Ankle pain (OMG not again)

[north woods gal]

Sorry to hear about the ankle issues, NY. Old injuries like that seem like they come back to haunt us, now and then.

One suggestion for when you get back to biking is to try flat pedals instead of clipless on your road bike. I know ditching clipless is almost heresy for the road bike crowd, but I switched to flats, this year, precisely because I was plagued by foot cramps on long road rides when using clipless. Would have to stop and massage the foot and sometimes it was a long and painful process. Going to flats allows me to move my feet around more on the pedals rather than having them locked in permanently in one position. Has greatly reduced the foot cramps and, maybe it's just a coincidence, but haven't had as much back pain or pinched nerves in my legs that also plagued my in the past from too many miles on the bike. I'm no doctor, but I do think locking your feet into clipless pedals might further aggravate the repetitive stress injuries to your ankle.

Remarkably, have kept track of my average speed over the same routes with clipless versus flats and have not found a significant difference. Anyway, just a thought to keep in mind as an option.