Loosen or tighten shoe straps when feet start hurting

[dekindy]

I was told to curl my toes up when tightening my bottom two shoe straps to give some room for my feet as they swell while riding and to loosen the straps to account for swelling if my feet start hurting while I am riding. It is okay to tighten the third strap, the one around the ankle and usually a buckle, as tight as possible to hold the shoe securely.

A riding buddy that just started riding says that he was told to tighten his straps if his feet started hurting because his feet sliding around inside the shoe is why feet hurt.

My feet always feel better if I loosen the straps while riding and I have never seen anyone recommending to tighten the straps, have you? :confused:

[rustychisel]

No.

I say loosen the straps. Feet swell after a couple of hours hard riding, especially in hot weather.

[regularguy412]

You might also want to try loosening that top buckle/strap a little when your feet hurt. Unless you are sprinting or climbing hard, it's usually more comfortable to allow your foot to 'breathe'.

If you have the ratchet straps, it's pretty easy to tighten them back up on the fly if you need to.

Mike in AR:beer:

[konstantkarma]

loose. If my Sidis are tight my feet always cramp.

[Birddog]

I know of a couple people who say to tighten the straps when you get a little hotfoot. Personally, when my feet start to cramp a bit, I just concentrate on keeping my heel down on my stroke and it usually clears right up.

Birddog

[MattTuck]

Not sure my feet ever hurt... the soles of my feet just go numb. Not sure if this is the same idea as "hot foot".

I curl my toes at that point, and ride for a few minutes like that and it seems to work.... still a pain in the butt, I wish I just had comfortable shoes.

[Alan]

Foot pain while cycling is not acceptable nor normal. A place to start is semi custom insoles like the esole product. Also using cleat wedges correctly can make a big difference. I have found that the foot-pedal interface is the most critical for me. Cyclingnews has the best articles about cleat placement and foot problems that I have noted.

Read this link:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=2004/letters07-26

There are some good paragraphs in it.

Alan

[Pete Serotta]

I find that making them loose help with my feet. Tightening for me just adds to the pain. It has worked for me on Specialized and on Sidi shoes that way.


Also if your friend is just starting to ride and they are new shoes...there could be some "getting use to" between foot and shoe happening. Additionally I have tried the "soles" for about $35 from REI and they have helped on SIDI> The Specialized were good right out of the box.


Pete

[Ti Designs]

I like to keep my shoes on my feet, left shoe on the left foot, right shoe on the right foot (I have mine color coded just to be sure). And if I follow my leg down I can almost always find my feet. With such easy access to my feet and shoes I find it's easy to experiment with the straps.

[gman]

I tend to ride with my shoes a bit snug, but in the summertime, I ride with the upper strap (ratchet on my Sidi Genius 5.5) tight. I pull the middle just so it's snug with very little tension and I leave the lower strap just pulled over loosely.

Works for me quite well. YMMV.