rosefarts

The details here.

I wouldn’t say I’ve got the worlds best ankles but they don’t generally hurt. Never been broken and the only times I’ve rolled my ankles I’ve been able to walk it off. I’m just under 20 for my BMI, so I am probably not stressing my joints too badly.

I’ve been riding my whole life without any issues. I started mountain biking about 3 years ago and got more into it a year ago with a new bike. The end of my rides, my ankles are sore. Sore enough that they never really get better, they get well enough that they feel good enough to go on another ride but never totally fine. I’m stiff in pronation and supination and the outside of my ankles are sore to the touch.

This isn’t an issue on my road and gravel bikes. I’m clipped in and ratcheted down. My pedal strokes are relatively uniform and aside from generally assuming I’m fitter than I really am, I complete those rides just fine.

On the mountain bike, I’m moving all over, applying pressure or body English to the bike and pedals. Lots of on the fly adjustments and my pedaling position is variable. I prefer riding this way on flats. I do still have some of these issues even when clipless but not to the same degree.

So what can be done?

- I feel that my foot is sitting pretty deep in my shoe, I wonder if some of the soreness is just bruising. I could shop for new shoes or get a thick insole to raise my foot a little off the footbed. This might help a little with a potential loss in efficiency.

- I could ride in flexible ankle braces. To what degree those actually support seems unclear.

- Concentrate on keeping my pedaling as round and smooth as on a road bike, seems like a fool’s quest though.

Anyone else experience this? What has helped you?

Polaris OBark

I've experienced it. I have never found a perfect solution, but the main problem with flat pedals is that they actually can restrict your movement more than clips with float. Also, the shoes tend to be much less stiff.

I broke my ankle 10 years ago, so ankle issues took on a new meaning and importance.

FWIW, my surgeon suggested avoiding ankle braces.

rosefarts

I’ve certainly found braces in the form of knee braces and orthotics to cause more trouble than they actually fix, due to supporting things that need strengthening.

79pmooney

No opinion here on MTB pedals either way. But as for increasing the effective sole thickness by building up the insides and it causing inefficiencies - That added thickness will cost you very close to nothing - as long as you address the change in bike fit. You've just boosted yourself up that added thickness. Or dropped both seat and handlebars that amount. Raise both and you are good to go. There's a tiny penalty on cornering and very steep descents. Dropping cleats and making super low road pedals comes into fad every few years. But they never overwhelm the market. Other practical stuff is simply much more important. Here, getting a ride on your MTB that works.

My right leg is a half inch (12mm) shorter than my left. A few years back I learned this (I never read my spec sheet) and put a 1/4" aluminum plate between the right cleat and sole. A breakthrough! Got to sit on the bike straight and sight down the center of the bike for the first time ever! Same knee travel now for both legs. And drawbacks from that added plate? Well I have to be a little more careful about rolling that ankle walking iffy ground but that always was iffy in slippery cycling shoes anyway. Other things are slightly different but I adjusted just fine long ago. (And yes, I boosted all my seats 1/8"; the average change between right and left. 1/8" is within the margin of error or indetectability for handlebar height.)

Kapusta

What pedals are you using?

Could a pedal with a larger platform help?

staehpj1

Earlier in my life I always had bad ankles. It took very little to injure them and they'd be out of whack for weeks or months. Running even a short distance would sometimes trigger an injury in some portions of my younger years. I credit riding a bike with clipless pedals with minimal float, careful setup, and stiff shoes with getting my ankles finally sorted out when I was in my 40s or so with getting past those problems. I even managed to be able to run when I was in my late 50s and took up trail running. I would have never dreamed that was possible after many years of bad ankles. I was still a slow runner, but managed to run daily and logged a lot of miles, a good bit of it over rough terrain.

More to the point... I personally would suggest using clipless pedals, minimal float, and nice stiff shoes for your mtb riding. Invest in decent shoes that are a good fit. You don't necessarily need to go top of the line, but don't cheap out either.

