My 73-year-old-2nd-year-triathlete father bought himself some Shimano carbon sole triathlon cycling shoes to go with his speedplay zero pedals. He has great trouble walking in these shoes, and falls over every time he gets off the bike. He unclips, puts a foot down, and away things slide. The technique of leaving the shoes clipped to the pedals at all times is *not *going to be learned anytime soon, so we have to find a way to get him from the bike rack to the mount line, and from the dismount line back to the bike rack without him doing a painful version of the splits.
He’d like to make things safer and “grippier”. His first thought was to somehow glue golf spikes to the soles. I would have prefered him to use mtb shoes and pedals, but he didn’t.
When I purchased a pair of shimano carbon’s the only thing I was apprehensive about was that the walking points weren’t replaceable. I rationalized that when they did wear down I’d give Dan’s ‘shoe guy’ (http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/features/shoedog.html) a try and maybe he could fashion some replaceable walking points for them. Maybe Dan’s ‘shoe guy’ could help you out. Don’t know where in the US you are located, but you can always ship them.
I think I remember someone saying that they put Shoe-Goo on the cleat to give more traction. It sounds like a good idea, just be sure not to get any inside the spring area.
Why not talk him into using the Pyro Platforms and riding in his running shoes? I don’t know about where you live, but in our area, if a 73 year old male FINISHES a triathlon, they medal. I can’t believe there would be that much performance difference on the ride, and what there was could probably be made up in transitions. Might save him a broken hip, too.
That’s gonna be a tough sell. He bought a cervélo soloist last year, and spent hundred$ of dollar$ on pedals and shoes. He’s serious, and he wants to use the good stuff. Gear Aquisition Syndrome does not diminish with age. I really wish he had bought mtb shoes and pedals. There would be no walking issue then.
The plan is to qualify for the worlds at Edmonton in July, and then Queenstown and/or Madiera. He has to finish top 12 to qualify, and there’s never been more than 5 in his age group, so the odds are good.
Tell him to put a pair of large socks over his shoes until he gets to the mount line, then stuff them in his pocket. Years ago climbers wore socks over their boots when it rained and the rock got slippy.
Yes, you’ve spotted the flaw in my plan. After putting a think on this one, I’ve decided to enhance my plan by going with a 2-pronged approach of not only avoiding death, but also attempting to become less slow.
Place a line of shoe goo at the trailing edge of the cleat (towards the back, but not over the screws!) and a healthy dab on the heel. He may still be a little off-balance, but at least his feet won’t be shooting out from under him.
I don’t know how well they would work in a racing situation but there are rubber cleat covers that snap on over the Speedplay cleats. I have some but haven’t tried them yet.
It’s an old vaudeville joke. “Doctor, my shoulder hurts when I go like this.”
“Well then don’t go like that…”
A good triathlete should exit the shoes first, then climb off the bike. Dad’s been in it for two years, it’s time for him to learn the fine art of lightning fast transitions!
It’s either that or 86 a great pair of shoes.
Last alternative would be to paint on some of that goopy rubber stuff that they sell to coat tool handles. Don’t know how well that would stick, but it might give you a little traction.
P.S. I’m 52, so I know old guys can learn to slip their shoes off while riding.
If gear acquisition is not a problem for him, he might try switching to a Sidi shoe instead. They have a built in (replaceable) rubber heel pad. I’ve been using the Sidi Genius3 for a couple of years, and never had a problem with them being slippery.
As a follow-on to my last post- I should note that I ran 3.5 miles in my Sidi’s at Wildflower when my rear tire shredded. Running down that last hill is a testament to how good the traction is on these shoes. As you can imagine, the Look cleats were toast, though.