Numbness/Prickly Feet

"I am a broke-ass college student with no insurance so seeing a doc is a last resort. After about 20 minutes of riding the front half(mostly) of the soles of my feet get a severe prickly feeling. It's not a numbness that you might expect from tight shoes and it's only on the soles. I went up one euro size in my shoes and they definitely don't feel tight or restrictive, actually almost loose. I use custom molded orthotics and have tried riding with and without them and there's no difference. I've been riding on and off for 20 years and have never had this problem. Help! Thanks."


Couple of things here: 

1. You did not mention your orthotics are specific to cycling. (The arch has a different role vs. walking of leg length discrepancy, etc) If they were not cast with a metarsal button, you probably need one.  

2. The "openness" of the new shoe may mean that your foot is getting crammed into the toebox and the tingling is metarsal nerve compression. 

3. The drape of your foot or varus rotation may be coming into play and canting the shoe may be in order. 

4. Last but not least it may be the cleat placement-seat height relationship that could be contributing to the issue.

"Yo Tad! 

Thanks for the feedback. I put a thicker wedge under the medial side of the orthotics to address the cant of my foot and the foot numbness is practically gone! That was one variable I hadn't addressed. I think you fixed it yo!" 

Mid-Foot Cleat Positioning

@FirstHippy asks, "Mid-foot cleat positioning. It would be a massive change, beneficial to my long TT goals but detrimental to climbing/sprinting?" #bikefit

Yes. The best compromise would be a Rotor/Q ring to compensate, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too.  You need a pair of shoes set up exclusively for the TT rig , and midcleat may require a greater amount of change to the fit since you will sit lower on the bike. Your road set can have a placement closer to your 5^th metarsal or even in front of it and the stance may be slightly wider since the sitbones would be wider. Your range of motion between the bikes will be similar, but you will be employing more leverage from the calf on the road shoe which is the only class 1 lever on the body. My suggestion  about cleat placement has to do with how much fluxuation/accelerations your riding will have compounded by time/duration.  Think of it as moving the needle back and forth between steady state and explosive.  Hope this helps.  #bikefit

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