2old

I guess that my thinking is in a different direction: try a bike with lots of well-damped suspension travel. Of course, it would be best to rent first or "test ride" a suitable mount. Electric assist may also help.

rosefarts

Mine are Oneup Composite pedals. Not high end but fairly big and grippy, they ride great and are cheap.

rosefarts

Electric assist isn’t an option. Not only would it terribly lame to ride a 55lb pig all over, they simply aren’t allowed here. Every trailhead has multiple signage to remind you. There are no e-bikes allowed. I like that quite a bit.

For suspension, now we’re talking about personal preference. I am running 160mm on my Helm MK2 up front but I am doing it with a hard tail. With everything this bike can do and how fun it is to ride, I wouldn’t dream of replacing it any time soon.

It’s not that I refuse to ride clipless, as pictured below, but I have grown to prefer flats unless it’s a long XC type of ride.

Kapusta

You might try a different pedal shape to see how it goes. OneUp are a little unusual in their convex shape. Perhaps a flatter or concave pedal would feel different. Diety Deftraps are affordable and slightly convex. They also feel longer than their numbers suggest because the edges are not beveled.

Maybe a stiffer sole? I know that is hard to find in flat pedal shoes.

rosefarts

I run the same basic 5.10 shoes pretty much everyone else has. I think they’re called Freeride but I can’t remember. Decent shoes, not amazing. I wish they were leather.

I also have the 5.10 clipless BOA shoes for gravel. Same dot tread pattern. They are almost as stiff as a high end road shoe. I could remove the cleats and go for a ride with them.

I’ve been eyeing the Canfield Crampon Ultimate. Light enough, matches the bike, never read a bad review. Currently on sale. My only concern is that they’re fully bushing pedals, not bearings. Easy maintenance but not zero maintenance.

Eric F 

Being that this is an issue with just your MTB, and not your road or gravel bikes, I suspect it has something to do with your shoes and pedals, as has already been discussed. My guess is that you are straining ligaments/tendons in ways your body isn't used to because the shoe-pedal interface is different. As a test, maybe run your gravel shoes and pedal on your MTB for a little while to see if that makes a change.

rosefarts

The only change I've made so far is I've added an extra insole I had laying around. Nothing special but more volume.

I went out for a couple hours yesterday. My particular path didn't have much technical climbing, which often elicits more body English, so that's a disappointment. There were several hops, pumps, and berms I railed pretty hard on the way down. To be honest, I was probably never more than a foot in the air but felt like I was in Red Bull Rampage, you know the feeling.

Nothing hurt yesterday. That is, nothing got worse. My ankles which are slightly sore already didn't magically heal.

In some drawer somewhere, I've got some medium stiffness carbon fiber insoles (they're supposed to make you run faster and jump higher, in a sock drawer, they do none of those things). If I can find them, they'll remove significant space inside the shoe and be stiffer. I'll probably break them but that's still more than they're currently doing.

I also ordered some Canfield Crampons, because bling.

Polaris OBark

As Eric suggested, you need a positive control. Put the pedals on your comfortable (road) bike and wear your 5/10s. If it still hurts, it is your pedals and/or shoes.

BTW my wife has those shoes, and the stock insole for her was a torture device. She bought some of those expensive insoles from REI, and it immediately solved her problem.

rosefarts

Man, I don’t want to put flat pedals on my road bike. In order to really know would require a 4+ hour ride. I don’t want to do that.

I ride a ton of miles on my gravel bike. Always clipless, no issue. I rode a lot last fall clipless on my MTB, I don’t recall an issue. That’s a positive enough sign to me.

I believe that where we’re at is figuring out a way to keep me on flats.

I’m very intrigued that your wife had issues with my shoes and it was just the insoles. They are super basic.

Dman1234

how much difference in time are you out of the saddle between what hurts and doesn't hurt ?
i suspect your legs are use to typical type of riding and your are asking too much of your stabilization muscle located on the inside/outside of your lower legs.. these are the same muscle that will limit sup/pronation.
I wonder if training these muscle to bear weight that is shifting around a lot is more what you need.... why not ask a professional health care worker to assess what you are complaining about and see if you can address the issue or at least figure out what/why you are sore and work backwards from there