Hi ST,
Let’s say you could put on a pair of aero shoe covers in T1 without losing too much time. Do you recon they would be too hot for temp around 80 F / 27 C?
The aero advantage looks to be substantial over the 180 km? 
I passed someone in Kona this year with some on. Didn’t get a chance to ask him if his feet were toasty.
I would expect it to be quite the inferno for your feet. Unless you pack extra frozen bottles to poor on your feet (Adding weight :().
Maybe toe covers, and only if you get the change to test them in similar conditions for 4 or 5 hours. Maybe factor our the wind, heat your house up to a few degrees more, boil some water to match the humidity, then try it at home?
If brave enough, please report back!
I’ll give it a try barefeet in a pair of S-works trivent on Gran Canaria in December. Hopefully my feets won’t cook too much 
I thought the wind tunnel results for these on a rider pedaling were actually a little mixed. I’d question if the time you loose putting them on and also, how do you get out of your shoes to do a flying dismount with them?
I bet they do a great job of making your feet wonderful after you pee.
I thought the wind tunnel results for these on a rider pedaling were actually a little mixed. I’d question if the time you loose putting them on and also, how do you get out of your shoes to do a flying dismount with them?
I bet they do a great job of making your feet wonderful after you pee.
Yes, the covers that work the best are ones that fit super tight and also are not permeable by air. I do not think your feet need much cooling, but I doubt there is much gain when compared how long it would take to get a pair on.
The gain with the right pair of shoe covers can be substantial but the time losses with the wrong pair of shoe covers could be substantial.
Hello Knudsen88 and All,
We found measurable gains in the San Diego Low Speed Wind Tunnel with our streamlined shoe sole.
Also SpeedPlay makes and aero model pedal and cleat now.
Cheers,
Neal
+1 mph Faster
tj tollakson wore that at IMMT and beat the course record. it was only about 22C however. I don’t think i have ever heard of someone getting hot feet. not a lot of blood vessels down there. if anything if it does warm up your feet it may improve circulation in your lower limbs. also, you may want to weigh in on the time savings in wearing them and the cost to put them on.
I’ll try to work something out with the aero cover been halfway attached to the shoe already in T1. Anyway there are different view on how much they save on a 40Ks, but even if its only around 10-15 sek it would still be a good deal of free speed over the 180K. I dont think you would waste more than 15-20 sek in putting them on, so the last 150K or so would be free speed in the bank?
I dont suppose it could alter the aerodynamics in any bad way regardless of which aero cover you end op using?
I wore aero shoe covers in IM barcelona, no heating issues whatsoever.
I also already had them on my shoes already and had trimmed them so i could get the shoes on.
What was the temp like on race day in Barca? Can you attach a photo of how you had your aero cover on prior to mounting?
Kienle wore some in Frankfurt
they are labeled orca but I guess that doesn’t say much and I have no idea where they are from as orca doesn’t seem to make any. But they might be prototypes and released together with their new sleved suit he wore in Kona.
anyway they are lowcut so no zipper in the rear and easy to pull up when on the bike.
http://www.triathlon.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Kienle-Rad_1000-682x1024.jpg (after T1)
http://www.slowtwitch.com/articles/images/3/101003-large_13_Kienle.jpg (during the bike)
I guess those might make sense for an IM on the colder side.
For a warm race I might be worried that there is more sweat accumulating in the shoes which might result in blister problems on the run but I would guess that is easy to find out by trying them out and probably also depends a lot on the type of shoe.
There were tunnel tests that showed that most shoe cover are actually slower than no shoe cover. There are a few that are faster however.
The ones Kienle is wearing looks good and doable in transition. Anyone who knows what the temp was like on race day in Frankfurt?
nchristi, do you have any link to the test? Seems strange to me that it could increase drag.
Cheers
Anyone familiar with Mavics aero shoe covers? They have no zippers which helps putting them on.
http://www.amazon.com/Mavic-Aero-Shoe-Covers-Mens/dp/B008H5JAGU
nchristi, do you have any link to the test? Seems strange to me that it could increase drag.
No link but it was reported several times on this forum. I’ve never seen specifics on what models exactly did test faster… My guess is that shoe cover have to be completely windproof to offer any aero advantage. Spandex is bad.