Out With the Old, In With the New

One of my favourite things to do in the summer is cycling. In an earlier post, I showed you how my interest for cycling began at an early age with my little three-wheeler, Thistle. Even as an adult, I take every opportunity to go for a quick spin to get a breath of fresh air or work out a few cobwebs in my brain.

I'm a bit of a stickler for how my bike and I interact. Once I plant myself onto my seat, I need to feel secure in how all of the parts operate. I have to feel connected to it. So, when I realized about a week ago that I finally needed a new pair of shoes for cycling, I decided to go a different route and install a set of clipless pedals.

I quickly discovered that there are many different types of clipless pedal available. In the past, I've been a bit hesitant to have my foot locked to my bike. One of the real fears is that in a moment of surprise or panic I won't be able to quickly "un-clip" from the pedal. When this happens, gravity takes over and a rider will plunk to terra-firma and onto his or her side. In the least, it's embarrassing; at worst, a rider can fall into harm's way. When I built my bike over a decade ago, I chickened out and opted for a nylon strap toe clip for my pedal (though I still managed to fall over on at least two occasions during that learning curve).

So far, I love my new Shimano pedals. I've rolled out with them about four times now, and I will put them to the test again this afternoon at Birds Hill Provincial Park. As an added measure of safety, the tech who installed them on my bike at Bikes & Beyond–a store I would recommend to any cyclist (excellent customer service)–set up the tension on the pedal to unclip on the easiest setting. As my comfort level improves, I can tighten the tension on the pedal to hold my shoe tighter and thus eliminate any accidental un-clipping from my bike–this were to happen at all, it would only be on the upstroke as this adds to the downward force on the crank as I pull up on my shoe thus enhancing the mechanical advantage.

That was far too technical. I hope it made sense and I got it right.

So, if you're thinking about an upgrade to your current ride, I highly recommend this one. The only issue I've had so far was that I found more trouble getting my shoe into the clip than getting out of it. A reverse problem that likely won't find me laying on my side because I couldn't clip out of my pedal in time.

Ride safe (if you're so inclined), and enjoy your summer!