Thoughts on Moonwalkers Shoes

Thoughts on Moonwalkers Shoes

Byrichard

Some of us remember a time when you could get roller skates that fit shoes. Moonwalkers have the same idea, except that the goal with their project is for the wheels to be powered, to drive you forward at a maximum speed of 11 km/h.


Speed Increase Depends on Base Walking Speed


They claim that this would increase walking speed by 250 percent, but I already walk at 5 to 7km/h, so it would double walking speed. Theoretically, this is a fantastic idea because it allows people who walk more slowly to get around more quickly, whilst walking. The drawback is that, as with all these developments, they are designed for urban, rather than rural use. They are designed to speed up getting around for people who already have access to buses, trains, foot scooters and more.


Boiled Down


Remember the horizontal escalators that we find in airports. You step onto them, and they propel you forward at one speed, whilst you walk at another? It’s like that, except that you’re wearing the horizontal escalator, and it goes where you go. It gives you the convenience of that horizontal escalator without the limitations.


Learning To Walk With Them


There are some instructional videos on how to use them. First you get used to walking with them in lock mode, to get used to the shoes, and then when you’re comfortable you shift to run mode and walk at an enhanced speed. To slow down, you take smaller and smaller steps until you stop. To understand the sensation, it makes sense to try them on.


The Cost


They are currently being sold on pre-order for 1400 USD. They are way too expensive. Electric foot scooters cost the same a few years ago. Now they cost a third to a quarter of the price. I would wait a few generations before getting them.


The Implication


In previous posts I have considered the move from self powered bikes, electric scooters and more as a shift away from muscle powered transport. It has shown humans replacing the car, not with fitness, but with different machines, that also help reduce the amount of effort they make. This is another iteration of that.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe4CHWulnDs


And Finally


I already walk two to three times faster than most people, which is why I overtake them with ease, and why I can walk longer distances before considering that the distance is too far. It’s because I walk fast that I see no need for buses and bus routes. It’s because I already have great freedom, that the notion of spending 1400 USD for shoes that make me a little faster is uninteresting.

Seventy Kilometres Later – Adapting to Barefoot Shoes

Seventy Kilometres Later – Adapting to Barefoot Shoes

Byrichard

I walk from three to fie million steps per year. In doing so I wear through shoes and through socks every six months or less. It makes sense that I would experiment with barefoot shoes since I spend so much time walking. 


The Experience


Initially I tried the Vapor Glove 6 and I was able to walk my usual routes without trouble. I did find one surface where it felt as though the shoes were not adapted to the weathered road conditions and that’s part of the reason I decided to try others. I also found that with the Vapor Glove 6 I could feel my heel stomp onto the hard road surface and I really had to be attentive to changing my walking style overnight. 


Of course, changing from one walking style to another is a challenge. That’s where the Trail Glove 7 come into play. Their sole is 14mm or so, rather than six. This makes a huge difference with my walking style.  With the Trail Glove 7 I have already walked 51 kilometres with ease. Contrast this to 19 in the Vapor Glove 6. The Trail Glove 7 are well suited to my walking style. I’m a strider, and as a strider I use my heel a lot. 


Driving


As a little aside I have tried driving to the shops and back with both pairs of shoes but find that the Vapor Gloves are slightly too soft for driving. It’s better to wear Trail Gloves. I know that flip flops are not recommended for driving. I’m not sure about sandals.  


Walking Style and Pace


If I was walking with people walking at a normal pace, and for smaller distances then the Vapor Glove would be fine. The issue with the Vapor Glove is simply that it has no heel amortisation. The rubber, even with socks is too thin. I need to consciously think of every step. When you walk 12,000 steps it becomes a challenge.  With Trail Glove shoes adaptation is gradual, especially with 10km daily walks. I really like wearing Trail Glove shoes.  


Conclusion


Although I like the idea of wearing shoes that are as minimal as the Vapor Gloves I prefer the Trail Gloves, for now. They allow me to get used to the act of walking “barefoot” without destroying my heels. The biggest hurdle for me is to adapt my gait to be barefoot shoe friendly. I hope that the wear pattern on my normal shoes will change. 

