I normally wear size 8.5 to 9. I bought these in a 9 to make sure I had room for wool socks if needed. They are WAY smaller than any size 8.5 that I have ever tried. They would have been returned but we were flying to Vegas the next day and I wanted to use them for hiking. Hind-sight, I should have returned them and bought a cheap pair of shoes to get by. They are too tight to wear for extended hikes.
I did wear these while riding bikes on the GAP trail since I didn't care if they got ruined. Take note: The little black and white bees around the trail were attracted to the small orange dot on the back of the pull strap! There were small orange flowers in bloom along the trail and the dot on the shoes were the exact same size and color. I brushed off at least a dozen bees from my ankles and was stung once. After I realized what was going on, I cut the straps off. No more problems with bees.