As athletes, we have to deal with stinky clothes all the time. We’re forced to get pretty good at dealing with it eventually, or else our $200 bib shorts are too nasty to wear after three weeks!

The problem is, we can’t throw our stinky shoes in the washing machine with everything else. And that sucks because our shoes are probably the stinkiest piece of gear we use!

So, here are a few things you can try to keep your sneakers smelling fresh:

1. Foot Spray

The easiest, most conventional way to keep your sneakers smelling fresh is to use some sort of spray. The two main options are Odor Eaters Foot & Sneaker Spray and Dr. Scholl’s Odor Destroyers. Both come in an aerosol can and can be sprayed on feet, socks, or in your shoes.

Spray it on your feet before a run to increase comfort, and spray it in your shoes after a run to prevent them from getting too stinky.

2. Activated Charcoal (or Kitty Litter or Baking Soda)

Activated charcoal has some cool uses. Some people put bags of it in their basement to absorb excess moisture and foul odors, and it’s also used to create scent-proof hunting outfits (used to prevent animals from smelling hunters as they approach.)

Therefore, it makes sense that it could also work to absorb odors from stinky sneakers. What I suggest is getting some activated charcoal (like this), put it in some pantyhose or an old thin sock, and tie off the ends. Then just keep that in your shoes when you’re not wearing them.

(I’d hesitate to use charcoal from your grill, unless you want the black dust coating everything!)

You could also try kitty litter, which is probably cheaper and easier to find.

The other option is baking soda. An open box of baking soda is commonly used to keep your fridge smelling fresh, so why not try it in your shoes? Just sprinkle some baking soda in (or on) your shoes every so often and see if it helps.

At the very least, it’s a good substitute for the specialty products, since you most likely have some at home already.

3. Alternate Shoes Each Day

I picked up this tip from businessmen who wear expensive leather shoes to work each day, but I figure it could apply to running shoes as well.

The idea to is never wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row. This gives each pair time to dry out between uses, rather than be constantly damp with sweat.

You would have to buy two pairs of sneakers to pull this off, but it’s not a bad idea, since you’ll probably more than double the life of each pair.

*Bonus tip*

4. Get Brand New Shoes

It’s not cheap, but new shoes should smell nice!

Honestly, if your shoes are so stinky right now, it’s unlikely that a little spray or powder will completely change things around. So you might need to start fresh!

Photo credit: poolie

Cycling shoes are one of the biggest investments you’ll make aside from the bike itself, easily topping $200 a pair. Heck, $350 isn’t uncommon these days for nice shoes!

Luckily, a good road shoe will last for many years. I am currently using the Sidi Genius 3 Road Shoe which I purchased in April 2004, and it is still going strong after nearly six years!

Here is what I love about this shoe:

It is lightweight and comfortable. Without cleats, this shoe is super light! It almost feels like a sock when you put it on since it is so light and supple. There might be some lighter or more comfortable shoes out there now (especially considering these ones are six years old,) but Sidi road shoes are some of the very best.

The Lorica and mesh construction is pretty soft at first, then becomes even more supple after use. It never gets stiff, even when wet and/or old.

It has a good, adjustable fit. To make sure the shoe is snug, it offers two Velcro straps and an adjustable buckle and ratcheting strap. The Velcro provides for quick tightening, and the buckle allows micro-adjustments for the perfect fit.

It’s really easy to release the buckle, too. You simply press on a tab and pull the strap out. It’s intuitive, unlike some complicated lacing/buckle systems.

It has a stiff sole. While the regular Genius shoe does not have a carbon sole, it is still stiff and durable. It is stiff enough that you do not feel any loss of power, but not so stiff that it hurts your feet. It’s the perfect compromise. (Pros in the Tour de France wear Sidi Genius shoes, which means the sole should be stiff enough for you!)

Lastly, this shoe is durable and rebuildable. I have been beating on these for years (hot, cold, rain, snow, mud, gravel, etc.,) but they look to be in nearly mint condition! The Lorica gets some scuffs, but it is super strong; I doubt I’ll wear through it anytime soon.

The Velcro straps and buckles are all working perfectly.

The sole is slightly scratched from my gravel driveway, but not bad at all. Even if I do wear out the rubber pad on shoe’s heel, it’s easily replaceable.

I expect to get at least ten years of use from these shoes!

What are the downsides of this shoe?

You know what, I can’t even think of any!

The only thing that ever sucked was how heavy the shoes were when using the old fashioned Shimano SPD-R pedals, since the SPD-R cleats were extremely heavy and required a heavy adapter plate to fit the shoe.

Now that I’m running Look pedals and cleats, the shoe is very light with cleats attached, so I love it!

My final verdict is…

Sidi road shoes are very nice. Go to your local bike shop and try some on if you are looking for new shoes. They’re not cheap, but they are a great value based on the comfort and durability.

Official website: www.SidiSport.com

You may be wondering if it’s worth it to get a triathlon shoe or if your regular road bike shoes will work for the occasional triathlon…

I have been biking and doing triathlons for about 6 years now and i am just getting competitive. I have always just used some sidi shoe that a friend gave me but they are way past their time of replacement and i finally have the money to get a new pair of shoes!

Is there a difference in a “Road” shoe and a “triathlon” shoe? if so is it so much of a difference that i would need to get both?

I am racing competitively and im not slow by any means! I have won my last 5 or 6 road races on the bike and plan to do the upcoming half ironman in new orleans. I just need to know if i need to buy two different pairs of shoes for biking or is there one that can be used for both and does not sacrifice anything.

