big toe numbness
 

I have always experienced some degree of numbness in my toes but I just dealt with it. Now that I'm doing longer races and training rides, I'd like to be as comfortable on the bike as possible. The numbness starts around 2 hours into the ride. I've tried loosening the straps, tightening the straps, tried thinner and thicker socks, but I still get numbness in my big toes. What is the deal? Maybe these shoes just do not work for me and I need to get new ones? Once thing I noticed is that when my toes do get numb, and I pedal out of the saddle, I can feel considerable pressure on my toes as if my feet are sliding all too freely in my shoes. Tightening my shoes does not remedy this.

Scrunching your toes...cleats too far forward?

I had numbness and solved it by moving cleats back and getting shoes with a stiffer sole (my first shoes were some really cheap, flexi mountain bike shoes). Good luck, I hope you can find what's causing yours.

I had some pretty bad pain/numbness combination in my toes when I first started riding longer distances. I started to pay more attention and caught myself scrunching my toes together. Now every so often during my ride I'll think about it and remember to stretch them out and try to keep them relaxed for awhile. No more pain.

In a recent thread another guy fixed his numb toe issue by adjusting his cleats to allow his shoe to move more outwards. His theory was he naturally pedals that way and when his shoe could not move any further outwards his feet inside the shoe would move causing his big toe to slam against the inside of the shoe.

The most common cause is restrictive blood flow to the toe due to pressure being applied to the nerve feeding the toe. Like others have suggested moving your cleat backwards should fix this.

Title makes me think of Sergeant Hulka.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2...s800/hulka.jpg

Cleats back is a great start.

Might want to get a fit/try a varus wedge in your shoe. I had numbness and this solved my problem, but everyone is different so a fit is probably your best bet.

THanks guys. On today's ride I'll try to be a little more conscious of scrunching my toes together. I am guilty of this. If numbness continues I'll adjust my cleats

If your feet swell the only fix is to get larger shoes.