Today I am going to write about something a little different. A few days ago I saw a child with a huge hole in at least one sock and I commented “for once you’re the one with holes in your socks, rather than me. Usually I do have holes in my socks, and when the child noticed he pointed this out in public once.
After this incident I started to throw socks away as soon as they got holes, to avoid such a comment.
Since the 7th of May 2023 I have been wearing Trail Glove 7 Shoes for most of my walks. During this time I have walked in towns, villages, fields, the mountains and more. They have felt comfortable for almost all of this walking. As I am not familiar with this type of shoe I have been keeping an eye on the wearing out of the shoes.
Heels and Blisters Usually with most normal shoes I wear out the rear part of the shoe, to the point that the soft material that pads the back of the heel is worn away to expose bare plastic, which then wears against the back of my feet, and leaves blisters.
Within the last month I considered updating my cycling shoes, until I saw the price of cycling shoes, even in Decathlon. I saw how expensive they are so I lost interest in them. Barefoot shoes are great because they’re light and easy to transport. The problem that I find with ‘barefoot’ shoes is that I stride, rather than walk. When you stride your heel always smashes into the ground, and with barefoot shoes this can result in heel pain, if, and when, we’re not careful.
In theory shoes are meant to last for eight hundred kilometres before they need to be replaced. I am now one eighth of the way towards needing to replace my Trail Gloves. In theory. In practice the left shoe is worn and the tread is gone, in two spots. The toes, where most of my force is transmitted to the ground, and the heel, where I tend, or least tended to strike.
A few days ago I took twenty seven thousand steps in barefoot shoes. My feet did not suffer at all from walking that far in such shoes. I did some of that walking in the vapor gloves and the rest in the Trail Gloves. The beauty of barefoot walking is that you acclimate to such shoes quite fast. Within a matter of a week or two they become comfortable and feel normal.
Today I went for a short walk in the Jura with minimal shoes and I felt fine. The shoes, despite being thin soled, felt fine on the dry dirt paths. They do get wet when walking in dew covered grass but that’s what you would expect so that’s acceptable. When you’re wearing minimal shoes you can be barefoot or with socks but both the shoes, and socks dry quickly when there is so little fabric.
Most shoes are designed to protect the heel with a cushion of air or material that absorbs heel strikes, before they are transmitted to the rest of the skeletal system. With barefoot shoes, especially the Vapor Glove 6 those heel strikes are not absorbed. You feel the force with which your heel is hitting the ground. Winding Up
I tried three walks with the Vapor Gloves. I decided to try purchase and try the Trail Glove 7 as a result of my Vapor Glove experience.
I walk from three to fie million steps per year. In doing so I wear through shoes and through socks every six months or less. It makes sense that I would experiment with barefoot shoes since I spend so much time walking. The Experience
Initially I tried the Vapor Glove 6 and I was able to walk my usual routes without trouble. I did find one surface where it felt as though the shoes were not adapted to the weathered road conditions and that’s part of the reason I decided to try others.
Recently I swapped the clip-less pedals for flat pedals and yesterday I decided to try the pedals on a bike ride. I went for a 74.91km ride with pedals I had never used and shoes I had never worn for cycling. I cycled for almost 75 kilometres with Merrel Vapor Glove 6. These are soft, flimsy shoes that you can roll up and put into a pocket. They’re more like socks, or gloves, than shoes.
The easiest sport to practice every day is walking. We can walk to the bus stop, train station or other places every single day. We can walk in the morning, we can walk at the shops, and we can walk at lunch time or in the evening. All of these walking opportunities mean that shoes are on our feet for hours at a time and need to be comfortable. That’s why playing with Vapor Gloves and Trail Gloves makes sense.