Vapor and Trail Gloves After Twenty Kilometres

Vapor and Trail Gloves After Twenty Kilometres

Byrichard

The easiest sport to practice every day is walking. We can walk to the bus stop, train station or other places every single day. We can walk in the morning, we can walk at the shops, and we can walk at lunch time or in the evening. All of these walking opportunities mean that shoes are on our feet for hours at a time and need to be comfortable. That’s why playing with Vapor Gloves and Trail Gloves makes sense. I have now walked twenty kilometres in both. 


Vapor Gloves 6


The vapor gloves are thin, flexible shoes that you can roll up, almost like a sock. They are so light and flexible that you really feel the ground beneath your feet which is great if you’re on sand, wood chips, mud or grass but not ideal if you’re on tarmac. Remember our ancestors might have been barefoot or worn thin soled shoes but they weren’t walking on tarmac for hours at a time. For this reason the vapor glove requires some training and conditioning. I like the vapor gloves except for the lack of padding under the heel. 


If you have been in an apartment or house then you’re used to the sound of people walking barefoot and banging their heels on the ground, to sound heavier than they are. With the Vapor Glove you experience this problem when you’re walking, especially when you’re a strider like me. With the Vapor Glove I need to make a conscious effort not to strike the ground with my heel. 


Relearning to walk


With the Vapor Glove you need to relearn how to walk. When you walk at home you’re not striding so you don’t need to be as disciplined about walking style. When you’re walking at full speed down a tarmac path you do. I have to consciously think about how to put my foot down, at each step, not to hit the heel too hard. This can be quite tiring. That’s why they speak of re-learning to walk with barefoot shoes. 


Trail Gloves 7


Although the Vapor Glove 6 and Trail Glove 7 have the same tread pattern the thickness of the soles is different. The stack height on the trail glove 7 is 14mm compared to just 6mm with the vapor glove. By doubling the sole of the shoes the trail glove is much more comfortable for my walking style. With big strides the habit is of hitting the ground with the heel several thousand times per walk. This is a habit that was picked up with modern shoes, where the soles are designed to be forgiving of this walking style. 


The Trail Glove 7, by having thicker souls are more forgiving of this walking style. I have walked 20km with them in two days and they’re comfortable for me. I could see myself replacing conventional shoes with these. 


Idealism and Reality


When I worked as a luggage handler I always wore gloves. I worked with colleagues who refused to wear gloves because they felt that they didn’t have the dexterity that they wanted. I learned that by wetting gloves, you could soften them to become like a second skin. 


Climber and Luggage Handler Hands


The luggage handlers who never used gloves had hard, hands, that had been toughened and scared by being exposed to luggage handling work. Remember that think about office workers having soft hands compared to manual labourers? The same is true of feet that have been protected by shoes. 


Natural padding


I remember seeing the feet of someone that walked barefoot rather than with shoes. The feet were naturally padded, by years of walking barefoot. 


Transitioning to barefoot shoes is not just about having a desire to wear different shoes. It is also about adapting the padding of our feet to not being assisted by shoes anymore. 


Road Surfaces


If you walk from village to village there is a good chance that you have to walk along roads that are covered in tarmac or concrete. We no longer walk on soil, grass or sand. We walk on hard surfaces where the impact of every step is transmitted up through our body. With the vapor glove shoes I feel that I may injure my knees and heel from impacting the ground too hard. With the trail gloves I don’t get that feeling. 


A Five Hundred Meter Run


I tried running in the trail gloves but don’t like the sensation yet. I need to get used to walking in them, before I can push forward with running. As I said before, my feet need to grow used to this type of shoes. 


Better Balance in the Shower


A few years ago I broke my arm. As a result of this showering, for several weeks was less practical than usual. I noticed, when I could move normaly, that my sense of balance had gone.  By wearing barefoot shoes I noticed that my balance, when soaping feet, has come back. 


Cleaner


In previous decades and centuries every building had a shoe scraping thing at the entrance. People with muddy shoes could scrape the mud off of their shoes before entering. Modern buildings are designed for car bound people so muddy shoes are not considered. 


I have some MH-900 shoes with deep treads that I haven’t worn down yet. These treads are great to keep you from slipping and sliding in the mud. Recently I walked, on a muddy day and didn’t check my shoes before entering the building. I left a trail of mud and this angered the people I share a building with. 


