The boots make all the difference. I've blistered enough heels and balls of my feet and blackened enough toenails to know how to choose a just-stiff-enough boot with a big enough toe box to keep my feet happy. I love to ride roads, including decent dirt roads, but on anything that requires concentration I don't get to see much of what I'm passing or explore off trail the way I like to. I know I could go further and faster into the backcountry on a mountain bike but I'd feel like I missed too much. Hiking feels more spacious to me.10 miles of hiking would be a guarantee of bleeding, blistered feet for me, so that doesn't sound fun.
The boots make all the difference. I've blistered enough heels and balls of my feet and blackened enough toenails to know how to choose a just-stiff-enough boot with a big enough toe box to keep my feet happy.
I wish I could buy cleats now. I have nothing stiff enough (besides hiking boots) to make me happy on flat pedals and my feet wander around too much. Once I'm sure I've got the $$ for a new apartment I think pedals and shoes will be one of my first purchases. McCool at SL Bicycle said he'd set me up as soon as I had them. :D
I didn't know Five-Ten sold biking shoes. I'll check them out, but I've got a no-discretionary-spending rule in place for at least the next few weeks.
I was considering pedals with clips (or whatever you call the things that you click the cleats into) on one side and flat on the other because I'll spend most of my time on roads, and a lot of that around town doing errands. What do you think about them?