Comments on: Commuting 101: Keeping footwear dry

By: rayman

rayman — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:16:06 +0000

I am a big fan of plastic grocery bags. I put each foot in them with the shoe and tie the bags handles to the outside of the leg. I then put on the rainpants and they strap over the bags. Sure the bags rip, but who cares, most of them are just sitting around anyway……..if your shoes do get wet – put the bag over your dry socks before putting on you shoes.

By: LoneRider

LoneRider — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:56:53 +0000

love the computer screen trick.

I was working at a bar-b-que joint when I was in school, and I distinctly remember the cheff asking me if I wanted to dry my socks in the oven after I rode in thru the rain. Hope he was joking…

By: Richard Masoner

Richard Masoner — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:51:06 +0000

I’ve used gaiters in combination with Goretex hiking boots; they work well for cycling in the rain.

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:36:38 +0000

Has anyone tried using gaiters for inclement weather commutes? I’m considering gaiters to keep the water from entering the top of the shoe around the ankles and to keep the bottomw of the pant, sock, ankle and opening of shoe area not just warm and dry but free of mud, too. What do you think? Might a gaiter work for this?

By: gear

gear — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:44:45 +0000

If you have an interest in keeping your bike shoes dry (rather than methods of drying them once they are wet).

Try toe warmers (easier to install than full shoe covers) with some rubber glued to the top to cover the top of your shoes. I made mine using toe warmers and cutting the top off Totes. My shoes stay dry even in a downpour. Of course I have fenders with a decent sized mud flap.

By: cyclepete

cyclepete — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:13:40 +0000

JulieD – thanks for the Keen sandal reference. Those look ideal, although pricey.

CanadaBoy – I have ridden with sandals plus wool socks and gortex oversocks down to about 25F (-14C) . Perfectly comfortable. I imagine they’d be fine down much colder. But in the low 20s or colder I wear boots as there is no chance of wet feet at those temps.

By: JiMCi

JiMCi — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:29:03 +0000

I’ve been using newspapers for years and it works just fine, but you have to remove it after a couple of hours to let the shoes air dry completely. So when I come from a late ride, I just put the shoes down in front of my basement portable de-humidifier. The shoes are perfectly dry the next morning.

By: Quinn

Quinn — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:47:45 +0000

The issue I have with sandals is the hole open toe factor, I don’t know about any one else, Murphey controls my luck!,

How about This- Wool socks, I have been an outdoor enthusiest all my life, and I swear by them, along with seam sealer and Camp-dry spray-on water proofer,

and the 1 trick I learned from cycling, owning a 2nd or 3rd pair of shoes.

By: mark

mark — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:18:53 +0000

Thanks for the dryer door tip. I used it last night and it worked great.

By: Brendan Bouffler

Brendan Bouffler — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 07:16:16 +0000

I work in a computer lab, so when I get to work in the rain, I tie my laces together like you do for your drier trick, and hang them using hooks (made from paper clips) on the back doors of the server racks in the data center.

If I go back to my desk and run a few computationally intensive jobs on the servers, the shoes dry in record time