Second Chance Shoes

The year was 2018. The Almanzo 100 event was still around and this iconic event was the choice for Shimano engineers and top brass to attend and ride US gravel and to check out the scene. 

To commemorate this occasion, Shimano commissioned 1,000 pairs of a camo-themed XC5 shoe. This shoe was a model meant for XC MTB racing, but Shimano was also marketing it as a gravel shoe. (Introductory story on this shoe by PEZ Cycling can be read HERE) 

As an interesting side note, I was there at the Cherry Grove checkpoint along with my then 'Riding Gravel' partner, my son, Jacob, and a local named Ross. (Story HERE)

I was able to see the Shimano folks roll through the checkpoint and as I was trying to sneak peeks at their bicycles I was told they were testing the waters for gravel components. Then the very next year GRX was introduced. 

Anyway, those were heady days in the gravel scene. It may seem odd to those just getting started in the gravel cycling world now, but the gravel cycling niche had already become a big deal back then. I always shake my head when I see people talk about how this gravel riding stuff is "new". 

But back to the shoes.... I had heard the only way to get one of the 1,000 pairs of these was via a bike shop. I happened to work at one then, so I asked our buyer to put in an order for a pair of the XC5 camo shoes in a size 46. I wasn't sure I'd get them, but obviously, I did, and I was thrilled....at first. 

The original laces sent with the shoes were your typical flat, cloth laces in a highlighter yellow with a spare set in black also in the box. The holes the laces were to pass through were smaller, round holes which prevented the laces from smoothly moving through them. This made getting an even tension over the forefoot difficult, if not impossible. I was dismayed. The shoes didn't really work all that well. 

I tried a fancy set of those elastic laces some runners use, but they were too tight and made my foot fall asleep after riding just a short while. So, I parked them in my shoe rack. I had several other pairs of shoes also, so it was easy to forget about the XC 5's. 

About a couple of weeks ago, I came across a new set of small, round boot laces my son, Jacob had purchased as a back-up set for his work boots. Well, since he's no longer with us,the laces had no purpose. I looked at them and after a moment or two of grief, I had an idea. I could use these in those old XC 5 shoes! 

While the laces are waaaaay too long, they worked great and now those old special edition shoes feel fantastic. I want to wait until I put in a multi-hour ride, but I am probably going to cut the laces shorter and I'm very optimistic this has solved my issues with those shoes. 

Of course, I could have done this literally years ago, but with my over-abundance of footwear I just had forgotten all about those shoes until I saw Jacob's back-up pair of boot laces. Now I have no idea why I thought about those shoes just then, but I am glad I did.