Giro Gauge Mountain Shoes, 2 Weeks In

The Giro Gauge is an interesting shoe, and if you go back to my previous post on them, you'll see I was impressed out of the box. The stiffness was off the charts compared to the Sidi Spider I was used to, and the finish quality was right there with Sidi as well.

That's all good and well, but if the shoes don't feel right the point is moot. Through this week I now have 2 weeks of training in these shoes. Yes, I specified "training", as I haven't raced in them...yet. Superstition maybe, or maybe just nerves, but I'm still racing in my Spiders. That's going to change tomorrow.


With cyclocross you have to be able to remount quickly, over and over. Part of that quick remount is a fast clip-in, and it helps to be totally comfortable in your shoes and with their cleat placement below your foot. In the last 2 weeks I have been fiddling a lot with cleat placement on the Gauge, and now that I think I have it right it's time to give these bad boys some race time.

Starting tomorrow morning around 10 am EST, the my pair of shoes will see their first big test: Iceman Cometh. It's my first time out there, and from what I hear is all about pedaling. Hard. The stiffness of the Gauge I think will be on my side.

These two weeks have proven my initial assessment of incredible stiffness to be correct. The shoes are no worse for the wear, but they shouldn't be as they only have about 30 hours on them. The velcro straps are quite nice as the d-ring on the middle strap is off-set to the outside of the shoe, moving it away from the medial cuneiform (the big bone at the top of your foot) to reduce pressure.

Give me about 48 hours and I'll tell you what I really think about these shoes.....