When Your Shoes Give You the Slip

A few weeks ago I tried to wear these shoes while riding Marianne. After getting half way down the block I had to return home and change, because they kept slipping off the pedals. Yesterday, I tried the same shoes on Eustacia Vye, and was delighted at the lack of slippage. The Pashley's platform pedals must be grippier than the Motobecane's, though the Pashley has rejected shoes in the past as well.

This brings me to the general issues of footwear on bicycles. I don't like to pretend that something is easy for me when it is not, just for the sake of making cycling seem super-easy and convenient. And finding shoes to wear while cycling is not always easy for me. In my pre-velo days, I wore mostly dressy high heeled shoes, and occasionally flat dressy shoes like the exquisite Italian green ankleboots in these photos. However, I must confess that I find 75% of my footwear problematic to wear while cycling.

The problem is not the heels, but the soles: they tend to slide off the pedals. To me it seems downright hazardous to cycle like that, especially when standing up. An additional issue is when soles are thin and/or flexible: I find it uncomfortable to push on the pedals in shoes like that. As a result, I wear only a small portion of the footwear I own when cycling. And since I cycle pretty much every day, this means that I have basically stopped wearing all those other shoes, some of which I greatly miss.

So ladies, what do you do? Do you get grippier pedals? Textured soles installed on all of your shoes? Or do you honestly not experience this problem when wearing your dressy shoes, like the magical women of Denmark? I want to battle the "shoe slip", but I need a plan.