Shaking Down New Shoes

Sonomas are getting tired
When I ride Frankenbike, I wear my exotic “Costco Court Classic” shoes in toe clips. When I ride my road bike or Buddy, I use SPD pedals and cleated shoes. I’ve been using Specialized Sonoma shoes that are rather worn, though the soles are still very good. The Sonomas are nice walking shoes, but wind and water cut right through them, my little toe on my left foot tends to get numb after about 10 or 15 miles, and the fairly smooth sole would probably be pretty worthless if I ever had to run through serious mud (as in cyclocross) with them. It’s time to look at replacements. After all, a cyclist can have no greater mission than to rise above the label of "just a fair weather cyclist." Lately, around here, that means going to work a little more below 0C (if you're using French temperature units, that is).

Specialized Sonoma Shoes in Less Worn Days
The Soles Don't Look Much Different Now

For Christmas, I got an REI Gift Certificate, and I noticed that REI had Pearl Izumi shoes on sale. Pearl Izumi shoes were high on my candidate list, having heard high praise for the “X Alp Enduro” from both Kerry Caffrey, here, and a fellow bike commuter at work. Shoe covers were also on the shopping list, since my toes get uncomfortable on cold mornings, even with wool socks with cotton socks over them.

Off I went, full of good intentions. I knew what shoe I wanted and why. I was the very model of a well informed consumer. My LBS doesn't carry Pearl Izumi shoes. They're "all Trek or Specialized pretty much all the time."

Well, as in Afghanistan, things turned out a little differently than the plan. First off, REI had only the “X Alp Seek,” and not in my size. They offered to get a pair from one of their other stores. What's more, just then, a pair of black Italian beauties winked at me and I could almost hear them say “come hither.” What’s more, they were basically road shoes with tread on the very stiff soles; set up for SPD cleats. They even had threaded holes to take spikes if I needed extra mud traction. I wouldn’t have to walk like a duck! I was smitten. I tried them on. I’d always heard that Italian shoes run narrow but these were comfortable. I would not want to wear them around all day the way Sonomas could be worn – the soles are a bit too stiff for that, but short walks would be OK. The Sidi Giaus were priced at more than twice what I wanted to pay for new shoes, but I was smitten. Pearl Izumi shoes. I forgot, does Pearl Izumi make shoes? Ciao, Baby, the Italians, they are the best! Should I be so arrogant as to say "no" to Sophia Loren?

Sidi Giaus, With Revised Cleat Position
Italian Class, Made in Romania

Yes, I got Pearl Izumi – Pearl Izumi toe covers.

I tried out the new combination Wednesday morning, it being a balmy 30F. Well, it turned out the toe covers need some rework, and the shoe tongues need a bit of breaking in. I'm also learning that I've had my cleats too far forward ,so now I'll try them back a bit more. We shall see if that helps the numb left foot little toe. For the toe covers, my plan right now is a combination of velcro and rubber to keep the wear down. I'm not going to keep the toe covers on if I have to walk long distances, but they need to hold together through stoplights and the walk in from the door to the changing room at work.

Do NOT Get Road Shoe Toe Covers for "Mtb" Shoes!
Pearl Izumi Logo on top is REALLY BIG

Classic Italian Style. Ciao, Y'all!

Before Afghanistan Steve Got Run off the Road by a Car

In my last post, I compared ChipSeal to reporters chasing Nixon, which brought prompts me to recall a time that truly HAS a Nixon connection. You see, Steve got run off the road. We weren't in Afghanistan. We were in Vietnam. Nixon was about to take office and the nation was filled with the same sort of hope for him to bring us peace that it now harbors for Obama in Afghanistan.

In those days, Boy Scouts were one of the few sources for useful cycling education. This was BEFORE Forester wrote the Effective Cycling book. Those of us that wanted to earn "Cycling" Merit Badge had to wrap things up by a 50 mile ride, and I elected to make my own ride a trip around Seattle's Lake Washington. Fifty two miles, as I recall.

I'll leave for a future post my experiences with six flat tires that day, instead noting it was the last time I was run off the road by a motorist. The incident occurred between Renton and Bellevue. I wound up in the ditch. No, I wasn't actually hit, and I didn't get hurt, but it left me with a scary lesson that has not been forgotton over the years.

Many bemoan a lack of civility on the roads today. The date in the photo suggests that rude people are not a new development. It reminds me that getting "out of a motorist's way" should not be mistaken for courtesy. Courtesy towards motorists was the subject of the very first post on this blog. I experience and show courtesy from and towards motorists on a daily basis. It makes the trip more pleasant for all road users.

