Rainy rides test your resolve and your equipment. Depending on your bike, you might keep the worst of the deluge out of your butt crack by using proper fenders/mudguards, but in any kind of steady rain you will probably end up with very wet shoes. This is inconvenient for a recreational rider. It's more of a nuisance for a commuter.
Among the many nice things obliterated by progress, the coming of step-in pedal bindings in the mid 1980s, quickly wiped out the cleated racing shoes of the day.
When riders used toeclips and straps, the upper of the cycling shoe was made of light leather. The sole might be stiff layers of laminated leather, some form of plastic, or wood. The break-in procedure actually involved soaking the very tight shoes with water and then going for a long ride while they dried to the exact size of your foot. As soon as the secure grip shifted from a strap that went around the foot to a plastic widget that snapped into the pedal and held the foot from beneath, riders started ripping their shoes apart. D'Oh! Didn't think about that detail, did ya?
Road shoes evolved rapidly, growing various straps, as the uppers got thicker as well to account for the added stress on the shoes themselves and the riders' feet therein. Regardless of synthetic fabrics and ventilated mesh, all that upholstery takes longer to dry than a much lighter shoe with a wooden sole and a glove leather upper. I could stuff my leather shoes with newspaper and they would be dry by morning. My modern shoes might be dry by next week.
I had shoes ranging from almost cardboard soles up to some really nice contoured wood ones. I added over the counter Dr. Scholl's arch supports to counter a little pronation problem that came... and eventually went. I could strip down wet shoes to essential structure for fast drying in one or two easy steps.
I quit riding regularly in cleated shoes several years ago because I wanted to be ready to walk if necessary. My remaining pairs of shoes with slotted cleats were made in the clipless era. I still have a pair of 1980s Detto Pietros, but without cleats mounted. Some riders in ancient times would use shoes like that without the cleats just for the stiff sole to aid power transfer better than a bendy sneaker. Bata offered the Bata Biker, which was a canvas sneaker with a thicker sole under the ball of the foot, but without the bulky cupsoles and rands common today on shoes that ignore the needs and desires of the few remaining toeclip users.
In cycling, almost nothing dies out completely. The toeclip lives on. I predict that it will rise again when a new generation of riders recognizes its economic utility and freedom of choice in footwear. Every once in a while I dust off the old slotted cleats and go for a power ride. With toeclips I have that option: full power with cleated shoes or at least partial power with non-cleated shoes.
One way you can tell my content is not AI generated is the way I keep harping on the same old shit. Also, AI probably doesn't swear as much. My rationale is this: If a concept is good and true and important, repetition puts many versions of it out there for readers to find.
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