# Can your feet get smaller?



## Jim the Giant rider (Jul 15, 2005)

I have been cycling about 100 miles a week for about 3 months now. Before this I really did not do any real exercise. When I started cycling, I bought myself a reasonable pair of shoes, with carbon soles. When I bought them, they fit really nice, not tight, but certainly snug on all parts of my foot. Now, when I really try to pull back or unweight my leg when coming back to the top, I feel my foot shifting & slopping around in the shoe... The shoes are Shimano SH-R130 if that helps. I guess they could have stretched out, but it seems unlikely. They still fit well at the ankle as you have a lot more adjustment there. Same socks by the way.

Honestly, my foot looks thinner or rather narrower and my toes look slimmer (sounds stupid, huh?) I wear clogs most of the time so I can't really compare to my everyday shoes. I have lost about 3-4% of body fat and maybe about 10 lbs or so.

I'm thinking I can wear these shoes as the weather cools with thicker socks, but do I need new shoes? Who makes more narrow shoes?

Do I need to budget for new shoes every year? Is this a cycling thing, i.e. the more I ride the narrower my feet become? Will they eventually resemble a golf club?

Thoughts?


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## Jesse D Smith (Jun 11, 2005)

Jim the Giant rider said:


> I have been cycling about 100 miles a week for about 3 months now. Before this I really did not do any real exercise. When I started cycling, I bought myself a reasonable pair of shoes, with carbon soles. When I bought them, they fit really nice, not tight, but certainly snug on all parts of my foot. Now, when I really try to pull back or unweight my leg when coming back to the top, I feel my foot shifting & slopping around in the shoe... The shoes are Shimano SH-R130 if that helps. I guess they could have stretched out, but it seems unlikely. They still fit well at the ankle as you have a lot more adjustment there. Same socks by the way.
> 
> Honestly, my foot looks thinner or rather narrower and my toes look slimmer (sounds stupid, huh?) I wear clogs most of the time so I can't really compare to my everyday shoes. I have lost about 3-4% of body fat and maybe about 10 lbs or so.
> 
> ...



If you're quite overweight, you're feet can get slimmer, less bloated. But then again, most shoes stretch as they get broken in.


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## Cory (Jan 29, 2004)

*In theory, synthetics don't stretch, leather does...*

I don't know how absolute this is, but I did quite a bit of research before I bought shoes last year (I wear size 51/US 15, so it's an expensive undertaking), and one of the things I stumbled across was that leather will conform to the shape and size of your foot, but manmade materials are as good as they're going to be the first time you put them on. If they're leather, they certainly could have stretched, but I've ridden a long way (at least 8,000 miles) in my old manmade Diadoras, and they haven't changed at all.
One suggestion: How about looking at someplace like REI for insoles to take up the slack? They carry a wide range of them in many thicknesses for all kinds of activities, and that's one place shoe manufacturers sometimes cut corners anyway. I've used them in hiking and running shoes, and a good insole makes a big difference.


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## WAZCO (Sep 16, 2004)

*shrink to fit*

When I lived in AZ, I used to leave my biking shoes in my car after a each ride. I find it to be expensive mistake. My shoes would get baked in the car causing it to shrink (leather or synthetic). I'd recommend this technique if you don't want to spend money. Depending on where you live, it may take longer to shrink. In Arizona, if it's 100 degree outside, It's likely 30-40 degree hotter in the cars. Just an idea.


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## Jesse D Smith (Jun 11, 2005)

Cory said:


> I don't know how absolute this is, but I did quite a bit of research before I bought shoes last year (I wear size 51/US 15, so it's an expensive undertaking), and one of the things I stumbled across was that leather will conform to the shape and size of your foot, but manmade materials are as good as they're going to be the first time you put them on. If they're leather, they certainly could have stretched, but I've ridden a long way (at least 8,000 miles) in my old manmade Diadoras, and they haven't changed at all.
> One suggestion: How about looking at someplace like REI for insoles to take up the slack? They carry a wide range of them in many thicknesses for all kinds of activities, and that's one place shoe manufacturers sometimes cut corners anyway. I've used them in hiking and running shoes, and a good insole makes a big difference.


Recently, I think I've discovered a problem with adding innersoles to make up a size difference. My left foot is smaller than my right. Recently, I added a simple foam Spenso innersole to my left shoe on top of the very nice standard Carnac innersole that came with the shoe. Now, I get real bad pain in the toes and ball of my foot. I have an idea that the same principle that can make soft, pillowy saddles actually MORE uncomfortable applies to shoes as well. 
I still want to take up the extra space in the left shoe, so I'm experimenting with putting the Spenso innersole underneath the harder, but better formed Carnac innersole. If I had a way to take up the extra space by adding material on TOP of my foot, I'd try that, but that would involve using contact cement and foam to the underside of the tongue and inside the upper.


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## Bikinfoolferlife (Aug 13, 2004)

I have the opposite problem, mine get larger (wider as well as longer) the older I get, even though the last 5 years I've dropped weight. I used to wear a 42.5 at one point, now it's a 45.5 or 46...


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## Rthur2sheds (Jul 30, 2004)

I lost 30 lbs this spring AND a half size in cycling shoes


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

Bikinfoolferlife said:


> I have the opposite problem, mine get larger (wider as well as longer) the older I get, even though the last 5 years I've dropped weight. I used to wear a 42.5 at one point, now it's a 45.5 or 46...


might be cancer.


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

Forget about the feet, what about the penis?


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## WAZCO (Sep 16, 2004)

*Can't keep your partner happy can you?*



rocco said:


> Forget about the feet, what about the penis?


You walk into that one.


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

WAZCO said:


> You walk into that one.


Not a problem... I've always had wide feet.


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## djg21 (Oct 25, 2003)

Jesse D Smith said:


> Recently, I think I've discovered a problem with adding innersoles to make up a size difference. My left foot is smaller than my right. Recently, I added a simple foam Spenso innersole to my left shoe on top of the very nice standard Carnac innersole that came with the shoe. Now, I get real bad pain in the toes and ball of my foot. I have an idea that the same principle that can make soft, pillowy saddles actually MORE uncomfortable applies to shoes as well.
> I still want to take up the extra space in the left shoe, so I'm experimenting with putting the Spenso innersole underneath the harder, but better formed Carnac innersole. If I had a way to take up the extra space by adding material on TOP of my foot, I'd try that, but that would involve using contact cement and foam to the underside of the tongue and inside the upper.


Adding insoles under one foot is a bad idea. Assuming that you do not have an appreciable leg-length discrepancy, you should not be increasing the distance between the pedal spindle and just one of your feet. Such a "remedy will only lead to lower back and other alignment problems. If your left foot is that much smaller than your right, you may wish to have shoes made for you! Take a look at:

http://d2customfootwear.com/

BTW, it's not the insole per se that causes the pain in your foot. Rather, it sounds like you have effectively made your shoe narrower, and by compressing your metatarsels (the knuckles of your feet), you are also compressing the nerves and blood vessels that travel through the metatarsels to your toes. Loose the spencos. At the very least, have some decent custom insoles made. They will put your feet in a neutral position, and then you will be able to gauge better whether your shoes are properly sized!


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