Need Advice: Sidi Doms or Genisis 5???

[Wahine]

Thank you very much ladies. You know, the place where I live is considered a cycling destination for both road and mountain. I'm just sayin'.

[smittykitty]

Wahine: Thanks for your thoughts. I'll check the cleat placement and also my feet alignment with respect to my hips, something I never thought about.

My bike seems to fit well and other than the feet I'm quite comfortable on the bike. I did have the same problem with my Trek FX too.

I'm not very strong and could see where my bike stroke could be a factor. My calf muscles don't seem tight, but who knows. I probably could really use someone legged peddling exercises.

My thoughts at this point: If the Doms are good enough for Veronica and Mimi, than they are surely good enough for me!

I know the boys down at my lbs will say I need the road cleats to spread the pressure out. My concern is that I'm not very strong or coordinated and may have a harder time clipping in/out when tired.

The eggbeaters are simple to clip in/out from any spot in the pedal rotation.

But who knows what I'll decide by tomorrow!!!

[Kiwi Stoker]

I also have issues with numbness and it's not due to cold! I noticed after yesterday's painfull ride that the top middle strap had left an impression and what feels like bruising on the top of my foot. I also noticed I have some large veins going across there also. So could it be the issue of the straps cutting off blood supply to the toes on the top of the foot? Evryone seems so fixed on the bottom of the foot (insoles etc) I wonder if the top of the foot could be involved also?

[Owlie]

I don't want to threadjack, but:
Wahine, thanks. I've been dealing with...not hot spots, exactly, but uncomfortable spots. Part of it is the fact that I do weird things with my feet, but I have to wonder if I'm doing weird things with my feet because of those uncomfortable spots, on one foot more that the other.

List of things to try. DBF got me a set of the BG insoles for Christmas. He's still pushing for me to get "proper" road pedals on my next bike, though.

[Crankin]

I wore Sidi road shoes for years and had horrible hot spots with my Speedplay X-2 pedals/cleats. I recently switched to Shimano shoes, for both road and mountain. What a difference. The biggest factor was the wider toe box. I also moved my cleats back from the neutral position.
I don't find it any harder to unclip from my road pedals (X-2s) than spds or Frogs. If the walking bit is your concern, than keep your mountain shoes/cleats.