Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
My ability to ride with clipless pedals is increasing. They are giving me noticeably more power as I ride.
But.
I'm now on my second pair of shoes. The first pair allowed a pretty dramatic amount of cleat to hit the ground, meaning I couldn't wear them at all in my softwood-floored house without causing lots of damage. The second pair look good, but with my weight on them, is still touching down the cleats. At least they fit better. Pity they're not returnable.
Despite fitting better, the new shoes aren't making my life much better. They still fit poorly enough that the toes on my right foot go to sleep in short order. Since they still grind the cleats into the floor, I can't wear them around, so they're "bicycle specific" -- exactly the factor I identified as one of my biggest reasons for not riding. I have to change shoes as soon as I get off the bike, which is making me unhappy.
The new shoes also are sort of "summery," which I don't need, but didn't have much choice in. That is, they're partly made with mesh, so they get some airflow. That's great and all, but I also ride in the rain. I don't want to have yet another piece of bicycle-only kit to put on in the form of rain booties, so that's working pretty hard against them.
While I appreciate the increased riding power, I still arrive at work/home winded, with tired legs. I'm not riding any faster (in fact, I'm riding a bit slower, as I get used to using new muscles), and really, I'm still putting out the same amount of energy to get where I'm going. Between that, the fact that I was already getting where I wanted to go with platform pedals, and the massively increased daily hassle of changing out of shoes, I don't think this setup will last the week.
I'll see how it goes, but right now, the prospects for clipless pedals on a 5 mile commute are pretty dim.
Posted at 12:04 permanent link category: /bicycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater