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These
goretex socks or similar work great as
long as the water does not rise above your calf. Proper
foot care is always mentioned when you talk to adventure
racers. At Adventureheads we plan to have wet feet for most
of the race. Therefore
we seldom use these during treks. But very often use them
during night mt bike legs. In addition, to keeping the feet
dry they act as a great wind barrier. It is seldom that you
have a river crossing or similar with mt bikes. |
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Clipless
mountain bike shoes add great efficiency during your peddle
stroke. We find during any race the most time can be made up
on the mt bike leg. Therefore we practice as often as
possible. One of the main reasons racers don't finish a
24-36 hour race is due to hypothermia. We buy clipless shoes
1/2 size bigger than normal. During warm conditions we put
athletic sole inserts so a single pair of medium weight socks make
the shoes fit proper. During cold or night mt bike sections
we remove the sole inserts and put a second pair of wool socks on
or sometimes in extreme conditions use a pair of goretex socks. |
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We
have tried many different trail running shoes but we keep coming
back to our favorite, Montrail Vitesse. Even with very weak ankles
from many years of Collegiate soccer and basketball these shoes
provide great support. To say the least we were skeptical
about "low-cut" trail running shoes over ugly terrain.
We learned the key to support is a well designed and stable heel
cup and not the height of the shoe. We have yet to twist our ankles
while wearing the Vitesse. We also like the oversized toe cavity.
On cold Canadian races we can easily get goretex socks and thick
rag wool socks in the shoe without being so cramped to prevent
circulation. The elastic pre-sewn full tongue compresses enough
while using a med weight poly pro sock in warmer conditions.
The shoes do not absorb water and dry quickly. The only negative
we have found with these light weight fantastic shoes is the lack
of a shoe lace clip. We find we have to manually tuck the tied
ends under the cross loops near the toe to keep the tied ends from
getting caught on thick bushwacks |
