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Archives for October 2008

Anticipation

10.16.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

What a week it’s been. First the crash Sunday, then rain Tuesday when I wanted to do my regular evening ride. I was late at the office both Wednesday and today. In other words, I haven’t been on the bike.

Soreness from the crash persists.  I’ve got a beauty of a bruise on my lower back where I landed on my cell phone, and my knee is tender.  Full range of motion has returned to my right arm and my neck, so I should be good to go.

I’m still managing to do bikey things, though. Tonight I thoroughly checked over the bike to make sure there were no funny noises. I cleaned the chain and the rear cassette. I inspected the tires for any cracks or cuts or other weak spots.  I cleaned the brake pads of gunk (there wasn’t much to speak of).

Why all the attention? My first-ever century ride is Saturday. I’ll be in the Outlaw Trail 100 in Round Rock, Texas. It’s an event I’m looking forward to. Weather around here has moderated some, and the forecast calls for a low of 54°F Saturday morning, but a warm up into the 80s during the day.  That should make for easier riding, I hope.  I’ll have the good, the bad, and the ugly here Saturday night.

On an unrelated note, I’m  happy to report that I was able to register for the MS150 Houston-to-Austin ride next April.  The field of 13,000 riders was filled in only six and a half hours.  Amazing.  Now, I’ll have to find a team.

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Categories // Rides Tags // MS 150, Outlaw Trail 100, Rides, soreness

Some new numb foot advice

10.14.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

Something is going on out there with all sorts of riders, and it’s not good. It has to do with foot numbness. I’ve noticed that some of my more recent posts aren’t getting as much readership as I thought they would, but some older posts I’ve done dealing with my numb toe problem continue to get readers on a daily basis.

So what’s up? Are we a community of sore-footed cyclists?

I’m at the point where I have decided to tolerate my numb toe situation. I like to stop for a break every hour or so — maybe a little longer — and when I do, my numb toe problem solves itself. Even when I was smarting the other day after my crash, and my toe was screaming at me in agony, when the group stopped for a break and I walked for a few minutes, the problem was gone (of course, I was so sore in other places that I really didn’t stop to think about my feet until later, when I realized the toe had stopped burning).

Here’s a little something that might help some folks out there. It’s an article from Road Bike Rider, a web site I visit on at least a weekly basis. They’ve got several ideas about foot pain — they call it “hot foot” — and they invite bloggers to reprint their article. So here it is:

How to Solve Painful ‘Hot Foot’

By Fred Matheny for www.RoadBikeRider.com

In cycling, it’s known as “hot foot” — a burning pain in the ball of the foot, perhaps radiating toward the toes. Severe cases feel like some sadistic demon is applying a blowtorch.

Hot foot occurs most often on long rides. It may develop sooner or more intensely on hilly courses because climbs cause greater pedaling pressure. The pain results when nerves are squeezed between the heads of each foot’s five long metatarsal bones. These heads are in the wide part of the foot (the “ball”) just behind the toes.

My worst case of hot foot occurred on a 3,400-mile, 24-day transcontinental ride. With an average distance of 140 miles per day, no rest days and more than 100,000 feet of vertical gain, my dogs were smoking by the third week.

My RBR partner, Ed Pavelka, remembers being in agony near the end of one 225-mile ride early in his long-distance career. It was his first experience with hot foot, and the problem plagued him that season until he changed to larger shoes. Feet always swell on long rides (more so in hot weather), causing pressure inside shoes that normally fit fine.

“Hot foot” is actually a misnomer. It’s not heat but rather pressure on nerves that causes the burning sensation. You’ll sometimes see riders squirting water on their pups in a vain attempt to put out the fire.

Besides tight shoes, another risk factor is small pedals, especially if you have large feet. Small pedal surfaces concentrate pressure on the ball of the foot instead of spreading it the way a larger pedal will. If your cycling shoes have flexible soles like most mountain bike shoes, they’ll be less able to diffuse pressure.

Before Ed figured out his shoe-size problem, he tried to solve the pain with cortisone injections. That’s an unnecessary extreme in most cases — and it’s not fun to have a doctor stick a needle between your toes. Here are several better solutions.

  • Adjust shoe straps. It’s the top strap nearest your ankle that stops your feet from slopping around in your shoes. Tighten it as much as necessary, but keep the strap nearest your toes loose for maximum room.

  • Use thinner insoles and/or socks. This will give your feet more room to swell without restriction, especially helpful if your shoes are borderline snug.

