I’ve been doing a lot of big drops and big sets recently (7 and 8 sets), but I
keep bruising my feet.
Is there a trick to avoiding this? Would bigger
pedals help? I’m currently using oddysey twisted plastics. Should I roll out
faster? All help appreciated.
-Miles
I think that shoes [maybe] would have a lot to do with it. The more beefy the sole and more support the better. Tennis, running and other light weight shoes may not cut it if you’re doing big drops, etc. I wear hiking boots and have had no foot-related pain doing 4’ + drops. I thought about adding a padded insole but haven’t really needed it yet.
Hey Miles, I feel your pain, literaly. I too have suffered much at the hands of bruised feet. There are three ways to help prevent it from happening, but none are perfect.
As Terry said, get shoes that have a very stiff and very strong sole. I found when I was doing drops like that I was actualy busting the plastic supports in my shoes.
Get some pedals that have lots of contact areas with your feet. Odysees have three contact areas where the pressure will be applied
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They look like that, if you can get something that looks more like this:
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it would spread out the impact over a larger area. I have gotten some new pedals that do that, and I find it helps alot.
Some couple smaller tips are to roll out more, use larger cranks (put less pressure on your back foot when you slow down on the landing), jump less vertical, and always make sure your feet are fully healed before doing it again, even if you have changed equipment.
I found when I first hurt myself I would give myself a couple of days until the pain subsided from walking, but I would go and hurt it instantly. It is sad but you really have to give yourself a good enough break to fully heal.
I hope that helps, and isn’t too much of an essay for you,
Nathan
thanks alot.
maybe I wont do as many.
idk though.
I might look for some better pedals.
-Miles
Does anyone make a plastic pedal similar to these?
http://www.danscomp.com/465120.php?cat=PARTS
they seem like they would be awesome for drops and stuff
Why do you want/prefer plastic pedals?
what shoes are you using? anything that’s a really felxible/thin sole will cause your feet to get beaten up. stiffer/thicker soles will protect your feet.
Terry-He want’s plastic pedals because they are nice for flip tricks in street riding and don’t need a grind plate. Not to mention they’re dirt cheap.
Those Dk Iron cross pedals look nice for flip tricks if they ain’t to heavy. You should make a post on em to find out if anyone has used em.
those Iron cross peds weigh just about 2lbs…pretty heavy indeed.
hmm never mind I sudenly don’t want them. I made a thread on some plastic ones a few days ago, I think they have a pretty big surface area. I’ll go check…
But he can’t do flip tricks. If you are bruising your feet try to find some pedals with a bigger platform.
Oh well^^ he can still grind without a grind plate 
You can grind without a grind plate with metal pedals with no problem. You just need to remove the pins. I find magnesium pedals even slide better than plastic.
Monoblocks.
wow…
unfortunantly, I dont want metal pedals…
I already have 2 awesome sets of metal muni/ trials pedals, but I dont like metals for street.
-Miles
I’d say something about tire pressure but you probably already have that where it needs to be. I’d say something about losing weight but you don’t have any to lose. I’ve been on the lookout for some non-cleated cycling shoes for a while now. Something with a non-flexible sole but a grippy base. Regular shoes are made to be flexible.
Those are very cool looking pedals in the previous post. Heavy?
What’s your foot position when doing drops? Ball or center of foot? Where do the bruises occur?
inbetween my ball and center of the foot.
heh, I could only lose about a pound if I tried:p
I’m using some skateshoes right now, and Ive actually been replacing the soles because they seem to deteriorate. I might try one of those gel sole pad things.
-Miles
In addition to the other comments, consider getting a set of 661 lace-up ankle guards. They wrap around your arch with a tough cordura-like fabric and give some good arch support and, of course, ankle support. In any case, they should help with bruising. No guarantees, but I have had good success with them myself, and think they would help quite a bit.
I’m about to start using their ankle biters, and I’ll see if they help. The full on race brace looks a little bit restricting though. Is it?
Not that I’ve found, for off-road and that kind of stuff. They do settle in a little, and also you have a lot of control with the laces. Note also that they do serve in some capacity as ankle guards, since both sides have not-really-padded stiffeners with ankle bone cups. The other cool thing is that they take up almost no room in the shoes.
I haven’t really tried them with the freestyle unicycle, but for freestyle I’d probably want to have more ankle freedom, at least for wheel-walking and that kind of stuff.