Cycling in Vibram Fivefinger shoes

[lexerella]

You didn't happen to be at SCW were you? I was there too. I didn't go to a Schwinn session but did see the instructors so now I'm really curious...initials J.A?

[Todd S]

I'm trying to be tactful and come off as a nice person. And this girl would be considered hot in a hippy-dippy way. Very slim, lithe, fit, and tiny. I'm 5'4" and a toned 125 lbs. and I feel like moose standing next to her.

I hope everybody knows I was just kidding.

[HMBgal]

I hope everybody knows I was just kidding.

Ya know? It's your avatar; it just throws me so unless it's explaining, as you do so well, exercise science and stuff, I think you are a kidder.

[HMBgal]

You didn't happen to be at SCW were you? I was there too. I didn't go to a Schwinn session but did see the instructors so now I'm really curious...initials J.A?

Yes, at SCW in San Francisco, and no, not J.A. She was my trainer for my certification and I liked her very much. I like all of the people from whom I've taken classes, but I do get surprised once in awhile.

[lexerella]

Yes, at SCW in San Francisco, and no, not J.A. She was my trainer for my certification and I liked her very much. I like all of the people from whom I've taken classes, but I do get surprised once in awhile.

I would have been shocked if it was J.A. She's definitely highly regarded. It was a fun conference.

[Vivienne]

You could not put much power into the pedal stroke, and you couldn't pull the toe straps tight, so you couldn't do anything but push down, and you couldn't really stand effectively....

Not to mention that it wouldn't feel very good.

Stupidity at its height.

Knowing how grim it feels having to go back to sneakers sometimes if a gym doesn't have clipless pedals, it makes me wonder what sort of dunderhead could be advocating these Vibram things for bike riding.

Even for running, the marketing hype is getting a bit over the top but bike riding? You'd think someone representing the company would at least have the gumption to know when not to be pushing the things.......

I fancy we're going to be seeing enough "barefoot running" related injuries before the craze settles down a bit without speeding things along with a serious dose of TEH STOOPID™

Vivienne

[zoepup]

My feet were hurting last night while teaching just THINKING about wearing those shoes.

As for being an instructor and not having a backup plan. That is stupendous! I have backs plans for all my classes (2 iPods, 1 iPhone, 1 Droid and CD's). Something will work.

Now, if I was presenting to a new group (ECA, WSSC, etc), I think I would have my playlist down pat and on all the above devices and a burned CD that was tested!

[Vivienne]

My feet were hurting last night while teaching just THINKING about wearing those shoes.

As for being an instructor and not having a backup plan. That is stupendous! I have backs plans for all my classes (2 iPods, 1 iPhone, 1 Droid and CD's). Something will work.

Now, if I was presenting to a new group (ECA, WSSC, etc), I think I would have my playlist down pat and on all the above devices and a burned CD that was tested!

Sounds like you're pretty laid back to me, zoepup....

Thing is that folk who don't really understand what goes into providing an incident-free sort of service, don't understand........really.

Back in my pre-Trophy Wife™ days, when I was doing the drilling, filling and billing thing, my office manager would often opine that she couldn't understand why I sat and fretted (i.e.....thought about) stuff that I had to do because everything always worked out OK. I could never get her to understand that she had the cause and effect thang the wrong way round.

I should add that this was someone who constantly double-checked herself but apparently couldn't recognise the fail-safe in a different context.

Vivienne

[Paul S.]

Couldn't agree with you more, Vivienne. In fact, I just cannot do it without cycling shoes anymore. Does not happen.

I also agree. Maybe that presenter had SPD clips attached to her Vibrams!

[EuroD]

IMHO it's the right shoe for the right activity. Are you going to wear cleats to take a kickbox class? Are you going to wear flippers for yoga?

I would contend the danger in not having your feet properly supported for the activity in question.

[Jack24Ren]

Not to hijack the thread here, but I also attended a recent SCW in which the presenter wore sneakers while riding. She says she does this with her intro rides/riders so she can be sort of - "one of them" without intimidating (ie,the newer folks won't have cycle shoes right away and don't want to drive them away). While I guess this is one approach, personally I don't trust an instructor that doesn't have cycle shoes on (unless they've unfortunately left them elsewhere, lost one, etc.). Just my $.02.