Socks Hurt

[Miranda]

Well, I've posted a pic of my weird shaped hands before searching for gloves, and that ended well, so why not a pic of my feet, shoes, and sock issue too...

I'm starting to think it might be my feet, not the socks, after a comment in a pedal thread, so I thought I would post in general vs apparel.

The short of it is, my toes never fill out the end of the socks right.

The socks end up bunching and making a crease under the ball of my foot. Pedaling on a crease during a ride really starts to hurt after a while. Stopping, foot stripping, and re-foot dressing on the road is just a PITA... thus, I usually don't bother as the crease just returns to do it's evil work.

What is wrong with my feet? The only conclusion I can draw is that my toes are more pointed like an arrowhead, vs more square, thus the extra unfitted space makes the crease.

I am on the verge of become a sockless rider, like a tri-ath GF. When telling her my situation she said, "I don't have sock issues, because I don't wear socks... the shoes get pretty stinky though... and my feet are really gross". And they are. Discussing pedicures one day she gave some "show and tell" .

I personally hate socks in general. I'm barefoot, or sockless most of the time. The only thing that has held me back on no socks for cycling is my negative Ugg boot experience. After lusting for the boots, and deciding if they were really worth the $, I got a pair. WOW... talk about sock haters heaven. First winter I got so Ugg stupid happy that I wore my boots too much = too much sweat, nasty infected cracked bleeding athletes foot or the like. Kinda like my sockless tri GF.

To fix the problem I have tried:
1) downsizing, not enough in heel, shoe ate sock
2) shrinking socks in dryer (none of my cycling stuff goes in the death drum normally), still bunched
3) brands and types:
PI = originals, attack, x-static race, kerin, winter wool tour... both mens size small, women size med and small
Shebeest = low cut, ankle
Brands tried on in lbs (not road worn) = SockGuy, Descente
4) pulling all sock slack as far back as possible to the heel, and/or arch... motion makes the evil crease relocate to the foot ball
5) purposely wiggle my toes in toe box (I used to unconsciously clench my toes) hoping it helps against sock bunch

I have numbness too. Upgrading to stiffer shoes, mtb to SIDI zeta helped. Next, I'm upgrading pedals from Shimano mtb M505 to probably SpeedPlay zeros. The lbs suggest Look Keos (big platform). I'm used to double sided pedals now, and have knee issues, so float is good (thus SpeedPlays consideration over Look Keo). The lbs fitter also moved my cleats once, and that helped.

But, I'm just starting to think my feet are funky... the sock thing is just part of it. Any suggestions? Thx!

btw: pic = Keens 8 US, Sidi Zeta 40.5 EUR, Diadora Geko 40 EUR, PI kerin (all socks have similiar slack as shown on left pinky toe area)