  • Re-focus the pressure. Many riders solve hot foot by moving their cleats to the rear by as much as 8 mm. Long-distance enthusiast may go back as far as the cleat slots allow. They might even drill new rearward holes. After using this remedy, lower your saddle by the same amount if you moved your cleats backward 2-4 mm. If more than 4 mm, lower the saddle about half the amount. So, if your cleats go back 1 cm, put the saddle down 5 mm.

  • Add metatarsal buttons. These foam domes are placed on insoles (or are built into them) just behind the ball of the foot. They spread the metatarsal bones so the nerves running between them aren’t pinched by pressure or swelling. You can find these products in the foot-care section of drug stores.

  • Switch to larger pedals, for the reason mentioned above.

  • Buy new shoes. Look for a model with a wider-and-higher toe box, a stiffer sole and an anatomical footbed with a metatarsal button. One model that meets these specs is the Specialized BG, with versions for road and off-road.

  • Purchase custom orthotics. These plastic footbeds are supplied by podiatrists or sports medicine clinics. Among their biomechanical benefits are built-in metatarsal buttons. Be certain the practitioner understands you’re a cyclist, because orthotics for runners are not what you need. Cycling is a forefoot activity, not a heel-strike activity.

For more information on hot foot, orthotics and other foot-related issues, see “Andy Pruitt’s Medical Guide for Cyclists,” available as an eBook in the online eBookstore at RoadBikeRider.com.

Receive a FREE copy of the eBook “29 Pro Cycling Secrets for Roadies” by subscribing to the RoadBikeRider Newsletter at www.RoadBikeRider.com. No cost or obligation!

I’ll be interested in hearing if these suggestions help any. I’ve been kicking around several ideas, such as wider shoes, switching to touring style pedals with a wider base and SPD-compatible mountain bike shoes. Let me know what works for you.

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Categories // Accessories Tags // hot foot, numb, shoes, toe

Everybody falls

10.12.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 13 Comments

We took a longer Sunday ride than usual this morning, to get ready for some long organized rides several of us will do soon.  We went to San Marcos, Texas — abut 35 miles south of Austin.

The San Marcos River’s headwaters are at a spring-fed lake in town. A park on the university campus straddles the river (in the Midwest, where I grew up, we’d call it a creek), and everyone oohed and aahed at the crystal clear cold clean water.

But we had to head back. About four miles out, the road takes a sharp turn. My new frame mounted pump was getting jolted by the rough chip seal road surface, and the hose had come loose. It was banging against my knee on every pedal stroke. I leaned forward and reached down to try to get it back in its cradle.

The road hit a bridge over the Blanco River. The expansion joint at the edge of the bridge was mounded up with sand and dirt. My front wheel hit the two-inch high mound, and a series of bad things happened.

The mound slowed the front wheel almost to a stop. Since my weight was forward, I lurched even more forward. The wheel jerked to the side. I knew I was going down.

Time really does slow in a situation like this. In my case, I saw things unraveling in super-slow motion. I saw the wheel slow, then turn. I saw that I was leaving the saddle, and that my body was being propelled up and over the handlebars. A classic endo.

Because things were happening so slowly, I could actually think my way through it. Roll, I said to myself. So I twisted to hit the pavement on the back of my right shoulder, and somersaulted to a sitting position.

That's all?  Big wup.
That's all? Big wup.

Everyone stopped in horror. They gathered around to check out my damages, which weren’t bad. I hadn’t hit my head, and the only damage that was obvious was a nice bloody strawberry on my elbow. The back of the shoulder where I had hit was just dirty, not torn (good thing — it was my favorite jersey).  “You got some impressive height to your trajectory,” said one of the riders.

I had one guy pour some water over it, and we resumed the ride. But the combination of the soreness and the pace we had set on the way down (I finished the 34+ miles to San Marcos at a 17.2 mph pace, way faster than I usually go) had taken it out of me. By the time we got to Buda, I was ready to pack it in. That’s when I discovered the other casualty of the ride — my cell phone.

Time for an upgrade.
Time for an upgrade.

I borrowed a phone from one of the other riders, and called home.

“Honey? I’m at the Walgreen’s in Buda. Can you come pick me up?” (I think I detect an unwelcome pattern here.)

It turned out later that although cracked and otherwise damaged, the phone still worked.

I once read a comment, either in a book, magazine, or an online forum, that went, “When you crash — and you will…” At the time, I thought it didn’t apply to me. I was too, ahem, mature, too careful for that. But I guess everybody crashes at one time or another. At least, that’s what I tell myself to make myself feel better about this situation.

What did I learn? If it’s important enough to require your attention, it’s important enough to stop the bike to attend to it.

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Categories // Rides Tags // crash, endo

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