but they never put them back
in my T2 bag at IMCHOO so I never saw them again. Probably just as well - they were really stinky:-)

@ Carole - good luck! Hope your numbness goes away as well:-)

Thanks again everyone. This was very helpful. I'll keep you posted!

William Jenks

Another thought. Can you reduce pressure on the spot that matters with some kind of insole in the shoes? The stiff floor of the shoe should mean that you might be able to spread the pressure against a wider surface area within the shoe with a proper fit. Again...just a thought.