Jan 23, 2006

Euro Style - Euro Booties

Weather has been extremely good for cycling in Upstate New York. Usually in January you wouldn’t dream of riding on clear roads with little to no salt. Sunday called for a club ride, even though I missed out on my first team ride (My email wasn’t coming through from Yahoo Groups for an odd reason).

sock booties

The weather forcast called for a sunny day with temps in the low 40s Fahrenheit. Problem is that I do not have a decent pair of booties to keep my toes warm. No problem, I will use Johan Museeuw and other Belgian Classics riders as my inspriation and use a pair of socks instead of Booties. The solution is as simple as it sounds. Get a pair of socks, put them on over your shoes. Once the socks are on snugly, take a pair of scissors and cut out around your cleat. I find it easier to trim the socks after you have them on than to try to guess where to cut beforehand. Make sure that you have a large enough opening so that any extra sock material does not get caught in the cleat.

Once you are done, you will be riding with old school Euro Style.

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4 Replies

  1. Joe

    Jan 23rd, 2006 at 3:21 pm

    Does that really keep your feet warm when it is cold (and windy?). What about putting your foot into a grocery bag, and then into your shoe - a little sweaty perhaps, but it’ll keep out the wind.

  2. Velochimp

    Jan 23rd, 2006 at 6:06 pm

    It does cut the chill by a little. My toes were not as cold compared to going out with just my shoes and socks.

    I would say if you want more wind protection to do the grocery bag thing. You could either put the bag on inside your shoe or outside underneath the sock.

    Inside your shoe would be better since the plastic bag does not need to be trimmed. The bag is thin enough to fit inside your shoe without changing thre fit much.

  3. David

    Jan 31st, 2007 at 3:11 pm

    Another one of my favorite techniques is to just use a ‘non-zip lock’ sandwich bag.
    I use these on dry cold days to keep the chill off, but they can save you a little bit during a light rain. I use them over my shoe only. I wear them with Slipstream (or sock) shoe covers or neoprene booties. I place them over my toe with the pocket part folded over my cleat (keeps them in place) and the loose flap up over the tongue section of my shoe. They work best this way by keeping the toe warm while allowing the bottom, sides, and back of the shoe to breathe. The ‘in-shoe’ baggie technique can leave you with wet sweaty feet if things warm up. And a box of these is less than $3 for about 200!

  4. ghammer

    Feb 23rd, 2007 at 3:02 pm

    the best way to do it is to get a pair of d-feet woolie-boolies and put them over the shoes. settle it, then cut a straight hole where the cleat is. i’ve been using this system for the past 3 seasons in the Boston area, so i know what works. And it does.

    the caveat is that the socks have to be wool. you’ll be good to ride as far down as 3C/35F. colder than than you’ll have to add another pair, preferably the slipstream socks from d-feet as well. it’s very safe, your feet will never be cold and theey won’t sweat either.

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