The Cycling Merit Badge experience provided a cycling foundation and lessons that have stayed with me ever since. A foundation that provided a basis for more recent learning, but still it was good enough to keep me from a lot of potential accidents over the years. If the motorist that ran me into the ditch was a Scout, he'd forgotten that a scout is COURTEOUS. HE sure wasn't. None of us should forget courtesy on the road should be something freely extended and accepted in the same spirit. It is NOT something extorted via an angry motorist honk expecting an open road as some sort of birth right.

It also suggests I was off a bit when, in bicycle school, I indicated I'd been riding for 40 years. It's just been 40 years since I fully realized that taking "manure" from motorists wasn't a good survival technique...

Steve Does Principles

This blog is not about the proper role of cycling in society, nor about whether we’d be better off with bike lanes or bike freeways, banning cars or whatever, nor about the finer points of cycling “culture.” If I write about Seattle, it’s when I GO there and ride. It isn’t about cycling law, except how it affects my riding in a given situation. There are lots of blogs that talk about these topics. This blog is here to talk about the practical and fun aspects of riding around, from point-to-point. At the risk of getting onto a slippery slope, I’m making a temporary exception today. Stay away or read on depending on your feelings on the subject.

People on bikes routinely get away with running traffic signs & signals, riding the wrong way, scaring pedestrians on sidewalks, and so on. It hurts me to see it. Motorists doing the same would be quickly brought to account. Motorists are keenly aware and resentful of this bike scofflawery. It fosters a mindset that even lawfully operated bikes don’t belong on the road as part of traffic, that statutory exceptions to “Far to the Right” law don’t count, that roads are "for cars," and that bikes are only for recreation, for play, and for children. Prosecutions for lawful bike operation are very serious when viewed from a cycling standpoint, but are often regarded as “more spandex whining” by the general public.

This is illustrated by an anonymous commenter on ChipSeal’s blog, I wasn’t in Ennis. I’ve never seen ChipSeal ride, I don’t have “Judge” in front of my name, but I HAVE had polite police invent imaginary laws to get me “out of the way,” so I’m not inclined to conclude Chip was actually doing anything wrong. I believe the police officer was acting in good faith, but he’s probably had little or no specialized training about bike law, safety, duties & rights. It’s doubly unlikely he ever had formal education on how to safely ride a bike on the road. Had Chip been riding at night without lights or running a stoplight, it’d be totally different – at least in my mind. Those don’t touch on fundamental cycling rights, the way a case like Chip’s might. Fred_dot_u had a similar situation he reported on CommuteOrlando. Fortunately, Fred won his case. Other cases appear from time to time. Cyclists do NOT win all of them. It’s why cycling is illegal on the road in Hunter’s Creek Village Texas.

I was brought up to believe one should oppose injustice, whether big or small, and that the accused are presumed innocent until found guilty. “Anonymous” might do well to remember those principles. They’re foundations that distinguish our country from a banana republic. It’s not “use the law against those that are irritating or inconvenient, even if you have to twist it around or ignore parts of it to do so.” It’s the RULE OF LAW. You don’t like the law, get it changed. With the proper steps, bicycles could be made more illegal in the US than Afghan heroin. Our State and Federal Constitutions govern those steps, and they’re not documents to be arbitrarily twisted either.

As a transportation cyclist, I prefer laws that don’t restrict me from traveling according to the rules of the road. All evidence is that's the safest way to ride. That biases me towards ChipSeal. I don’t need special protection. I need the RULE OF LAW. I’d prefer laws that don’t actively discriminate against me, but what we’ve got works. I don’t want motorists excused for running down cyclists after failing to exercise due care. I don’t want cyclists given a pass as if they were overgrown children. BEHAVE AS A VEHICLE AND GET TREATED LIKE A VEHICLE.

Now, back to our regular programming. Once in a rare while, all of us feel a need for a rant.

PS: You're right - I drove to work today so I'm moving towards "bike culture" instead of "Star Wars on bikes." This rain has got to let up. I've only ridden to work once this whole week...

Helmet Redux - Reduce Sun Damage

Poster note: This particular post is of no interest to Canadians, unless they happen to be in Afghanistan with the NATO forces. Everyone knows that even the noontime summer sun barely melts the ice in the frozen northland, making things difficult for the snowmobiles. Gives me shivers just thinking about it! If you are Canadian, read this post instead. If that's not enough, there's more for you here.

As my doctor told me this morning when I was getting examined, a helmet helps keep the sun off one's head so this is less likely. She noted that the sun is intense enough in Texas summers that one is at risk even when riding home from work at 5PM. Use more sunblock! And use that helmet to keep the sun off your head. It's another way that bicycles are different (except for convertibles and cars with open sunroofs). Besides getting more sun, per travel mile, cyclists live for more years, getting even MORE exposure. The simple-minded might think "use a hat, you twit!" but haberdashers do not brag about the superior cooling passages on their products.

The danger is particularly severe for those with superior scalp cooling or who have shaved their heads. Those looking like a yeti (shown here) may not be as concerned with this danger.