Road Cycling - Numb Toes.....Cleats Off Location?

After a few miles into my ride and afterwards, my toes are kinda numb and tingly.

I'm assuming my cleats are positioned incorrectly on my shoes?

Too far forwards I assume? Need to come back a little more?

I thought they were over the balls of my feet and correctly positioned. Then I started riding a lot recently, and the numbness has started.

Help make it go away.

Allen

Nothing? :confused:

You might want to search on this topic, since it has been often discussed.

Try a very small change in cleat position (front-back or side to side). Nerves are small, so a small change will often do the trick.

Some places recommend especially moving the cleat backward to solve the problem. The ball of the foot is right in principle, but there is a lot of room to manoeuver.

If you still can't get it right, you might look into your saddle height. I had it happen that my saddle was too high. I would get numb toes whenever I rode on the drops, although the tops and hoods were fine. Once I got my saddle correct, the problem went away. (I am guessing that the nerve got pinched in the crotch area somewhere, but manifested itself as toe numbness).

Cheers,
Jamie

Are your shoes too tight?

The feet tend to swell a bit while riding so if they are snug starting off they made be too tight a few miles in. Try loosening them up a little and giving the toes a good wiggle every mile or two to pump the blood into the foot.

Getting out of the saddle when possible helps.

The numbness went away completely in my feet when I invested in a real quality pair of shoes. The added cost is out weighed by the comfort on the road.

Good luck.

i had to buy shoes that were a little wider than standard (shimano) and it never happens. i found that it was the lateral compression at the toe, not the length of the shoe.

Thanks for all the responses.

I never thought about doing a search through the forum. I didn't realize it was something that common, but figured that someone must've dealt with this situation before.

Anyway, I think most of my problems are related to my shoes. They're an older pair of Scott MTB shoes. They're pretty soft and flexable, and it feels to me like not only could my cleats be positioned a bit better, but also when pedaling hard, uphill or something like that, that I'm curling my toes downward and around the pedal. Hope that makes sense.

I ordered a pair of Lake road shoes, in a 44.5, where as my current shoes are 44s. Hopefully the new shoe size will give a bit better fit. My old shoes aren't tight.....but there is no room left in them. More than that I hope the new shoes are a bit stiffer as well. Maybe prevent me from trying to curl my toes downward and around the pedal.

Allen