The Commute
Shoes Are the Commuting Problem Nobody Warns You About
You can change your trousers at work. Changing your shoes means carrying them, and wet shoes do not dry between the morning and the evening.
This looks at cycling footwear from the practical end — what holds up once conditions stop being ideal.
What holds up in practice
- Shoes are the bulkiest thing most commuters carry and the slowest to dry.
- Water reaches feet from above by running down the leg, not from below.
- Sole stiffness affects where pedal pressure lands on the foot.
Why footwear becomes the sticking point
Most workplaces tolerate a change of top and trousers without much ceremony, so clothing is a solvable problem for most riders. Shoes are different, because a pair takes up more space in a bag than everything else combined and cannot be folded.
They are also the item that gets wet most reliably and dries most slowly, which means yesterday's rain is still with you today. The result is that footwear quietly determines whether a commute works in winter, long after the clothing question has been settled. Solving it usually means keeping shoes at one end of the journey rather than carrying them back and forth.
Where the water actually comes from
Riders assume feet get wet from puddles below, and mostly they get wet from rain running down the shin and into the top of the shoe. That is why a waterproof shoe with an open top still fills up, and why overshoes that seal at the ankle work so much better. Trousers that end above the shoe act as a channel, delivering everything that lands on your legs directly into your socks.
A front mudguard with a decent mudflap stops the spray that would otherwise be thrown from the wheel onto your feet. Fixing the two paths separately, from above and from the wheel, produces a much drier result than making the shoes themselves waterproof.
Drying, and why it takes so long
A soaked shoe holds a surprising amount of water in its lining and midsole, and evaporation from inside a closed shoe is slow. Removing the insole and opening the shoe fully roughly doubles the surface area available for that water to leave from. Stuffing them with newspaper works because paper draws water out of the lining by capillary action and can then be replaced.
Direct heat from a radiator dries the outside quickly while shrinking and cracking leather and separating glued soles. Practically, a wet pair needs a full day and a warm room, which is exactly the day you also need to ride again.
Soles, pedals and pressure
A flexible sole lets the pedal press into a small area of the foot, and over a long ride that concentrated pressure becomes uncomfortable. A stiffer sole spreads that load across more of the foot, which is the actual reason cycling shoes are stiff. On a short urban commute the difference is negligible, and any reasonably firm-soled shoe is perfectly adequate.
Come the wet months, smooth soles slip off pedals in the wet, particularly on flat metal pedals, which is a control problem rather than a comfort one.
Pedals with pins or a textured surface fix that far more cheaply than changing what is on your feet.
The clipless question for commuting
Attaching your shoes to the pedals improves the connection and lets you pull as well as push, which matters on a long sporting ride. On a commute with frequent stops, the repeated clipping in and out is a small cost paid many times. It also commits you to carrying a second pair of shoes, since walking in a shoe with a protruding cleat is unpleasant and slippery.
Recessed-cleat systems designed for walking remove most of that objection and are the usual choice for riders who want both. Nobody is checking, and a great many people ride perfectly well in ordinary shoes on flat pedals for their entire commuting life.
Range and charging figures are quoted under conditions nobody commutes in.
The arrangement that actually works
Keep a pair of work shoes at the workplace so they never travel, never get wet and never take up bag space. Ride in whatever is comfortable, grippy and either quick-drying or genuinely waterproof at the ankle.
Keep a spare pair of socks somewhere at work, because dry socks rescue a wet morning almost entirely. In heavy rain, overshoes over your riding shoes protect both the shoe and the sock and pack down small. The whole problem disappears once the shoes stop commuting, which is the single change most riders make and then wonder why they waited.
The takeaway
Leave the work shoes at work and the hardest part of winter commuting stops being a problem at all.
Fix the small rattle. Every large repair began as one.
Questions readers ask
Are waterproof cycling shoes worth it?
They help, but most water arrives down your leg rather than through the shoe. Overshoes that seal at the ankle, plus a decent mudflap on the front mudguard, usually make more difference than the shoes themselves.
Do I need cycling shoes to commute?
No. Any firm-soled shoe with a sole that grips a pedal in the wet works fine for typical commuting distances. Pedals with a textured surface or pins solve slipping more cheaply than new footwear.
