C-Forum

Hi everyone, lately, I have been extremely uncomfortable paddling my l'edge. I love the boat, but I tend to get really bad leg cramps, and my legs and toes go numb. I am using the normal bulkhead + toe blocks outfitting, and I believe that the toe blocks are an issue. If I put the toe blocks back a long way, than I am not so uncomfortable. However, I can not hit a roll with them back far, because I tend to fall out of my boat prematurely. So, I put them far up, which in turn causes my toes and legs to eventually lose feeling, and the occasional debilitating leg cramp. What should I do to compromise this situation?

try raising the saddle. that can help a lot. also, try to get more flexible- just start stretching or kneeling on a block when youre watching tv or whatnot. it really helps. also, are they true toeblocks or footpegs? footpegs tend to be more comfortable as they support a little more of your foot.

That's odd. The saddle in the l'edge is already pretty high. Don't even think about C1.

Some people add ankle blocks. I just get out for a few seconds every once and a while... usually to dump water. If there's a lot of flat water, you can sit on the back of the saddle for a few minutes until the feeling comes back.

If you re new, you may just need to accept that canoes/c1 comes with a certain degree of discomfort.

Have you carved out the bulkhead so it fits you? Perhaps your thighs are being pinched in such away that you're getting numb prematurely. Besides the fit, I use ankle blocks and keep my feet flat, extend the foot pegs so I can still push with my toes to hold myself in and raise my saddles an inch. You need to play with differnet combinations of seat height, foot postion and ankle support to find out what works for you.

xtraheat, have other saddles and outfitting been more comfortable?

Look at the width of the saddle, wider saddles are more comfortable.

Look at the knee positions and try wider or narrower, as well as a little forward or aft to see if that makes a difference.

Look as the feet, again try wider or narrower. Try with flat feet (resting on the top of your toes) as well as upright feet (heel up, toes down, and toes bent).

I wear neoprene socks with running shoes style booties with thicks soles. That helps me keep my foot fairly straight...because of the padding from the shoe and socks I can keep my toes pointing down resting right on the bottom of the canoe. Get rid of your thin neoprene shoes if that's what you've got and go thicker.

This may sound strange but I like thicker knee pads. It does bend the knees more acutely but it reduces the pressure on my toes because the shin is higher.

That and a +1 to what everyone else said.

It may be a saddle trimming issue. Does the saddle need to be shaved away where it contacts the inner part of your thighs? It made a difference for me but did not eliminate the issue entirely. I paddle a different boat but I know that feeling

I was going to post what Craig said. The first thing I do is place a bevel on the saddle edges of 45 degrees. Raising the knee pads really is helpful.

I get the same issues... here's what I recommend.

Like Craig and Wendy mentioned, make sure your inner thigh (and the nerves running through there) arn't being impinged by trimming away the foam in that area. Adjust your ankle blocks so that they are more 'shin blocks' than Ankle blocks. Support the shin over a wide area and free the ankle to move and remove the pressure on that joint. Then (and to me- most importantly) trim your factory yakima footpegs. You can trim them with them still in the boat, just move them forward and use a small fine toothed handsaw to remove about .5" from the ends (width) and then remove .5 to 1" from the very bottom edge. Use a course rasp to round all the sharp edges.

What trimming the pegs will do is it will allow you to slide your foot under the pegs and have a relaxed foot position while providing you awesome 'hold' while upside down. Be warned that there is a possibility of injury if you don't trim the pegs high enough and you really nail a rock directly under the peg location. It might pinch your toes between the hull and the peg. IMHO, trimming the pegs almost does away with the threat to the tootsies.

Hope this helps, and don't give up looking for a comfy outfitting solution. In this thread I have pics of my outfitting that might help. http://cboats.net/cforum3/viewtopic.php?t=7963200" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Check out page six in that thread linked above for the outfitting pics including top and side shots of the shin support

Thanks for the replies everyone! I'm taking them all into account, and will try everything you all said. In response to one comment, I am not a beginner... I paddle IV-IV+ and this discomfort is one thing stopping me from progressing. I think one particular issue that makes my leg cramp up is that my booties tend to curl up at the bottom, so my toes are in a constantly curled position instead of straight down. This is partly what causes my toes/leg to numb I believe. I hadn't been having the cramps very often before, but a little while ago I was on the New River Gorge at about 6.5 feet (there are some big waves!) and at the top of some of the more aggressive curling waves when I was paddling aggressively my hamstring would cramp up really badly.

Smurf... that outfitting looks amazing! Can your boat even fill up with water?

Not with my pump going! LOL

You can fit a pump in it?! Where do you put it??