Keep in mind i need to be able to slip out of the shoe itself in a triathlon while still riding the bike (relatively fast and easy) so i think Velcro is the way to go.

Thanks,
Triathlon Tim

Hi Tim,

The main purpose of a triathlon shoe is to let you slip in and out quickly, even with wet feet.

Typically a triathlon shoe will use a single Velcro strap, and it will have a wide foot opening (sometimes referred to as “tongueless” design.) These features make it easy to get the shoe on and off quickly. Also, there is usually a nice seamless liner that makes the shoes comfortable to wear without socks (similar to how triathlon-oriented running shoes are made.)

With a road bike shoe, you’ll probably have two or three Velcro straps and/or a buckle closure. This is great for adjusting the shoes for the perfect fit, but it’s not a time saver. Cheaper shoes might even have laces, which take a long time to tie and untie.

What it really comes down to is that road shoes are designed for comfort and performance, while tri shoes are designed for quick transitions and performance (and for sockless comfort.)

A tri shoe will look like this.

In the end, you could get by with one or the other. With the tri shoe, the fit might not be perfectly dialed in, but it should be fine.

With the road shoe, it would probably be more comfortable and stable. It would be a bit slower for the transitions, but working with two Velcro straps instead of one doesn’t add that much extra transition time.

Where the road shoe’s secure fit would really shine is in the sprinting and attacking that takes place in most road races. (Whereas you’re keeping a steady pace, usually seated, during a tri.)

Sure, I’d prefer to have both shoes, but you don’t need to start out with both. If you’re racing Cat 1/2 or Pro on the road, you definitely want dedicated road shoes.

High up in triathlons? Get a tri-specific shoe.

If I was going with just one shoe, I’d get a good road shoe with two Velcro straps.

Back in 2001, I decided to make the switch to clipless pedals. I researched shoes for a while and started looking for fancy, carbon fiber soled shoes that would make me ride super fast!

Not wanting to spend an arm and a leg, I browsed through Sierra Trading Post, and I was lucky enough to find something cool – the Northwave Team MTB shoes. These were supposedly the “team edition” shoe all the pros were wearing!

With a retail value of $220, I figured they’d be awesome. So I graciously parted with my $110 and picked them up (50% off deals at Sierra Trading Post aren’t uncommon.)

It’s now summer of 2009, which means I’ve used the shoes for eight years! (I’m still using them, but their days are numbered.)

So let’s start with durability. Wearing the shoes for eight years of East Coast mountain biking sounds pretty good, but that’s not the whole story.

In 2004, after three hard seasons of XC riding and racing, the soles came off the shoe. Yep, the soles just detached from the rest of the shoe! I noticed it right after a tough XC race – my shoes felt like flip flops, so I looked down, and the sole was just hanging on by a thread. Luckily my feet stayed clipped in to the pedals!

The good news is that I could Shoe Goo the soles back to the shoe. It added a little extra weight, but it held the shoes together for another two years, when they started to separate again.

It wasn’t till the beginning of 2008 it got real bad (I had a few seasons off from mountain biking though.) I Shoe Goo’d them together once again. And that’s why they still work today!

It’s pretty cool how you can get four more years of life from a pair of shoes thanks to two tubes of Shoe Goo!

[Note: If you read the reviews at MTBR.com, you'll see many, many other people had the same issue with the soles.]

The shoes held up great other than the soles falling off. But that’s to be expected from hard racing in places like Michaux State Forest near Carlisle, PA. The terrain is ridiculously rough and rocky!

Now we can move on to more important things like style, which was simply awesome. I love the mismatched red and yellow design, especially when mated to my red and yellow bike.

These days, that bike is long gone, and the shoes are pretty much dead, so it’s time to move on to black shoes to match my new bikes.

As for comfort, the shoes ranked as “pretty good.” They were comfortable through three hour mountain bike races as well as six hour road rides.

They weren’t the epitome of comfort, though, especially with the crappy insole. Basically, they’re comfortable if you’ve never ridden in shoes that are more comfortable! After getting my Sidi Genius road shoes, I realized these Northwave shoes weren’t so spectacular.

Luckily they fit, because they were a tad narrow. While I normally wear a 46, these were a 45.5, so they had a snug fit for sure. They didn’t open very wide either, so it hurt my fingers pulling them on.

But once they were on my feet, everything fit fine, and I liked how the mesh panels conformed to my feet.

Then I could use the Velcro straps to adjust the fit. The Velcro straps keep things simple, and they worked fine to keep my feet held securely. However, after years of mountain biking abuse, the Velcro is wearing out. Now the straps have a tendency to “unstick” when soaking wet, like during stream crossings.

Many modern shoes have a buckle top strap, since those tend to stay tight unless you re-adjust them on purpose. (The latest Northwave shoes for 2009 use a nice buckle top strap.)

Going back to the sole, the grip was good at first. I was able to get just enough traction on hike-a-bikes. Now it’s totally worn out, and the plastic toe spikes are shredded. They’re not replaceable like Sidi, so the shoes are no longer usable for race situations.

My final verdict is…

I didn’t like how the soles fell off, and these were never as comfortable as my nice Sidi road shoes, but for the price I paid, these worked out alright. (I got my money’s worth out of these shoes, thanks to Shoe Goo.)

I may consider Northwave again, since the new shoes look nice, but there are quite a few new shoes from Sidi, Shimano, Pearl Izumi, Specialized, and even Bontrager, so I would shop around and find ones that work perfect, before plunking down $100-300.

Official website: www.Northwave.com

Buy online at 50% off: www.SierraTradingPost.com