Touring - Flaming toes

So I have owned a particular pair of cycling shoes for about two years now, and logged enough miles in them for them to be broken in. I have never experienced any problems with these shoes until now. Although the bicycle has changed, the pedals are still Shimano SPD.
Basically, I head out for a ride, and three or four hours into it, my pinky toes experience significantly distracting burning pain. A contributing factor has got to be foot swelling, since there is zero pain on shorter rides. In the long run I will probably find new shoes for touring purposes. At the moment however, I cannot afford replacement shoes. Are there any temporary solutions/alleviations to the incompatibility between my shoes and feet? (yes I searched) Many thanks! :thumb:

this is the same pain im having,but i discovered it's not the shoes at all, it's comming from my back.nerve pain starts in my hip which is not to painful but when it travellel's down my leg ends up in my toes ,man the pain is unbearable..i was told the only cure is stretching before a ride .but it only happen's on long rides.that's as much as i can tell you,hope it helps.

Hmm...that seems possible, but I have also noticed that the skin on the outside of my pinky toes gets somewhat inflamed. No blister develops, but the skin is clearly irritated. Thanks for the input though.

Poor circulation. Don't lace (velcro, or whatever) them so tight and / or wear thinner socks.

Yep, feet swell on longer rides. You can try wearing the shoes looser, or loosening them up after you've been on the bike for awhile.

You might also want to try moving your cleats back.

How old are you? When I hit about 50 my previously size-13 feet became size-14. What's up with that? It wasn't too hard finding size-13 shoes. It's much more difficult finding size-14 (49). I pretty much have to buy everything online.

The good thing is that I've gotten a couple of good deals on Ebay because I didn't have much competition.

I think your feet are swelling on longer rides. Retension your laces/straps occasionally during the ride.

here's another vote for moving your cleats back a bit.

BBToe's suggestion +1

I always have to re-tension(loosen) the velcroes after 3+hrs.

A bit of vaseline/lotion on the little toe could help too.

I find that if I keep the strap tight at the top of my shoes and loosen the straps closer to my toes, this helps with that kind of pain. I've concluded that it's from my feet moving forward in my shoes and eventually the circulation gets cut off.

It seems like the intertubes have reached some sort of consensus.
I will move the cleats back, loosen my straps, lube the little pigs, and hopefully the situation improves. Thanks for the advice everybody. I will try to remember and update after my next all day ride (Hopefully this weekend.)

How old are you? When I hit about 50 my previously size-13 feet became size-14. What's up with that? It wasn't too hard finding size-13 shoes. It's much more difficult finding size-14 (49). I pretty much have to buy everything online.

The good thing is that I've gotten a couple of good deals on Ebay because I didn't have much competition.

I think your feet are swelling on longer rides. Retension your laces/straps occasionally during the ride.

Also, I'm 23, so my feet should be staying a narrow 41 for the next couple of decades hopefully :)

I normally wear a 9.5 wide shoe and moved up to a size 11 to not experience any foot pain on long rides.

Look up Morton's Neuroma. It could be that also if it is also a bit more inward. I suffer from this and the fix can be as easy as stuffing in some padding on the inside of your insole.

Put some chamois butter on the part of your foot that hurts, that should help reduce friction. Also, try different types and thicknesses of socks as that can help. You may even want to take a spare pair of socks on the ride and change them at the halfway point so you have some dry socks on that will chaff less.

ok mistertwo is happy enough ,anybody got a cure for me .well i don't want to start a new thread,and you never know when the op reaches my age at least he will have all this info stored in his head.