Choosing the right shoes
Choosing the right shoe setup
Shoes are vitally important, as one of the three contact points with a bicycle (hands, sitting bones and feet), ensuring you have good shoes will be vital to success. As we are all highly individual, what ‘good’ looks like for each of us will vary. That said, hopefully with the below thoughts you will be equipped to make suitable decisions. There is possibly little worse than unhappy feet, likely only an unhappy undercarriage. Having sore or painful feel and trying to ride will be utter agony – I’ve been there. So pay attention to them.
Muddy conditions after a storm in Kygyzstan
The type of event
Clearly a tarmac event and off-road event will demand different shoes. At a road event, road shoes and cleats might be suitable, however off-road they will not. The amount of walking required will determine the sole flexibility and tread pattern needed. In ultra endurance racing many now opt to use mountain bike cleats and shoes for road events, as the cleats are recessed in the sole tread, it makes walking easier – and reduces the chance of falling over. Falling over climbing hotel stairs or a slippy shop floor in road cleats would be a sorry reason for scratching. So determine the road surface and suitable shoe/cleat type and then determine the amount of walking required. If the race is going to potentially be in wet/muddy conditions then a sole with more traction and deeper grooves will be required.
Understanding your issues
Feet come in different shapes and sizes, so no one solution is for all, and no one shoe will work for all. My foot is slightly wide at the front and I have a medium to high arch, I also have bad pronation and splayed feet. When I was young I broke my leg badly and the effects have lasted with poor ankle mobility in my right leg. While none of this is relevant to you, it makes the point that you must understand what I going on with your body. A good bikefitter will be able to help, or physiotherapist. Once you understand what is going on, you can address as needed.
Sole stiffness
In my early days of ultra endurance racing I used road shoes for road events and with stiff carbon soles, say 8-9/10 rating. These days I have moved to using mountain bike pedals and cleats combined with a shoe with a stiffness of 4-6/10 depending on the required amount of walking. Rather than using soles made of carbon, I use soles of a carbon/nylon blend or just nylon. This is the reason for the increased sole flexibility, which aids walking but also movement in the foot. I found solid carbon shoes to be very stiff, preventing foot movement and leading to severe foot ache and discomfort. I raced the Highland Trail 550 in a pair of 9/10 stiffness carbon sole mountain bike shoes – while the cleats were correct, the sole stiffness killed my feet when walking. That said, I know many will find full carbon soles good. Using nylon soled shoes also often means they are cheaper. However, shoes are one area I would spend good money to find the right ones. While online shopping has its merits, going into a store with a huge stock of multiple brands is fairly essential to find the right shoes for you.
Shoe sizing
My feet swell, often over the course of a race it can be quite significant. Therefore I choose to use shoes that are a little too big, around half a size, though I would say they are perfectly sized. In the shoes I use my feet will be able to splay out when pressure is applied to the forefoot without the little toe pressing significantly against the side of the shoe. This means that my feet are not compressed. I do not have wide feet, by size measurements, but I often find shoes too narrow. I also do favour shoes that have some give in the upper material, so if a foot does swell then it is not compressed. This is one benefit to laces, or a long full boa, if a foot swells you can expand the shoe. What might seem like nice snug fit for a 6 hour ride, could turn into agony if your feet swell. Further, as ultra endurance cyclists, we will spend many days in our shoes, pedalling at a low power output, we are not sprinting and do not have the same requirements of ‘power transfer’ and ‘efficiency’.
Materials
Most shoes these days are made form synthetic materials, however some brands do still use leather. I have used both with success, however these days I steer towards synthetic for improved durability. Though the suppleness of leather was appreciated. One consideration is the thickness and breathability of materials used. A shoe that is good for winter, will be terrible in summer. And a hot sweaty foot is just asking for trouble. I tend to avoid fully waterproof shoes – made from GoreTex or eVent. They can perform well, however as they are generally only ankle height, even with the best neoprene cuff you may end up with water coming over the top – at which point it will not leave! Even when using eVent shoes in the past, in deep winter mountainbiking in the Lake District, I still used a waterproof sock – the benefit of using the eVent shoe was the increased warmth as the outer material would not get saturated, and if water did get inside the shoe would work more like a neoprene wet suit. Ideally a summer shoe will be thinner and far more breathable than a winter shoe, however if racing ultra endurance races you will likely encounter multiple seasons in one day. So using a summer shoe is likely not suitable for some races. In Kyrgyzstan we experienced 35 C to -15 C. No shoe is suitable for this temperature swing, and a compromise is needed. Warmth can be increased by thicker or waterproof socks, however, unless you are wearing a shoe that has some space (a bit big) using thicker socks could lead to increased pressure and discomfort. A shoe with a fast drying outer material is advised, as you will likely get wet at least once, and getting the shoe and foot dry as quickly as possible is paramount. Racers will sometimes take shoes off to cross streams, however the likelihood of cutting your foot on a stone is high, so perhaps not advisable, a balancing act. Soles can often have holes cut in them, for venting or simply bolts – these can easily be closed using glue or just Gorilla tape. Using tape allows easy re-opening if needed.
Closure type
Velcro, clip, laces, boas. There are many options for shoe closure type, and choosing the right one for you should be a conscious decision. It might seem Velcro is the best choice, it is almost bulletproof, unlike some other types. However I have found full Velcro closure shoes to cause pressure points across the top of my foot (high arch), as their closing pressure is not equally distributed. Laces can be great for equal pressure distribution but also time consuming if you like your shoes tight – personally I am happy with my shoes loose enough to slip them on and off with laces. Boa’s are brilliant, quick, simple and very comfortable, however they can snap reasonably easily in a crash. If you snap a boa, they are replaceable, but if you break the mechanism then not so simple – I’ve yet to break a boa lace or mechanism. That said, I’ve seen various closure types being broken over the years, so I wouldn’t avoid any one type simply for that reason, however knowing how to fix the closure type you have and selecting one that is more simply fixed would be prudent. Plus swap out those stock laces to something strong and abrasion resistant.
Innersoles
Perhaps you are one of the lucky people, that has ‘normal’ feet for which shoe brands innersoles are made. However the first thing I do is pull out the stock innersole and throw it away. I have medium to high arches and need support. Some brands innersoles are better than others, and some brands really just stick a token bit of cardboard in. I have been through many innersoles over the years, from expensive carbon moulded to home made with handlebar tape under the arch. These days I use G8 Performance innersoles, with huge success. The carbon custom innersoles were the worst. As I mentioned my feet swell, they also change shape – and thus having custom moulded carbon soles is great, if your feet are always exactly the same. However as my feet changed during a race, and the innersoles being inflexible became absolute agony. I did have good success with my own custom innersoles, using bar tape – they actually worked well. The reason for moving away from them was to get a stock off-the-shelf option that can be easily replicated. With the G8’s you can adjust the plastic arch support through different sizes and positions, and being plastic, it will deform under your foot when needed.
Tried and tested
As always, all the kit you use should be tried and tested, one should never take new kit on an event – and yes I have broken this rule! But this rule is especially true for shoes. Shoes are something I have multiple of, so if something were to happen to the main pair, I can swap into the backup pair. Often when you get a shoe it breaks-in and can be even more comfortable as it relaxes to your foot. Therefore, I would recommend having two pairs you use simultaneously, so they maintain the same feel. I understand this might be cost prohibitive, however potentially a worthy upfront investment – once you have found shoes that work. After all they will last for longer if used less.