Shoes

After several years of cycling, I have just read an article on shoes that explained everything that I ever needed to know about cycling shoes. And to think; I bought mine for the simple reason that they were the only pair in the store that would fit my fat feet. I have since found out that they are very serious shoes, and are designed to transfer the maximum amount of thrust through to the pedal via a pair of very stiff soles and uppers.

For those of you that ski, think of them as a pair of cutdown ski boots. They allow very little movement of the foot, and the sole does not flex like a sneaker, thus allowing energy to be dissapated uselessly.

The downside is that after about 30kms, my feet swell and my toes get pinched and start to go numb. I have to do some fancy saddle manouveres at that point to take the pressure off one foot and then the other for long enough to get the blood circulating again. Either that, or find a good coffee shop for a short break.

Unfortunately, on my regular routes, there are no coffee shops (good or otherwise), so I am stuck with numb toes. I have sought out a pair of mountain bike type shoes that are soft and flexi, but they are all too bloody narrow. I do not have big feet (or long feet). I have tall, wide feet. They splay out like stumpy flippers. I can only wear two brands of athletics shoe, as only two companies make shoes wider than a D (so I am told by my local shoe salesman). I am out there on the E or EE width. By the looks of things, compared to most other cyclists, I have an extra toe on my feet. That's the only way to think of it. I am going to walk into my next cycle shop and say, "I need some shoes that will fit a guy with six toes" and see what they come up with.