I have a shoe scraping brush in my post box, and a second one in the basement. If and when I come home with muddy shoes I can scrape the shoes before heading upstairs. 


With minimalist shoes the tread is tiny and the shoes are flexible. If they do get muddy there is a good chance that the mud will be dislodged by walking, without the need to spend half an hour scraping shoes. 


In the 21st century people complain about mud, without knowing the solutions.  The incident filled me with anxiety. 


And Finally


Although I love the concept of walking in vapor gloves I feel that I need to condition my feet to barefoot walking via the Trail Gloves first. Everywhere I read “Wear them for half an hour a day at first, and then transition to wearing them more often”. From walking the last 20 kilometres over two days, with the trail gloves, I feel comfortable in wearing these shoes, as my ordinary shoes.

Minimal Walking – Day 2
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Minimal Walking – Day 2

Byrichard

I went for a walk with the barefoot shoes for a second day in a row. I didn’t regret it. I need to pay more attention to how I walk, specifically I need to make sure not to slam my heel into the ground with each step and this takes focus, muscle use, and discipline.
This time I wore socks with the barefoot shoes and the sensation is different. I prefer feeling that my feet are protected by the shoe, and by the socks. I don’t know why I dislike walking without socks in these shoes. I suspect that it’s a matter of adapting, psychologically.


Shopping Centre With Barefoot Shoes


I went to the shops to get two or three drinks with the barefoot shoes and in this environment they feel great. The ground is smooth so if you’re going shopping, minimal shoes are fine. I know we don’t buy minimal shoes to walk in supermarkets but by association if we’re at a winter club med, summer club med or elsewhere and we don’t want to wear normal shoes, these are fine.


Weathered Tarmac


Despite the shoes feeling good on lose stones that are used to cover driveways they do not feel good on weather worn tarmac that has disintegrated to leave chaotic stones around. In this context I felt the limitation of 6mm of sole protection. I sometimes felt discomfort. It’s intriguing because on a dirt path they felt fine but not on a surfaced road that has been allowed to degrade over several years, or even decades.


Feeling Calf Muscles


After two days of walking in barefoot shoes, and after my 5km walk two days earlier my calves still feel pumped. That’s why I will take a rest day today. It’s not that I don’t want to walk with the barefoot shoes today, but that I don’t want to risk injury from building up fatigue in my legs.


The Difference Socks Make


Wearing socks, with the vapour glove 7 does impact how hot feet feel. My feet felt warmer when I wore socks, than without. In summer the shoes are comfortable without socks, so it makes sense to save on washing by not wearing any but when it gets colder wearing socks will extend the temperature range within which these shoes are worn.


And Finally


I have walked 18km or so in about 3 hours over two days and so far the shoes feel fine. I do feel that I need to spend a little more time thinking about how I am walking, but I often find myself walking without thinking about the change in shoes. Walking barefoot is comfortable and intuitive. Socks make me feel safer despite them hardly offering any extra protection. Today I am taking a rest day from barefoot walking and tomorrow I could take them in case of technical issues when cycling. I think I was triggered to think about how I get around because I sold the scooter, so now I will either drive the car, walk, or cycle. Without that trigger I probably would not have pivoted.

Thoughts On The Vapour Glove Six
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Thoughts On The Vapour Glove Six

Byrichard

I walk around in socks when I’m at home, so not quite barefoot, but almost. The idea of barefoot shoes is to get the human body, and especially the lower half to get back in touch with walking barefoot.
Yesterday I went for an 8.55km walk in barefoot shoes. I didn’t regret it. I took some spare shoes with me in case I found myself in such agony that I felt the need to switch. The truth is that I didn’t. When I walked the same route with crocs, and again with wellington boots I felt pain quite fast, and I just wanted to get home. With the barefoot shoes I didn’t. The Shoes I have: Merrel Vapor Glove 6.


A Reminder of Diving Shoes


If you go scuba diving you will be familiar with the “barefoot” sensation because diving shoes and boots have thin soles designed to protect your feet from pebbles, rocks and more. Barefoot shoes are similar. They’re thin and flexible. You can roll them up into two little balls and have them with you when rollerblading or doing other sports. They can be worn with, or without socks.
The reason for which I did not try walking with diving shoes is that they are made from neoprene and I felt worried that I would get blisters or friction burns. That’s why I chose these shoes, rather than the cheaper alternatives.


