As a result of my being me combined with the job of maintaining bicycles for a busy family of three, our little living space is stashed with spares for any wear items I know I may need in short order. An extra chain for any drivetrain – made easy by the fact that every single bike we have runs an 11-speed chain, extra pads for (almost*) any brakes, an extra tire to fit every wheel size and application, and two extra bottom brackets for any bike that’s single-speeded (single-speeders know).
Oh, and, of course, the next size up of shoes for The Clairebarian. One need only experience the overnight outgrowing of perfectly fitting shoes one time before planning around any future use-specific footwear fiascos. And if you’d asked me a couple of weeks ago I would have told you I had a healthy handle on Claire’s future mountain bike shoe needs.
*Reminder to self, order pads for Nina’s commuter
For almost as long as Claire’s been mountain biking she’s been pedaling in Five Ten kids’ shoes. They’ve served us very well and with a bit of preplanning and no concern for colour we’ve generally been able to pick them up on sale in the ‘off-season’ buying a few sizes at a time. After all, we know she’s going to need the next size up.
“Papa, my toes are touching the ends of my bike shoes. I think I’ll need some new ones very soon.”
But then, this is not a story of frugal footwear acquisition but rather the cost of a hole in the hoard. You see, the last time Adidas, who owns Five Ten, had a sale we managed to buy Claire’s future shoes size 1, 2, 4, and 5. And despite regularly checking online, at distributors, etc. we’ve never seen size 3 in stock again.
Oh course, it’s not just Five Ten that’s sold out. There are no size 3 kids’ flat pedal shoes anywhere. Yes, we considered grabbing some skate shoes as a holdover, and yes we looked at some different hiker options, and I was even at the point of buying a used pair with all the Velcro and half the stitching shot, for $50 dollars, and repairing them.
Enter, epiphany. The kid’s shoe sizing chart progresses up into the men’s shoe sizing chart. And women’s shoe sizing equivalent is generally the men’s chart size +2. That means that a woman’s size 5 and a kid’s (men’s) size 3 will have some sizing resemblance. Actually, it turns out, for Claire’s fairly narrow feet a women’s shoe may fit better. How nice would it be if all shoes were just on a single sizing standard that accounted for both length and width?!
Anyway, the next issue is, of course, that not every shop stocks a size 5. That’s a whole different conversation about inventory turns vs. customer support but happily, we found a couple of different pairs of shoes to try on at Lynn Valley Bikes. Thank you to Ken @LVB for the prompt reply when I e-mailed around. As it turns out, not having the next size at home didn’t even cost us a single missed ride.
But, it’ll cost us all the same. You see, I watched as Claire experienced a moment that so many mountain bikers will be able to relate to. Nothing against Five Ten’s kid-shoe lineup, they’ve served us well. But, and I’m sure you know where this is going, the rubber on the kids’ shoe models is Five Ten in name only. Not that The Clairebarian hasn’t been ripping along, having learned how to weight her pedals such that her feet stay planted, it’s just the soles of her shoes have not been what we’d call grippy.
With my thoughts focused only on making certain we were set for riding, I helped Claire lace up a pair of adult shoes that LVB had in stock. Size 5. The perfect balance of a bit of growing room but rideable today. Claire stood up in them and took one step, then another, and then a third. She tried a little twist of her feet on the shop floor and then turned her head and looked at me as a broad smile dawned on her face. I realized at that exact moment that we had a superfluous pair of Five Ten kid’s size 4, and size 5, shoes at home.
“PAPA!, THEY’RE SO STICKY!“