UniLog
- Quest for Gliding Shoe: Part 2
Today I spent some time looking into materials for the glide shoe. I started looking into Kevlar. This miracle fiber is as strong as steel. Unfortunately I found out that it has poor abrasion resistance, it actually self destructs from the inside out if allowed to move. A new material called Spectra, a form of polyethylene with very long and straight chains, is both strong and tough. Nylon is also very good in abrasion applications, and is probably cheaper.
But today was Memorial Day, a holiday. Every place I called to get information was closed. So I went to Home Depot. The only thing I found that might be useful was a small piece of carpet. Hey, it was free. There were two kinds of carpet samples. Most had a grid-like backing which was very stiff. If you bend it, it kind of 'breaks'. The other type is what I decided to use: it has more of a cloth-like backing. It is very flexible, and the carpet itself is very thin.
To fit this to my shoe I folded over a 3/4" edge and, using a Philips Head screw driver and a hammer, I smashed some holes along two parallel edges. I used a chunk of wood under the carpet for this procedure. Reusing the same hole helps things move along pretty quickly. I spaced the holes about 3/4" along both edges, but I only used a few of the holes.
To hold the carpet in place, I used two shoe laces. One for the front and one for the back. The back shoe lace mostly holds the carpet toward the back of the shoe. It needs to wrap around the heel because all the forces on the carpet piece tend to push the piece forward. The front shoe lace I weaved under the regular shoe laces to keep it in place.
After attaching the glide surface to the shoe I tried it out. At first I got the impression that I didn't have the same sensitivity as without the extra attachment. But I soon discovered that the carpet added an extra degree of control, mostly by providing more grip, or a wider range of grip on the tire, without requiring much extra pressure.
My recent long glide had been 180 feet. Today I quickly posted glides of 65, 135, 180, 185 and 205. During the 185 glide a car turned onto my street. I had to tack over to the side of the road and continue. Control seemed very good and natural. My Album
- Abrasion Resistant Riding Suits
- Spectra Fiber
- skills: glide
- Mini Album