Heel Impacts


The first thing that I noticed is that walking barefoot feels normal, at least in the appartment, because I do, all the time. The moment walking with barefoot shoes feels different is when you are walking with big strikes and you feel the heel hit the ground with each step. At this point you will feel that if you don’t change your ground strikes you will get heel damage fast. It requires you to think about walking. Ever hear that clomp, clomp, sound when children or adults walk without thinking of cushioning their footsteps when not wearing shoes? That’s the problem when walking outdoors. We need to re-learn to walk barefoot, without clomping with our heels.


No Residual Pain The Next Day


I considered writing this post last night but didn’t. I wanted to see whether I had any knee, heel or other pains. I don’t. I feel fine so I’m tempted to go for another barefoot walk but I am not sure that’s wise, as it makes sense to give my body time to adapt. They say to do half an hour. I did one and a half hours as a first try. That’s a full immersion. I am not regretting it now.


Without Socks


I always wear socks, except for when I am in a wet suit. I even wear socks in my dry suit. Wearing socks in a dry suit is normal, as you wear a dry suit for cold water diving. I feel that the base of my foot got a friction burn but I think that’s related to the previous day’s running, rather than the shoes.
With the rain we have had recently plants have thrived and grass has grown. As a result of the plant growth I had to walk through taller grass at moments. I don’t feel comfortable with this. I’m worried of creepy crawlies or snakes biting me. This is due to feeling exposed without socks, and wearing much thinner shoes than usual.


Pebbles, Dirt Paths and Tarmac


I walked on tarmac for the most part. The shoes feel comfortable, aside from the heel strike that I need to concentrate on avoiding. This behaviour modification will be easy to implement, especially now that I have read that it requires active avoidance, at least initially. I tried walking along a dirt path and I felt comfortable. I didn’t feel the pebbles and stones too much. They’re comfortable on dirt paths. The final surface test was to walk on pebbles. Near one church they have a nice testing bed of stones so I walked there and felt fine. No pain from small stones and pebbles. I only retracted my foot in anticipation of pain once with these shoes. They are fine for the terrain I walk on ever day.


Spare Shoes


If I’m cycling or rollerblading these shoes would be great because they allow me to go for a bike ride, and when I get to destination, and if I then go for a walk with people, then I can swap from cycling shoes to normal shoes. The same is true of rollerblading. Rollerblading is great to get around faster than on foot, but sometimes you encounter a steep hill that you need to get down, or you want to go into a shop, but can’t, due to the roller blades. With these spare shoes in your pockets you can swap one for the other.


Fitness and Adaptibility


Fitness is meant to play a role in how fast you adapt to barefoot walking. I hope that I’m fit enough, and used to walking barefoot around home enough to find adapting to barefoot shoes simple and pleasant. I don’t plan to see or feel any health benefits. I am experimenting with this out of intellectual curiousity. In the last 12 months I have walked four million six hundred steps. With such a solid base I think I will be okay.


And Finally


Originally I was tempted to get new running shoes that cost twice as much but eventually not only did I forget about the running shoes, but I also considered that I want to try such expensive shoes in person, before spending such money. Buying shoes is hard because they feel fine in the shop, but after seven kilometres of walking at full speed you start to regret plenty of shoe purchases. That’s why I have two or three pairs of shoes in active use now, on contrast to the old single pair of shoes.
I have hiking boots, for proper hiking, hiking shoes, for my daily walks in rainy conditions, and when I want more protection, running shoes that I also use for hiking and that I plan to use daily now, a second pair of running shoes, that I haven’t used frequently because they’re good for dry weather, i.e. summer. The fourth pair are years old and will be retired. I then have a pair of cycling, and a pair of climbing shoes, along with a pair of crocs. Now I have the barefoot shoes too.
At the moment my walking shoes last for six months, if I’m lucky but they usually wear out sooner. I usually replace them when I start to feel that the base is getting so thin that I feel stones almost breaking through the sole. I will log how far I walk before I feel the need to replace them.

