Now its the moment for investing in some decent motorcycle boots and motocross/enduro boots seem to offer the best protection. Yesterday I bought some Alpinestars Tech 3 boots:

Shopping is a strange experience. In this case I had to endure the gratuitous comments of shopkeepers along the lines of ‘well, you don’t strike me as a supermoto rider. No, really. How long have you been riding then?’ My answers are usually bumbling and mumbling. Yesterday after a good ride upto Peterboro (apart from getting completely lost around the roundabouts there giving rise to some not too bad u-turns) I investigated the off road specialist shop above the Suzuki dealer Stamford Superbikes. At last a shop that actually stocked Aplinestars boots. But they only stocked the top of the range nearly £400 lumps of highly protective concrete – ‘they drop a ton weight on them to test them’ the young assistant told me – and the ‘entry level’ boot for £169 which is what I walked or rather hobbled out with as a kind of gentle introduction to wearing boots that don’t bend at the ankle. Unfortunately once on the bike in the carpark outside the shop I realised that I coudln’t do useful things like change gear in these boots so slipped back into my old carpetslippers I rode there in and strapped the huge Alpinestars to the back, resolvng to find an hour to spare to learn the new technique I’ll need to actually go anywhere in these boots – or adjust the machine or buy some snazzy and overpriced new part from Touratech specially made for riding in these ridiculous boots.