Recently we surveyed users of the indoor cycling app – FulGaz to determine the top 3 comfort issues they faced whilst riding their bikes. When the responses came in what we discovered was that foot pain – commonly referred to as ‘hot foot’ was their number one complaint.
Symptoms of hot foot include numb toes, pain under the ball of the foot, and a sensation that the bottom of your foot is burning. Foot pain can make cycling unbearable, and if you are a triathlete it’s doubly troubling as it can severely impact both your riding and running.
Treating hot foot requires distributing the weight of your feet on the pedal to avoid putting pressure on a concentrated section of nerves in the balls of your feet. Moving the cleats back has been my go to fix and generally provides significant improvement to most riders.
If you suffer from hot foot and you’ve moved your cleats back there are a number of other things you could and should consider:
- Are your cycling shoes too tight? Do you have feet that are very wide and therefore jammed into shoes which are too narrow? – In this case it’s probably a good idea to look at new shoes and when you do, pay particular attention to where the eyelets for the cleats are drilled. Not all shoes are constructed the same and certain brands, such as Bont and Specialized TriVent (for triathletes) allow the cleats to be positioned further back than others.
- Are you using small pedals (such as Speedplay and Look Keo)? A small pedal concentrates pressure on one part of the foot instead of spreading the pressure like a large-platform pedal. The best pedals I’ve come across are Keywin. The Keywin Carbon series pedals feature an unrivaled 3045mm2 platform in the cleat/pedal interface to ensure maximum power transfer and pressure distribution. 4x the platform size of Speedplay and 7x that of Look Keo.
Keywin have very generously donated two pairs of their Carbon pedals to Custom Bike Fit. They can be used/trialed by clients who are having difficulties with hot foot, so if we’ve fitted you previously and this is still an issue, please sing out and we’ll arrange for the pedals to be fitted for a trial period.
If you’re a potential client that suffers from hot foot, this is another good reason to contact us and book your Custom Bike Fit today!