Thirty Kilometres Per Day

Thirty Kilometres Per Day

Byrichard

The Swiss travel an average of 30 kilometres per day in their cars, according to a new survey shared by the Radio Television Suisse.


I walk 14 to twenty kilometres per day, and if I go for a bike ride I travel 30 kilometres. I use the car twice a week, for food shopping and that’s mainly because of the 15 minute rule for refrigerated food, rather than laziness. During the pandemic I would do food shopping with the car but pick up the drinks by going for a walk. It’s a one hour trip to the shops and back for me. 


My single biggest frustration with walking as I do in Switzerland is the network of roads that lead from everywhere to everywhere, with no pedestrian paths for walkers or cyclists. Some villages and streets are designed for cars, with no pedestrian option. No pavement, no cycle path. No limit to 20 km/h. It’s assumed that people will use the car, rather than walk. This is astounding.


When I drive I show respect for walkers and cyclists. I slow down to pass them, on narrow roads, and on wide roads I go to the opposite side of the road to pass cyclists and walkers. To reduce the need for cars people need to be able to get from their homes to walks and cycling lanes, without risking dangerous drivers. For five years I have walked more than driven. For five years I have seen how cars behave with. pedestrians and cyclists. For five years the toxic behaviour has encouraged me to drive with humanity, but also to desire a switch away from cars. We should not automatically get into a car to do things. We should automatically get our walking shoes on, or get on our bikes. 


“Il y a un énorme travail à faire. C’est une question d’horaire, pour qu’on puisse se déplacer le soir et le week-end dans les heures creuses. C’est aussi une question de destinations: il faut que les transports publics soient facilités à destination des régions touristiques”


In brief, Vincent Kaufman says that public transport needs to be spread across the day, not just at peak times, but also that transport needs to be later in the evening, when people who want to go out socialising need to have transport. That’s what I have said for years, or even decades. We see how London makes it easy to get around even at night, whether with tubes until midnight or later, now, or night buses. 


In the video interview he also speaks about how the Swiss transport network is geared towards commuters rather than pleasure seekers. I find this both paradoxical and ironic, since so many adverts encourage people to take public transport. Having said that, transport is to the tourist traps, rather than areas of unique and outstanding beauty, which is why I suffered so much, without a car one summer, and without the ability to drive a second summer. That’s why I pivoted to local walks and bike rides. 


If there is an alternative to the car people will use it. If the alternative to cars is cheaper, then people will use it. I have happily explored every walk and bike route from Geneva, and even Yvoire to the West, and Lausanne to the East. I think that I know almost every road, via biking. For walking I think I know most paths within a two hour walking range of my current home. I used to go to the mountains every weekend, like described in the article, but with the pandemic, job insecurity, a broken arm and a summer without the car I have learned to walk and cycle. 


Two Frustrations


My two frustrations are, first, that dog walkers don’t keep their dogs on leashes, so at least six times I have been attacked by dogs. People love to say “If you’re not afraid of a dog then it won’t attack”, that’s great, but then I am being attacked, precisely because I am scared, which is why I am scared in the first place. A few days ago I thought that my fear of being bitten would be realised but I had the right response. Principally I froze. 


The second frustration is that cars do not respect cyclists and pedestrians. Every single day cars drive too fast by me. When I drive by people I either give them space, if there is space, or I overtake pedestrians at slightly more than walking pace. 


And finally


I went from using the car seven days a week, for almost anything, to using the car just twice a week, and only because I need it for shopping. I have gone from driving one or two hundred kilometres a weekend, and 50-60km a day, to zero. I am the change they want to see. 

Connected Watches and Psychological Profiles

Connected Watches and Psychological Profiles

Byrichard

Connected watches know everything about us. In theory they listen to us 24 hours a day for years in a row. My Apple watch has been on my wrist for over four years, every single day. It has been for swims, runs, rock climbing, via ferrata, office work and more. 


The watch knows how much I walk, when I get up, when I go to sleep, how well I wash my hands, how exposed I am to noise and much more. It also knows whether I am moving energetically or lazily. It knows if I am walking faster or slower. It also knows how rested or stressed I am, by looking at heart rate variability. 


Some people will look at the two paragraphs above and think “I don’t want this”. 


