Spotted...

no he was riding spd pedals with non spd trainers! - so even less to work with in the pedal department. Ive gotta add that to me it all looked like a really bad accident waiting to happen but he was riding with the sort of confidence that seemed suggested this was his usual setup.

I am in no way endorsing this type of riding, its just that it totally baffled me and twisted my brain!

I've seen people make homemade spd skate shoes, I think there might even be a thread on how to do it on here. I think you just cut into the sole to the right depth and bolt on the cleat fixing iirc. It baffled me though the first time I saw someone belting along brakeless with just a pair of DCs instead of sidis.