Am I the only one who feels spending a lot of money on MTB shoes is just a waste of money? We are a group who just MTB for fun, all work hard for a living, have mega bills to pay and kids! If I bought my kids a £100 pair of trainers and they came back all mudded up after playing out in them once, then I’d not be best pleased, so why should I?

I have noticed over the last few years me and my riding friends tend to just use our old trainers ( you know, the ones the current Mrs. Muckers won’t allow in the house anymore ) and if the weather is cold or looks wet, we go with the shoe covers. ( more on those in a future blog ) But when you take that sunny gamble and just go with the trainers, you always hit that puddle and end up with a wet foot! It can be a drought and I will still find that one puddle and even with my feet on the bikes frame, or full sideways splits ( for a 48 year old anyway ) I will still end up at the end of the ride with one wet foot!

Finally, the nice smooth bottoms on some trainers really don’t help when you slip off a very muddy pedal, and shin yourself with what feels like the fastest ever crank and pedal to shin impact ever seen! Or, if you’ve ever been stuck on that muddy incline, after having to bail off, holding onto your bike with the both brakes fully pressed hopping to god your next step finds some traction, otherwise you and the bike are sliding down said incline and it won’t be pretty! That’s when you wished in that moment you had some grip under your feet.

When lockdown happened, we as a family started doing walks together and we went out and bought walking boots. It was there I saw that the selection was quite vast: high tops, low tops, weather proof, water repellent, water resistant, different textures and materials! All for under or around £50. AND because there’s a lot to choose from, you don’t have to search hard to find a pair on offer somewhere, rather than the trendy overpriced bike shop ones that you feel almost pressured into buying to try and fit in! ( more on that in a future blog lol)

Today I took all these thoughts and put them into action, or, as i like to call it, the experimental phase. I was in a local Sports Direct and while my son was looking at trainers, I had a little look around the walking boots area. This is where I found a pair of Gelert Horizon Low WP walking shoes/trainers for £26.99, reduced from £53.99. They are supposed to be waterproof ( or so the little label on the side informs me ) but no idea how waterproof they will be, however, they’ve got to be more waterproof that a pair of old Nike running trainers don’t they? The grip on the outsole looks really good as well so I cracked open the old wallet and proceeded with the purchase

The idea now is to update the blog as and when I use them.

ps. if you’re thinking SPDs. Don’t. lol. I Can’t and won’t even consider it on the mountain Bike. Sorry.