Spaceman innersoles

[Al]

So as discussed at length in another thread I get really cold feet in shoes with cleats and have tried various things to try and add insulation under the innersole.
45nrth used to make an innersole with an aerogel insert which sounded appealing, but sadly you can no longer get hold of them on their own.
Aerogel was developed by NASA and has one of the lowest thermal conductivities of any material.
So I bought a small sample of 3mm aerogel eBay for the princely sum of £6.08. Not big enough to make a whole innersole- but enough to make an ‘insert’ to cover the clear area. This is probably a better idea as it turns out the aerogel has a texture similar to glassfibre.
So using some foam off cuts kindly donated by Mr Routes of this parish (which I had to double up as it was slightly slimmer than the aerogel and compresses slightly) I made a window for the aerogel then sandwiched the end result between aluminium foil tape.
Pretty chuffed with the finished result. Hoping to head out tomorrow and see if I wasted my time or not.

[Al]

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Window in foam with aerogel ‘insert’

[Al]

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Sandwiched in foil tape

[Al]

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Ta da!

[In Reverse]

I think they'll work very well.

We're all counting on you Al.

[redefined_cycles]

I think they'll work very well.

We're all counting on you Al.

I agree with that. 45NRTH should be in touch shortly

I've not gone that far as the aerogel stuff. Obviously I couldn't source the 45nrth versions and been looking into what Gian suggested (German manufacturer Pedag). In the meanwhile I've added some of Colins insulation to the merino sock liner (cut the old HJ Hall socks up).

So merino wool bottom layer. Then an extra piece over the cleats. This worked well in about -2 to -4 although on 3 to 4 occassions I had to walk - 200m, 400m and almost 800m respectively - to get the blood flow ticking over again. It was a nice 100 miler just before lockdown so I defineilty managed to give it a good thrashing.

For tonights ride I'd added a layer of Colins van insulation (thanks again colin) above the merino liner. But unfortunately during a short walk outside I've come to the conclusion that tonight is not a riding night. Even for a short distance as there's black ice everywhere, roads and pavements. That's even without there having been rain around these parts, so a test run 2ill have to wait for another day.

Well done once again at that (re)invention Al...