Thank you, Chris; I’ll file this away in my mental archive in case fiddling with SPD shoes and pedals doesn’t fix the problem.
Improving: Today is grand. I still feel a wee distant ghost of a, what, “pinch”? — in the ball of my left foot right now, but the merest memory of a sensation. When I walked 1/4 mile to Albertson’s just now, in my Merrill walking shoes with aftermarket inserts (bought for cycling, in fact, but not used for that) with “metatarsal button” in large letters (I could not identify a bump, but perhaps there is something there), I was very pleased that I felt no pain. +/< 1/2 mile, but before even a few yards in these shoes with these inserts would bring it on, and I had already planned to remove the inserts for some other undefined alternative. Yesterday, in the new to me Euro 46 Shimanos, my left foot hurt badly after just a mile or so; I persisted riding until about the 7 mile point where there was a convenient bench, where I moved my left cleat back a few more mm. Rode another 2 m; still hurt. Rode back to bench, shoved cleat *all* the way back, and did same to right shoe. Rode the 7 miles home (20 total, 75” fixed, wind and some short but steep hills). Felt light residual pain but far, far better than at the outset. I do believe that dramatically rearward cleats might be the principal remedy, and I will ride a few more dozens of miles with such cleats before I think about other remedies. Also, I’ll be visiting family back East for a week, and I’ll be off the bike, so perhaps R&R will also help. I think I’ve moved my cleats back at least 1 cm from their earlier, mid foot position; but I’m glad that I haven’t noticed that this adversely affects my pedaling. It’s not that I spin madly anyway; I’m a masher and run out of breath at high r’s pm.* *Completely aside, but interesting to me: on longer steeper climbs during group rides recently I’ve found myself dropped by other riders while climbing, as I got out of breath surprisingly fast. I was riding these hills on the Roadeo with unaccustomed low gear options. It dawned on me that ,since I’m used to mashing, twiddling in low gears might be less efficient, for me. So I switched to grinding at lower rpm in higher gears and yes, I found my speed increase (slightly) while my oxygen deficit dropped. Interesting. On Wed, Jun 10, 2026 at 12:29 PM Chris Halasz <[email protected]> wrote: > Patrick > > Checking in to see how you're progressing and (hopefully) improving. I > > Anecdotal input: I experienced excruciating pain in the mornings, straight > out of bed, strongly correlated with the introduction of clipless (SPD) > pedals. Very comfy shoes, very nice SPD road pedals. > > Tried multiple placement of clip location on the sole, with no > improvement. Used to race and ride clipless for decades, Grant P convinced > me to try otherwise, which I did, a couple decades ago, and no noticeable > performance change, so stuck with it, until about a year and a half ago, > when I thought I'd try them again. I felt your pain. > > Anecdotal remedy: We went on travel, no bikes, for a couple weeks. I was > apprehensive of long walks, given the state of my (one) foot, and had only > brought Birkenstocks, thinking I wouldn't be walking *that* much. Not > happening. Walked nine miles in the Birkenstocks the first day, and pretty > much the same most other days. Within a couple days, the pain was > *completely* gone. Gone. I'm now riding flat pedals again, with > Birkenstocks. > > Hey, they're lighter than bike shoes (about a half pound), breath great, > and somewhere out there on the internet I recall a photo of Tom Ritchey > touring through Europe on Birks. > > Again, wishing you recovery and as good a solution. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/81993714-497f-4664-9535-535e0357b1dan%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/81993714-497f-4664-9535-535e0357b1dan%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *When thou didst not, savage, k**now thine own meaning,* *But wouldst gabble like a** thing most brutish,* *I endowed thy purposes w**ith words that made them known.* -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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