SPD Agony!

Alan Braggins wrote:

You could consider changing to traditional toeclips with straps, but
I have a suspicion that just doing up a strap tight enough that a foot
in a recumbent riding position can't possibly fall out will be painfully
restrictive given your current problems.

at the bottom of http://www.kinetics-online.co.uk/html/specials.shtml
there's a Hase product with a heel stirrup, specifically for using on
recumbents with a toe strap. Never used them, but compared to a
practised twist in a decent clipless system I imagine they'd be much
more of a faff getting in and out.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Alan Braggins wrote:

But do remember that every time you nudge them, you do have to do them up
tight enough that you can unclip without wrenching them out of position
when you try them on the pedals.
This is probably so obvious to Pete that it went without saying, and
maybe is to you as well, but I mention it just in case, because it's
quite embarrassing when you forget. I mean, um, so I hear....

Good point!

Less embarrassing on a trike, mind you, you just unlace your shoes and
step out of them and then try and lever them off the pedal by hand,
rather than keel over sideways and land in the road, inevitably in front
of spectators. Still, it'd be better to just do them up properly, mind...

And a tip for screwing them up in any case is to smear a little grease
onto the bolt threads before you start. This makes it easier to do them
up tight, so they don't shift when twisting your foot, but also makes it
easier to undo them /deliberately/ when it's time to change (or move)
the cleat.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On 7 May, 08:54, Artemisia wrote:
On 6 mai, 19:38, (Alan Braggins) wrote:

Most SPD shoes have two pairs of holes in a plate which can be moved
forward and back at least a little bit.

I went back to the hotel room to check. After prying away all the
caked mud with the multi-tool, I did indeed find two sets of holes
underneath. I moved the cleats onto the lower pair. We'll see
tomorrow, short ride, if that makes any difference.

As well as the additional holes, you should find that when you loosen
the bolts the whole cleat+plate assembly should be able to move around
(up to a point), though you might have to force it a bit just to free
it up. This gives you finer adjustment back-to-front as well as
allowing you to slightly rotate the cleats and move them side-to-side
a little. It can take quite a while to get them just right so that
they feel natural.

As others have said, though, try loosening the laces a little. The
shoes should be relatively tight, but not uncomfortably so.

Again, as others have said, it could be the shoes are just too small.
If your toes can touch the end of the shoe then it's not a good sign.

Colin

PoB wrote:
:: "dkahn400" wrote in message
:: ...
::: On May 7, 6:32 am, "wafflycat"
::: wrote: The long term solution which I'm surprised no-one has
::: mentioned yet may be SPD sandals. Many long distance riders swear
::: by them.
::
:: I'd second this. On long rides my sandals are infinitely better
:: than my shoes (and being British, when it's chilly, I can wear socks
:: .
::

Well, I'm a diabetic and suffer from hot foot, but don't have any issues
other than on long rides in the heat. I can do centuriers in the
fall/spring and do not suffer hot foot. When the temps go up I do. I have
a pair of well-fitting SPD sandals (Lakes). They don't help.

I think the best approach is to get well-fitting shoes with very stiff
soles. They feet must be kept cool and there should be no long-duration
pressure points.

On, and the notion of fully unloading the sole intermittently while
pedaling, while it sounds good, is not something I have been able to achieve
on long rides.

Artemisia wrote:
On 6 mai, 19:38, (Alan Braggins) wrote:

Most SPD shoes have two pairs of holes in a plate which can be moved
forward and back at least a little bit.

I went back to the hotel room to check. After prying away all the
caked mud with the multi-tool, I did indeed find two sets of holes
underneath. I moved the cleats onto the lower pair. We'll see
tomorrow, short ride, if that makes any difference.


EFR
After a wonderful dinner on Isle sur Sorgue

Seen on a recumbent trike mailing list, these
(http://www.tri-zone.com/Details.html?cat=69&item=PYPLT) might be a
useful alternative. Essentially a stiff platform that you bolt your
cleats to and clip to your pedals, and then you can wear any shoe that
is comfortable and fix it in with the straps. The heel cup would appear
to make them suitable for recumbent use.

