I may have made an expensive mistake

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I retired, didn’t want to, but sometimes things happen. I have high blood pressure, and I’m diabetic. So I have edema or dropsy if you prefer and all my extremities have some degree of fluid build-up.

My Doctor has been on my case to exercise and truly I do need to do that. I also had lower back fusion some years ago and walking is’t that comfortable. The potentially expensive mistake; I bought a Tricycle Recumbent.

This is the third recumbent I’ve owned and they are easy on the back and bum, those considerations were a significant factor in choosing a recumbent. It’s also more than ten years since I rode any kind of human powered machine and I am not in such good shape that I had high expectations for riding fast enough to keep my balance, hence the tricycle configuration.

As it proved on my first ride, so short I am embarrassed to say that the distance and duration were, I was grinding along at one and a half miles an hour, an overpass for a railroad being the short grade in question.

Why might this prove problematic? The the bottom of my feet started to hurt, and not a little. I was sure that I would find that I had bruised the bottom of my feet. Not so, but a genuine concern.

The pluses: my back doesn’t hurt, my posterior doesn’t hurt and my knees don’t hurt any more than usual.

Now I am going off on a bit of a tangent but it may help explain things to some extent. In my experience it is very difficult to keep your feet on the pedals of a recumbent, it is also my experience that cages or traps do not work at all well. So I had the dealer exchange the trap type pedals for pedals with clips and bought a pair of cycling shoes designed for use with clips, which the dealer installed for me.

I did get the widest pedals that I could but there was still a relatively small area where the force is concentrated.

I don’t know that there is more to say, but if folks have questions i will try to answer them.

Zuer-coli

2

Pardon missed the edit window,

I fear I have made an unwise investment, if I injure my feet, it will be difficult to remedy due to the high blood pressure, diabetes and edema.

Zuer-coli

3

Proper cycling shoes have a stiff sole so all the power is transmitted rather than compressing the dole. You have those now so that’s one step in the right direction.

A recumbent is heavier than a diamond frame so you need to use even lower gearing for a given incline. Spin, don’t grind.

4

Running Coach,

Thanks for the reply, unfortunately even with 28 speeds, I was in the lowest one on that grade. None the less I have always been more of a “grind it out” over “spin it out” person.

Zuer-coli

5

What kind of pedals did you get? I used TIME pedals for years, but then switched to Frog pedals for awhile many years ago. But with those, I found that on long rides it felt like I was pedaling on the tip of a pin, and my feet hurt like hell. I used the Frog pedals for a few months, and then switched back to Time. Made a huge difference.

Running coach is right, though. Learn to spin. It might seem unnatural at first, but you’ll do better in the long run.

6

Can you avoid the grade until you gain some fitness?

7

As a diabetic, I’m sure you know to check your feet for injury. Don’t neglect your feet!

StG

8

I know you said the distance was embarrassingly short. Shorten it. Avoid any kind of grade. For the first little bit, it may literally be to the end of the drive and back - and that’s okay.

9

John Mace,

Exustar BK pedals, about 4 inches / 100 mm wide perpendicular to the pedal axes, closer examination suggests that most of the pedal force goes through the clip mechanism.

Runnin, coach, ha, this is north central Indiana, perhaps not the flattest area, but there are very few grades that folks living in rougher terrain would allow the dignity of the description “hill”. I am just learning some of the peculiarities of my tricycle and went out of my way somewhat just to have the chance to roll down this overpass. Some of the behaviors of two steering wheels in front and the single drive wheel in the rear require some experience and experimenting to master.

Thank you both for your thoughtful responses.

Zuer-coli

10

Zuer-coli,

I suspect that you know this already, but just want to make 100% sure. You want to have the pedal axle go through the ball of your foot- NOT on the arch. Pedal shoes are designed that way and help greatly with the placement, but I see 100s of people every day pedaling without a clue on their foot placement. I would think they would accidentally figure it out at some point, but it seriously makes a huge difference.

And if you do have clip pedals and shoes, move the placement around a bit as even a couple of mm is noticeable once you are close to your sweet spot!

11

Join a gym with recumbent-style bikes. My gym has many where you sit in a large seat with a backrest. The pedals are very large. I can’t see how you would hurt your feet. Plus, they have a wide range of other machines which are no- or very low impact, such as rowers and elliptical machines. And with machines, you don’t have to deal with real-world environments like bad roads, cars, lights, hills, rain, wind, etc. True, it’s not as enjoyable as riding outside, but you’re much less likely to injure yourself. From what you said, it sounds like you would put yourself in a serious health risk if you were to get any type of injury. When selecting an exercise activity in your health, you should look at what would be the best from a medical perspective for your condition rather than something that might be fun but could have serious consequences.

12

Poysyn,

Shortening the route is certainly one of the things I will do.

Disheavel,

Thanks for the tip about moving the location of the shoe fitting.

Filmore,

What I didn’t mention was the other purpose of getting this Tricycle. As I am now retired I want to manage expenses a little better. In addition to the trike I got a bike trailer and did all my grocery shopping on Saturday, I plan on doing as much of my fetching and carrying as possible with the goal of using my car as little as possible. So while the notion of a gym has considerable merit, it doesn’t seem to fit with my goals.

Thank all of you for your kind suggestions.

Zuer-coli

13

This is a good idea. After a few weeks you will have build up some muscles and your feet may have gotten used to the pedals. You will probably find that your recumbent is much easier to ride after some training.

14

As running_coach said, cycling shoes have stiff soles. The size of the pedal itself doesn’t matter at all. If your current cycling shoes aren’t very stiff, you might benefit from a stiffer pair.

Which brand/model bike? It’s very probable that a bike shop can fit it with even lower gears. It may involve replacing the cranks to allow for smaller chainrings. It’s a simple component change that any bike shop should be able to do.

I second the recommendation for Frog pedals. They have a feature called free float - it just means there is no spring that tries to point the shoe in a particular direction. This really eases the stress on your knees and ankles. (Though I’m not sure if it affects the bottom of your feet.)

Some people like cycling sandals. These are sandals that work with clipless pedals. Unfortunately they don’t have very stiff soles, but are nice and cool. You do have to commit a fashion faux pas though (i.e. socks with sandals).

I’ve also heard that insoles with arch support can help with foot pain.

Also, don’t just push on the pedals, turn them in circles. You can practice by riding with just one foot on the pedal, turning the cranks the whole way with just one foot. If you imitate that motion all the time, you will be using your entire foot to apply power, not just your soles.

15

Thank you all for your kind and considerate replies.

I have been trying to ride some every day if its only a few miles. My feet start to hurt at about the five mile mark and so I have been trying to plan my rides with stops and relatively short distances.

Again I would like to thank everyone who took the time to respond.

Zuer-coli