Shoes Make a Difference

Today I went out for a short chilly scoot with my little son and I used some different shoes: fairly new sneakers instead of my casual leather shoes which have seen better days:

My rational was that the sneakers should give a me a nice cushioned bounce while kicking — and they did indeed.

However, I noticed as the bigger difference that the rubbery sole of the sneakers is stickier. This made turning the shoe on the heel or ball of the foot rather difficult. And I do turn the shoes to replace one foot with the other in a controlled manner when swapping kick and stand foot.

Here I show the soles of both pairs:

It’s not really easy to see that the sneakers are too sticky, but I certainly could feel the difference!

So the moral of the story is: Chose your shoes wisely when you go out kicking!