Big feet run (pardon the unintended pun) in my family.

^{“Plates of meat,” as the Brits say.  More like platters in my case.}

Over the years, I’ve had problems at various times finding shoes large enough to fit properly, and especially in this day and age where manufacturers seem to arbitrarily take every hundredth bigfoot size shoe that comes off the assembly line and label it a size or two larger, and in kilometers or something. I mean, I’m no chauvinist, but why should I have to care about “EU” shoe sizes?  It’s bad enough that my feet have mutated grown from size 13 when I was in high school to their current size 15 or 15.5 state, but “EU 52?”  That sounds like some kind of Bulgarian perfume.  And why such a huge upper range (that nobody seems to make in any event)?  If your feet are EU 16, do you need a magnifying glass to see them?

In any event, and putting the snark aside, finding an EU size 52 bicycling shoe with SPD cleats is, in this day and age of, failing all else, being able to find just about anything on Amazon, well nigh hopeless.  Endless Google searches have resulted in zilch.  My query on BikeForums [linkie] resulted in a couple of responses that gave some seemingly specific information but after calling nearly every bike shop in Seattle trying to chase them down with no luck- lots of sympathy but no luck- I felt pretty defeated.

Even worse, my friends at Bike Gallery [linkie] in Portland had an EU 52 Shimano shoe that seemed to fit pretty well- tight and stiff, but that’s why they are a biking shoe.  Except that my ankle where it meets my foot prevents the “strap and ratchet” closure at the top of the shoe from coming together, much less fastening.  Great shoe, but not for me.

I’m going to call other shops in Portland today, hoping against hope I might be able to find something to take back to Alaska with me to break in over the next month or so.  If anyone reading this has any suggestions or recommendations, please let me hear from you.  Otherwise, wish me luck.  I think I’m going to need it.

David Edgren