CADOMOTUS TRIATHLON SHOES: HOW CYCLING FOOTWEAR IMPROVES RUNNING AND TRANSITIONS
Situated in the Netherlands, not far from the German border, is the Cadomotus headquarters. Here, its founder Diederik Hol is creating the most innovative shoes in the sport of triathlon.
Cadomotus began in the world of speed skating in 2006 and became a market leader within a few years. Hol’s introduction to triathlon happened when he was invited to the 2017 ITU (now WTCS) Grand Final in Rotterdam. After seeing the unique requirements triathletes had for cycling shoes, he knew that he could improve on what existed. Nearly 10 years later, Cadomotus’ triathlon division has surpassed its speed skating division, and its triathlon shoes are trusted by countless top pros and competitive age groupers.
Quintana Roo is excited to partner with Cadomotus shoes, because like us, Cadomotus is dedicated to triathlon. It’s the only company in the world that develops cycling shoes exclusively for triathlon. Today, we’ll explain the performance advantages Cadomotus’ shoes provide, not only on the bike, but in transition and during the run.
Exclusively Dedicated to Triathlon Cycling Shoes
Hol assisting Dutch triathlete Menno Koolhaas with heat molding his Cadomotus shoes.
We focus 100% on triathlon. And I think that makes a real difference.
As a product designer with decades of experience with high-performance footwear, triathlon introduced an exciting new technical challenge.
“I found triathlon very interesting because triathletes have special requirements for cycling shoes,” Hol explained. “You have to step in quickly, and then fix it with only one boa or one velcro strap because you don't have time to close your boots. Some athletes will cycle for kilometers before their shoes are even closed. And they do this all with wet feet! I'm a cyclist myself, but these were completely different demands.”
Unlike road racing, where top-of-the-line cycling shoes are largely identical, triathlon shoes don’t have an archetypal design. Some use BOA dials, others use velcro straps. What’s the ideal number of closures? One? Two? Which direction should they close? Toward the medial side? Or the lateral side? Should they have some sort of lace cover?
“There's no one superior system,” Hol explained. “So I realized I can make something that could make a difference. That’s what Cadomotus is. I want to become the number one cycling shoe brand in triathlon, because I'm convinced that we do something that nobody else does. Our competitors are cycling shoe brands that say, ‘Hey, let's make a triathlon shoe.’ They don't focus on triathlon. But for us, it's the other way around; we focus 100% on triathlon. And I think that makes a real difference.”
Does that story sound familiar? It’s not too dissimilar from how Quintana Roo started building bikes. When we invented the first triathlon bike, the Superform, it was the first bike to be designed specifically for triathlon, rather than adapted from a bike designed for road racing. Cadomotus is a dedicated triathlon brand and an innovator, just like us!
How a Triathlon Cycling Shoe Improves Run Performance
With more support, it reduces the small corrections that your calf muscles must make to stabilize your knee.
What makes Cadomotus special is that its shoe technology isn’t just focused on performance on the bike, but off it as well. One of the key advantages of a dedicated triathlon bike over a road bike is that the riding position helps take the load off key muscles needed later in the run. Cadomotus’ dedicated triathlon shoes give you a similar effect.
“The sport isn’t about focusing on a single discipline, and then the next,” Hol explained. “It's all about energy management over the whole distance.”
The key is support. Thanks to Cadomotus’s expertise in long-track speed skating, they know how to construct footwear that can support your ankles and knees under extremely high loads for long periods of time. In speed skating, athletes are cornering at 60 km/h on a 1.1 mm ice blade while barefoot. The secret to improving support is a specially designed carbon fiber shell: CarbonShell™. Using this technology in a triathlon cycling shoe improves support on the bike and helps save key running muscles.
“It's about the support of the heel bone,” Hol explained. “With more support, it reduces the small corrections that your calf muscles must make to stabilize your knee. These are very, very small details, and it doesn't matter so much for a few kilometers. But when we're talking about four or five hours on the bike, that’s a lot of energy you end up saving.”
Nearly all high-performance cycling shoes generally use carbon soles to maximize stiffness and power transfer, but these carbon soles are generally flat. CarbonShell™ is a monocoque carbon construction that wraps around the entire foot. Increased wrap means increased support around your entire foot. Best of all, the shell is also heat moldable.
“Everyone's feet are different,” Hol said. “So if you have a more narrow heel bone, you simply put it in the oven, mold it, and you can achieve a tighter, more supportive fit. This is where the advantage comes from.”
How a Triathlon Cycling Shoe Improves Transition Performance
I think of us as a transition performance brand rather than just a shoe brand.
