numb foot when clicked in

[bctf70]

Hi,
I am a fairly new rider and I am having a couple problems. One is that when I am clicked in for a while the top of my foot goes numb and on long rides, like STP I had some nerve damage done and my large toe stayed numb for almost a year and during the ride it hurt quite badly. I am not sure why this is happening? Any ideas. Also I have trouble when I start out for about the 1st 10-15 miles getting my legs in gear. They get very tired very quickly and if I hit a hill during that first few miles my legs hit the wall quick, but after that I am fine for miles and miles. Any thoughts on what I could do to speed up the warm up process so I can hit it harder out of the gate. Also hills are tuff for me all the time. I can get up them but I am so slow any ideas on training stratagies to speed this up. And lastly I get shoulder pain right on the very top of my shoulder to my neck it burns and feels like it is crawling after about 30 miles and gets worse as I go on any thoughts on that? I appreciate any help I can get or ideas.
Holly

[makbike]

A couple of thoughts, first are your shoes too tight? Can you loosen the laces? Have you tried a wider shoe?

Second, it takes time for your muscles to warm-up - have you tired stretching or light riding prior to your normal ride. Also, are you watching your cadence? If not, try pay attention to how many revolution your foot makes in a minute when you have a good rhythm established. Once you know what your cadence is try to keep your rpm close to that consistently. Cadence is a personal thing so what works for one rider may be to easy for your or too hard - find your magic number. You should also find as your strength and endurance increase your cadence should also increase.

Third, hills take time and patience. The more you ride the stronger you will become and in turn the hills should get easier. Also, pay attention to your gears - are you using to big of a gear?

Finally, have you taken your bike to a bike fitter. It could be your bike needs some adjustments and these pains hopefully will disappear after your fitting.

Hope this helps!

[Grog]

Hi and welcome!

Regarding your foot, I second everything Makbike said. I'd just add : what about your shoes? and : how well adjusted are your cleats?

Shoes: I have found that very stiff shoes help not only with power transfer but also prevent my feet from going numb. I'm not sure, but I think soft soles are particularly a problem with mountain SPD pedals.

Cleats: Perhaps your cleats are too far forward under your toes instead of the ball of your foot?

[bctf70]

Thank you for your replies. I did have my bike fitted, however I am not sure they did a great job. My shoes are mountain bike shoes so maybe I'll check into some road shoes that are a bit stiffer. If any thing the shoes are a tad big and when I have adjusted the cleat it seems to move back up on me. So I probably should get some new ones. THanks again for all the help.
Holly

[blondiebiker]

I had the same thing happen with my MTB shoes, then I switched to hard sole road shoes and it doesn't happen any more...

[Grog]

Some mountain bike shoes are much stiffer than others... but they're also much more expensive.

[DDH]

I have mountain bike shoes rather than road shoes, and I have the same problem, but I dont think it's my shoe, I think maybe my cleat is to far forward and I constantly forget to move it or have my husband do it.

slight thread drift, can your saddle not fitting properly cause this too?