--
Colin

On Wed, 7 May 2008 09:24:09 +0100, "PoB" wrote:

The long term solution which I'm surprised no-one has mentioned yet
may be SPD sandals. Many long distance riders swear by them.

I'd second this. On long rides my sandals are infinitely better than my
shoes

Yes, but which ones? Since Shimano stopped making the old two-strap
SD-60s, I haven't been able to find a comfortable replacement.

On May 7, 7:55 pm, "Roger Zoul" wrote:

Well, I'm a diabetic and suffer from hot foot, but don't have any issues
other than on long rides in the heat. I can do centuriers in the
fall/spring and do not suffer hot foot. When the temps go up I do. I have
a pair of well-fitting SPD sandals (Lakes). They don't help.

Artemisia is complaining of numb toes as well as hot foot so I would
worry about circulation in her case. You are obviously aware how
important this can be. I don't often get hot foot. When it has hit me
it has been on long rides in very hot weather. I can confirm that it
is excruciating but loosening the straps of my shoes does help. People
in sandals then laugh at me so I'm a little surprised you found they
don't help. Possibly not the magic bullet I had thought them to be
though.

--
Dave...

On 07 May 2008 12:03:46 +0100 (BST), David Damerell
wrote:

Quoting Artemisia :
Two days into my trail and I discover the limit is coming from an
unexpected place - unbelievably painful feet.

IIRC you're on a recumbent trike? Suggest abandoning the clips and tying
your feet to the pedals to avoid leg suck - obviously if you're just
strapping them down, you can strap them down in a different position.

Aye. What we did after The Lad fell off the front of the Pino (semi
recumbent tandem) and borked his collar bone was to use short toe
clips and heel loops made from lengths of shock cord.

'course, these days he fits my shoes and is going to have a go with
SPDs soon.

--

Tim

I understand very little of what's being discussed
but for some reason it's fascinating.

(Jon Thompson, urs)

"dkahn400" wrote in message
...
On May 7, 7:55 pm, "Roger Zoul" wrote:

Well, I'm a diabetic and suffer from hot foot, but don't have any issues
other than on long rides in the heat. I can do centuriers in the
fall/spring and do not suffer hot foot. When the temps go up I do. I
have
a pair of well-fitting SPD sandals (Lakes). They don't help.

Artemisia is complaining of numb toes as well as hot foot so I would
worry about circulation in her case. You are obviously aware how
important this can be. I don't often get hot foot. When it has hit me
it has been on long rides in very hot weather. I can confirm that it
is excruciating but loosening the straps of my shoes does help. People
in sandals then laugh at me so I'm a little surprised you found they
don't help. Possibly not the magic bullet I had thought them to be
though.

I had a bit of numb toes when I started triking, but that hasn't been
problem for a while now. I too was suprised that the sandals didn't work as
hoped...I was obviouly looking for whatever solution I could find. Now I'm
at the point of considering different pedals. Something that spreads the
load, so to speak. Stiff sole shoes and bigger contact point should help
some.

The pain is unbelievable. For me, it would go away almost immediately after
getting the shoe off my foot...then a massage period was necessary before I
could start riding again...without that, the pain would come back
immediately.

It's too bad that Artemisia had to discover this on her 1st trike tour. I
feel badly about that.

On 7 mai, 23:42, "Roger Zoul" wrote:

It's too bad that Artemisia had to discover this on her 1st trike tour. I
feel badly about that.

Why? You had nothing to do with it.

On yesterday's short ride, a little over 20km, the cleats in the lower
position behaved much better. I didn't have any pain at all in the
first half, kept the shoes on for about an hour over lunch, and only
started suffering again as I was returning to the hotel. Today, last
day, another longish ride back to Avignon which I will try to shorten
as I can. In addition to cleat pain there have been other technical
issues, as well as scorchingly hot weather, so actually I'll be quite
happy to get back to my little corner in Isle de France.

Thanks everyone for your help. I'll post a full trip and trike review
when I get home.

EFR
Isle sur Sorgue