Obviously it has been more than a week since I gave an update on the eSole experiment. I’m going to try my best and give you all a play by play on how my personal experience with the eSoles went down.
Day 1
Received the eSoles. They shipped fast and were the right size. That’s an excellent start. I started with the next to the highest arch support (orange) and the smaller metatarsal bumps. I didn’t have a chance to ride but I did slip the shoes on to walk around a bit. The arches felt “slightly intrusive”, as Steve Hogg said they should.
Day 2
First ride was a KMA class. Click that link to check out some videos and see what your missing. Anyhow, the eSoles felt strange at first and my knees where tracking much differently than before. Previously my knees and ankles were both collapsing in. I could correct this issue when I really put my mind to it but the eSoles took over that job so my mind could focus on pushing more watts.
The two big differences that I noticed were that the bottom of my pedal stroke felt silky smooth, and my right knee had some tracking issues still. The silky smoothness only got silkier as I increased my watts but my right knee tracking seemed to get worse. It felt like the eSoles had over-corrected and my knee was being pulled to the outside. I suspected this may be a hip issue and the eSoles just happened to shine some light on the issue.
Day 3
Working as a personal trainer has its many benefits, one of which is having access to gym equipment all day, another is the opportunity to foam roll and stretch with every client I train. After training my first few clients of the morning and participating in the the foam rolling and stretching that accompanies each session, I had a short break in my schedule where I completed a few hip specific stretches using a strength band. I’ve had hip issues in the past and these stretches (click here to check out the stretches I was doing) along with some specific myo-fascia release work always seem to do the trick. I should probably do these stretches more often but if it doesn’t hurt I don’t think about it.
Later that day I hopped on the trainer to do a Tempo ride. The knee tracking/hip issue felt much better. When I finished the ride I noticed a slight discomfort on the bottom of my feet where the arch supports were being a little too intrusive. I figured this was part of the adaptation process and it would be best to wait a bit longer before making another change.
I noticed during todays ride and the next few rides that my foot didn’t feel connected to the shoe like it previously had when I was sprinting or climbing in a big gear. Something about the different insoles actually gave me more room in the shoe and I had to tighten my straps down a bit more. Haven’t had any issues with this specific problem since I figured out how to tighten my straps better.
Day 4
I completed my foam rolling and hip stretches in the morning like yesterday and noticed a pain in the arches of my feet. When I started my training ride later in the afternoon the pain in my arches started getting worse. Both were a feet were uncomfortable but the right foot that was giving me the most trouble.
I figured the pain in my right foot was from having too high of an arch support so I went home started playing around with the different arch heights and metatarsal bumps that are supplied. When I put in smaller arch support it felt too low and almost no different than the old flimsy inserts I had before. I put the arch supports I had been using back in and tried switching out the metatarsal bumps. I previously had the thinner of the two options in both shoes and when I switched to the bigger bumps I noticed an immediate difference. The left foot felt strange and the right foot suddenly felt great. I switched back to the thinner bump on the left foot and I was finally feeling almost normal on both sides. The true test would be my training rides over the weekend.
Days 5-7 and beyond
Friday was an easy ride and my feet felt okay, not great. Saturday and Sunday were more challenging rides and they never really started to feel great but the pain was noticeably less than before.
Over the course of the next few weeks the eSoles became less and less noticeable. I had actually forgotten about them being in my shoes until I went for a bike fitting last Friday. Captain Curt (BG fit expert) at the bike stop said everything checked out and we were even able to get my position a bit lower since my flexibility had improved since my last fitting 3 years ago. Apparently all that foam rolling and stretches works. Crazy huh?
Summary
I would highly recommend eSoles to anybody that plans on doing any sort of extensive riding or has structural issues that may be resulting in a loss of power or pain. There is certainly a break-in period and experimentation required in order to find the right combination of arch support and metatarsal bump thickness.
Insoles, bike fits, custom shoes, etc., can be helpful in addressing pain and other structural issues that may be hindering your cycling performance. In my opinion they should be used in conjunction with a well designed strength training and flexibility program that has been customized to address your specific goals and limitations. Also, learn how to use a foam roller, your body will thank you.
