I talk about shoes and socks too much

I was at Dirt Rag Dirt Fap Fest talking to HandUp Troy when Shimano Foye walked up to talk to him.  Whilst I was in the presence of the Big Blue Ambassador, I asked him about the S-Phyre shoe and it's hike-a-bike-ability.  It hits Shimano's stiffness scale at an 11... which is only one stiffness less than their stiffest road shoe.

So perhaps a dumb question was uttered in regards to how walkable their highest performing mountain bike cycling race shoe might be.

"What size shoe do you wear?"

"43."

"Me too.  Wanna walk around in my shoes?"

We head over to the Shimano tent, I leave my Sidis as a deposit, and I head into the woods to walk around on rocks and scramble up steep hills and pretty much look a bit like a fugitive in Pisgah named White Mike... once he realized the Giant Reign he stole at gunpoint was much to large for him.

In the name of science tho.

The shoes "fit like a glove"... which sounds dumb, because a shoe should just fit like a shoe.  The only thing that should fit like a glove is a glove.

They conformed nicely to my feet parts.  There was no unfortunate lift at the heel when stepping about, but I could tell that the carbon sole was just gonna be too stiff for things like the thirty minute hike-a-bike sections at Breck Epic... which is the whole reason I was looking at another pair of shoes to begin with.

I've got three pairs of various Mavic shoes with sweet to at least decent rubber soles.  The problem is that they all have issues with the knobs starting to peel away from the midsoles or extreme wear at the toes.  I'm confident I can get another season of Pisgah outta the red Crossmax Pros, years of junk mile mornings outta the old yellow Fury pair, and... the Crossmax SL Ulitmates have just been disappoint for most things.  The fit isn't what I want outta a shoe and they're just a little too stiff for hike-a-bike and they kinda went too conservative on rubber knobbage.  The yellow Sidi Cape shoes were just a stop gap measure because I didn't know Mavic was gonna warranty an old pair of shoes and then the red pair entered my life unexpectedly and then I had a wealth of just okay footwear to choose from.

If you've ever done some hike-a-bike in Sidis, you know all about the Sidi Slide™ and the fact that the uppers outlive the tread by a factor of two.

I reported back from my lunatic jaunt, returned the Shimano shoes to Foye, and he talked to the other Shimano guy who asked me if I'd ever looked at the Pearl Izumi Project shoes.  I had to tell him that I had the original Project 1.0 shoes and that the soles cracked and then I bought the redesigned ones and those cracked... and I also had a pair of Trans Alps... which also cracked.

I was not really looking at Pearl Izumi shoes anymore.

He then went on to tell me that he had similar experiences, and that the newest Project Pros were an all new design.  Different vendor (manufacturer?) for the carbon sole.  Shortened stiff bit for better walkability.  More padding on the heel.  On and on and on and on...

Mebbe.

Get back home, think about it, do nothing.  I just don't wanna throw $350+ on something that's let me down before.  Also, vanity.  I don't want any more black shoes, and I definitely don't like orange shoes.  I can't explain these things.  I also don't have to.  You're not my mom or my wife.

But then I saw this on Chris Plesko's Instagram story:

Yeth, I've watched some Instagram stories.  Things are that slow at work this time of year, and I'm that bored.  Very bored.

And Chris is an interesting human person.

I still don't really understand the purpose of the stories tho.

I immediately identified the shoes as Pearl Izumi from the short clip due to the two top mounted Boas.  No one else does this, and it's fucking brilliant.  I knew Chris was a Project shoeman before and getting ready to attack the Colorado Trail Race... and obviously (to someone who stalks him), he was trying these new shoes right before heading out to race.

So I bothered him with PMs and googled so hard and voila.  The Project Pro in limited edition Screaming Green... on sale... because no one wants a shoe this hideous?  Dunno.

Personally, I was sold.  You had me at "screaming."

My last pair of size 43 Project 1.0 shoes fit on the poochy side, which I guess I should say that they fit unlike a glove... assuming that glove was meant for a foot.  Based on nothing more than a hunch, I ordered a pair in size 42.5.

ZOMG.

These shoes are how I liked my women in college.  Obnoxiously loud.  Not because I liked that kinda personality, but because I'm deaf in one ear and we woulda probably met in a chaotic bar scenario with the Humpty Dance thumping in the background.  They fit awesome (glove-like?) and are super comfy.  The carbon sole is noticeably thicker at the cleat mount, which is exactly where the others had failed.  I've only had one ride on them so far, but it was a long day of Kitsuma and Heartbreak.  A good test for just about anything.

I'm really hoping I didn't get duped on the promised upgraded durability, because I bought another pair just to keep in a plastic bag with a handful of desiccant packs in one of my big blue bins for the future.

I'm assuming there will be a future and I'll still have feet and I won't be riding shifty bits and still thinking walking my bike up a mountain is a form of recreation and also will think Screaming Green is still my color.

I'm pretty sure there's gonna be a future tho so okay.

Thanks, Foye and other Shimano dude for this gentle nudge in the right direction.