Races aren’t necessarily won in transition, but they can definitely be lost in transition. As a result, triathletes often adopt risky and novel strategies to get in and out faster. Seeing this, Hol realized that the right cycling shoe design will not only improve bike and run performance, but transition performance too.
Consider what made Hol interested in triathlon shoes in the first place: “You have to step in quickly, and then fix it with only one boa or one velcro strap because you don't have time to close your boots. Some athletes will cycle for kilometers before their shoes are even closed. And they do this all with wet feet!”
Knowing this, he designed key elements of Cadomotus shoes to support the tactics he saw top athletes using in transitions. Improving an athlete's speed and confidence in transition may seem like a marginal gain, but reducing mistakes here can be the difference between winning and losing, or even just beating your PR. “I think of us as a transition performance brand rather than just a shoe brand,” Hol said.
One key to transition performance is making the instep (the opening) of his shoe larger and higher than normal. A bigger instep provides a bigger target, which is good for putting your shoes on quickly, but it’s especially useful if you’re doing a flying mount and trying to get your feet into shoes already clipped in on your bike. The Cadomotus World Cup shoe also has a very high backside that guides your foot in like a shoe spoon.
Many triathlon shoes have to compromise between making the instep larger and providing enough foot support so that you can still pedal efficiently. Because of the wrap-around support of the CarbonShell™, Cadomotus shoes can get away with an extra-large instep. The wrap-around support also means you can pedal much more efficiently without your shoe perfectly tightened. Having the luxury to wait for the best moment to adjust your BOA dial or velcro straps can be a huge advantage in a race.
Cadomotus shoes also have a couple of useful loops on the outside. There’s a handy grab loop that helps you pull your shoe on quickly. Then, there’s an additional loop positioned on the medial side of the shoe designed for mounting the shoe to your bike with an elastic band. This keeps the shoe positioned up (rather than hanging down), which makes it easier to get into the shoe during flying mounts.
How Triathlon Cycling Shoes Should Fit
Because it's semi-custom and made for your foot, you have more support. That makes all the difference.
Just like a triathlon bike, fit is one of the most important factors for performance when it comes to cycling shoes. With his decades of experience in shoe design, I was curious to hear Hol’s thoughts on how a cycling shoe should fit.
“You want comfort,” he explained. “But you also want a flat, stiff carbon sole for support, and also support under the arch because it lowers a little bit when you put pressure on your pedals. And then you also want a flexible upper, again for comfort, but that also can’t lack support, because you don’t want excess movement inside the shoe. And, of course, your feet may swell while riding because of the pressure on the pedals, the temperature, and everything. So the upper and area around the forefoot should not be super tight. If it’s too loose, though, you lose support. It can all be contradictory. And I think we solved it in a way.”
Properly managing such contradictions is the key to performance. This is true of bikes, shoes, and nearly everything. For example, you want a fast bike to be aero, but also light, and of course, strong and reliable. But amplifying one trait often means sacrificing another. So ultimately, the ideal bike, or cycling shoe, is about striking the right balance.
This is what Cadomotus seeks to achieve with its CarbonShell™. Where the shell wraps around your foot is concentrated at the rear, providing maximum support for your heel and stabilizing your foot and knee. At the forefoot, it's wider, providing a stable platform that accommodates wider foot widths and swelling.
“With our shoes, we managed to be tight in the heel,” Hol explained. “You want to be tight there, and further forward, you want to have a little bit more space.” This extra space at the forefoot allows your feet to swell and remain comfortable during racing and training. Likewise, the CarbonShell™ allows the upper to be softer without a huge sacrifice in support.
Then, to ensure the heel area is perfectly snug and that the sole can support your unique foot shape, the CarbonShell™ is heat-moldable. “We can make it tighter, or make adjustments,” Hol said. “It can adapt to the shape of your foot. Then you have the comfort. Because it's semi-custom and made for your foot, you have more support. That makes all the difference.”
Beyond the highly supportive semi-custom fit, the other key Hol mentioned is low stack height. Cycling shoe stack height is the distance between the pedal spindle and the sole of your foot.
“When the stack is lower, it also contributes to the stability of the foot, because you're closer to the axle of the pedal,” Hol explained. “It also contributes to less strain on the calf muscles, similar to what the heel support does.”
In talking to Hol, trying on his shoes, and experiencing what it feels like to ride in them, the ever-present theme of stability becomes clear. Stability doesn’t just help you pedal with more power or more comfortably. It helps you think less and move faster in transition and save your precious energy and muscles for the final leg of your race. Ultimately, that is what sets Cadomotus shoes apart. You may not even realize that stability is something you’re lacking in your cycling shoes, but that’s what Hol hopes to change.
Photos courtesy of Cadomotus.
