Last Sunday I did my first long ride (about 64 miles) with some Campagnolo Pro-Fit clipless pedals, when I did the (quite hilly)
Nailsworth Mini Sportive. After the first hour or so the ends of both my feet started to go a bit numb (though my feet didn't feel cold and I was wearing Pearl Izumi toe covers overs my shoes), then after the second major climb I started to feel some pain/discomfort, especially under the left foot - felt almost like there was a narrow bar perpendicular to my foot digging in, just behind the balls of my feet - though if anything on the left foot I think the cleat was mounted too far
forward and the pedal spindle was perhaps slightly in front of the ball of my foot. The shoes have a rigid carbon sole, so I shouldn't have
actually felt anything through them as such. The pain/discomfort subsided a little after most of the big climbs were out of the way, so I was able to finish, but it still wasn't great.
I guess it's
possible some of the numbness was down to having the boas on the Specialized Torch 2.0 shoes too tight, though I didn't think to slacken them off at all at the time, as the shoes didn't
feel that tight or otherwise feel uncomfortable. It's also quite possible (in fact quite likely) that I don't have the cleats in the right position, especially on the left, though I'm finding it quite difficult to figure out how to position them in the optimum way, despite initially having some help from the shop where I bought the shoes and subsequently reading some guides.
Any tips? Could cleat position have a big impact on numbness/comfort on long rides?I'm wondering if part of the discomfort may be down to the Campagnolo Pro-Fit pedals themselves, which have a platform quite a bit smaller than more "modern" clipless designs, though I would have thought with a rigid carbon sole, the platform size shouldn't matter so much? I'm a bit loathe to ditch the Campagnolo pedals, though, as otherwise I like them very much - unlike other 3-bolt cleat systems I've tried (Look, SPD-L), it's very easy to clip-out (whilst still providing good retention when riding), which I appreciate very much when riding in traffic, the bearings are wonderfully smooth (probably doesn't make much difference to performance, but feels nice when pedaling) and, well, they're shiny and look great...
I found them a little tricky to clip into at first, but the bearings have now freed up a bit, so they tend to hang back end down most of the time now and I'm also probably just getting the knack of clipping in.
When I checked out some (new) Look Keo pedals, as well as being harder to clip out of, the bearings felt much rougher in comparison and I didn't like the idea of the open spring design.