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.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Last but not least, is to just not do them. Although they look cool
and they are alot of fun, large sets (anything bigger than a 6 set in
my mind) are really hard on your body. Once you can do them, have them
on video even and have shown your friends, I would save them for
special occasions.
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
--
ntappin
'how to build a strong comfy saddle from junk.'
(http://tinyurl.com/hxcb3)
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