I’m doing a lot of road riding to get ready for a 24 hour ride in July. ‘m finding that after about 4-5 hours the balls of my feet are getting really sore, feels like too much pressure on them. Did a 100 miler yesterday and my feet still ache today.

I don’t have the same trouble on the mtb. Same shoes, same pedals. I’ve bought road shoes and pedals as I thought that would help but it’s no better.

I had a bike fit a few years ago when I first got a road bike but I’ve since changed bike and tried to match the setup. I generally feel comfortable everywhere except my feet (and bum to some extent but I can put up with that).

Anyone had a similar problem? Do you think it’s bike set-up related? Considering a bike fit but at £175 for a retul locally…. well I would pay if I was pretty sure it would help but don’t want to just throw money at the problem.

My money’s on needing footbeds

A bike fit is not going to help, as you say there’s no point throwing money at it until you’ve tried a few things.

Try putting the cleats back as far as they will go (and drop saddle a tad to compensate), and try to spin a lower gear. It might also be a symptom of ramping up the training somewhat.

Failing that, try the Specialized footbeds with the metatarsal spreader.

You may not get the problem on MTB as you’re not pedalling for as long and move around a lot more, that’s what I’ve found (pain does come eventually, takes a couple more hours than a road ride though).

Thanks. I’ve got the cleats back as far as they will go. I’ve got footbeds that were made for me at a bike fit I had a few years ago when I first got a road bike. They don’t seem to have any sort of metatarsal thing though – so might give the Spesh ones a go.

What shoes and pedals?

They’re SPD-SL pedals and Scott Road Pro shoes. But I get the same problem using Look Quartz pedals and Shimano shoes or winter boots on the road bike. The winter boots are much wider than the shoes so it doesn’t seem to be a width problem.

How closely does the fit on your road bike and MTB match in terms of your leg extension?
I had foot pain in one foot but only on my road bike, turned out that I wasn’t fully extending my leg on the road bike, so foot was always under pressure from above. Decent fit at shop with road and MTB in tow really helped, not to mention this shop is also a general outdoor sports place that has an onside podiatrist. Both worked together to find the problem. Not sure this is what you have going on but I’ve not had trouble since.
Almost forgot, I got new foot beds at the time too, the same style as the originals (super feet), but I needed to size up in the foot beds – a size larger than my shoes & cut them down to fit the shoes, quite common that the distance from heel to ball is proportionally longer than heel to toe or something like that.

BG footbeds are the answer. Pricey but good.

BG footbeds are good but they are not pricey. Sidas custom footbeds are expensive but worth it, (I have both) maybe get a pair of the BG ones instore where they can match your arch height but a proper bike fitter will look at your pedalling dynamics and sort any foot tilt/cleat position/footbeds better than any anecdotal internet advice or your own fiddling with position.

Thanks for the replies and advice. Think I’ll head to the bike shop where I got the road shoes – they do the BG insoles so would be worth a try, plus they can take a look at me on my bike and see if anything seems wrong.

Could it be as daft a thing as feet swelling in the heat we’ve been having lately? Is it an isolated foot pain or something you’ve been struggling with for weeks and months? I’ve no idea if this is actually feasible but have noticed my feet being sorer than usual in the hotter weather 😕

Like DanW says, are you sure your shoes aren’t just a bit tight? Feet swell up over time – I could easily see after 4-5 hours on the bike that you’d need to loosen them up a little.

How stiff are the soles?

I used to have the same and noticed that it was when feet got hotter, i would do the shoes up at start so that they felt just tight enough that foot wouldn’t slop around, but after 50-60 miles my feet would hurt, i noticed that if i loosened them off slightly it was much better. You have to allow for foot to swell slighly in heat.

Also had a set of esoles foot beds, which are great.

Shoes could be a bit too narrow I guess. I’ve got them pretty loose though and I’ve had the same problem with wide MTB boots. Gonna try the bike shop, they reckon they can fit me up with some BG insoles. If that doesn’t work I might just bite the bullet and get a retul done. There goes my new wheels though if I go that route!

spd’s heating the shoe, use a proper road pedal/shoe

Are SPD-SLs not a proper road pedal? And anyway like i said I get the same with MTB pedals.

Ah my mistake, missed the SL

I suffer the same issue, but only if I wear rubbish socks. Thin nylon’ish types seem to a cause friction burn sort of feeling?

I get this, I had a bike fit and hoped the cleat positioning bit would help. We tried cleats all nthe way back but that made it worse and I now run them forward again. I think footbeds are the answer. This is on proper road pedals too, and on MTB pedals on thee road bike. Never get it on the MTB though.

I had this problem, sort of numbness in front of foot.
Went to beeline in oxford, they fitted me with some footbeds,
Twenty quid I think, with the metatarsal doodah. He also advised the axle of the pedal should be under the widest part of the foot, ie the two sticky out bones on each side.
I moved the cleats right back to match this, have done 60 milers with no pain or numbness.

I’ve had custom footbeds in my various bike shoes for years but still get hot foot from time to time.

Look road pedal user for 25+ years and Egg shoe Eaters on MTB’s for 5+. Currently have Sidi, Carnac, Spesh and Northwave shoes of various types.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a combination of my mutant high instep, wide feet, + tending to be an out of saddle pedal masher.

I’d normally be sceptical of all the ‘try these insoles’ responses, but having used specialized shoes and/or insoles for a good few years (when doing mega miles too), I bought shimano shoes which fit fantastically but got the same issue after about 6 or 7 hours in the saddle in warmer weather – it was like one little point that just ached like buggery. Anyway, got new specialized insoles for them and they solved it even without any bedding in!