The Suunto, Garmin, Casio and other brands I have used measure walking, sleeping, and more but not in the way that Apple does. Apple theoretically knows a lot more for two key reasons. The first is that the Apple universe includes your laptop, your phone, your watch, your tablet and your keys and other possessions. Apple has access to almost every aspect of our lives. 


I bring this up, not because of a sense of paranoia, but simply because there is an article about this on the RTS website after some uni students wanted to know more. They asked people hundreds of questions to get a profile. They then tried to correlate that data with watch data to see if the watch could help establish mental health via a watch. They don’t say anything about brand. 


What makes this report especially interesting is that these are conclusions from fitness trackers, rather than high end smart watches. 


Some things are obvious. People who go out on a friday night are considered extroverted, people who sleep little and move more regularly are considered nervous and more. This is nothing that we wouldn’t expect to hear. 


If we look at the bigger picture, at big data, then this could be interesting. By tracking enough people over time it could be determined whether people are becoming happier, sadder, more nervous, less nervous, about to commit suicide and more. There are reports of how connected devices showed signs that someone was beginning to fall sick, with COVID, or other diseases. 


Steps, sleep and heart rate are just the tip of the iceberg. Most watches collect more than this so they know more. 

Lac De Divonne

Lac De Divonne

Byrichard

It’s a lake that was dug out when they built the A1 motorway. The quarry that was left behind became a lake. For a long time cars could drive around the lake.


View of the Lac De Divonne


The loop around the lake is good for walking, cycling, rollerblading and more. It is around 3.6km long and there are plenty of parking spaces beside it. If you want there is another option.


That option is the Voie Verte as it is called in France. There used to be a train line from Nyon to Divonne but it was destroyed to make way for the motorway. Some of the tracks were pulled up and it went wild.


Eventually they cut all the overgrowth, tarmaced the road, and gave it to cyclists, walkers and more. It’s a way to go from Crassier to Divonne without putting up with cars.


The advantage of this lake is that it is a flat loop. You can use it to run, cycle or rollerblade laps. You can use it to run a specific distance without having to invent a route along roadsides and more. It’s a way of working on endurance without the challenge of undulating terrain.


Aside from the lake there is a model solar system that is to a scale you can walk along. It gives you an idea of how much space is between the planets in the solar system as well as the relative size.


On the opposite side of the lake you have a reconstructed aqueduct for children to see how water was taken from Divonne to Nyon at the times of the Romans when Nyon was Julia Equestrius.


The lake is a tame simple walk that can be used for a number of things. It also has the advantage of being tarmaced. This means that even people like me can go for a walk without getting muddy shoes.

On The Habit of Daily Walks

Byrichard

Men’s Health has an article about a person that walked 10,000 steps a day for a month, when his normal step count is 4000. According to the Pedometer++ app on my phone I have taken more than 10,000 steps a day for 140 days in a row. I have to take 10,000 steps for at least six days in a row before I can have a lower step day count. Usually the only reason my step count is lower than 10,000 is that I spent the day driving from one European country to another.


140 days of 10,000+ steps and the distance travelled over the last seven days
140 days of 10,000+ steps and the distance travelled over the last seven days


I can’t imagine taking just 4000 steps a day. For that I would need to spend the entire day at home. From January to March I have walked 12.6 kilometres a day and before that from April 2022-December 2022 I walked an average of 10.3 kilometres per day.


A piece of bread in a field
A piece of bread in a field


For some reason I saw a piece of bread lying in a field. I don’t know whether someone threw it from a car, or if it fell off of a tractor during the preparation of a field. It’s not often that you see baguettes like this. Maybe someone is using it to point the way.


A glove in a field
A glove in a field


It seems that, aside from losing their bread someone also lost their glove. Someone might be having a bad day.


Walking Several Times A Day


Reading the article did remind me of something. There was a time when I struggled to get to ten thousand steps a day, but oveer the years it has become ordinary for me to reach that step count. The only exception now is days when I cycle, or road trip, and this depends on when I arrive home.


To reach the step count during a work day I found that walking to the train station and from the train to work, back from work, and home helps. So does going for a lunchtime walk.


And Finally


If you don’t want to walk for an hour and a half to reach 10,000 steps you can run. Your cadence goes from 100 steps per minute to 150-200 steps per minute and you cover the same distance in half the time.