My wife's visit to a podiatrist today unfortunately confirmed my diagnosis of fat erosion in the ball of the foot. This is hard on her, because ballet is her preferred form of exercise, and the only "cure" sounds like a dreadful not-recommend round of bone-resectioning surgery. Have any of you experienced something similar in either the heel or the ball of the foot? I told her about the steel shanks in cycling shoes and how these probably protect us from having similar problems with every pedal power stroke.

While she is dealing with this, I am still working with chronic Achilles pain on the right and a nasty case of plantar fasciitis on the left. Various Dr. Scholl's shoe insert pads have been very helpful, as have calf stretches. As long as I spin in the low gears, I am fine, but this puts a bit of a cramp on my passion for hill climbs.