Category Archives: Gear

Cycling gear

Bleh

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Snow finally arrived and gave my grand winter-riding plans a dose of reality.  The reality is I need more gear if I’m going to ride across ice-covered pavement in minus 15C temperature for an hour each day.  Are my MEC Roubaix stretchypants warm?  Yes…for a while, but they’re not made for out and out winter and -10 seems to be the limit on their own.  Do I like my smooth street slicks?  Yes, but the traction they provide on the frozen puddles on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being sticky, 1 not) is like Robert Downey Jr. – less than 0.  I need snowmobiling quality mitts to keep the brake lever fingers functional but bicycle controls are not designed for mitts.  And what about my water?  And that guy with his blinding, flashing helmet light?

So all the bravado and bluster came to naught at the first sign of ice-slicked roads.  Studded tires are widely available but highly-rated ones are $130 each.  While I have no doubt they’re worth every penny, I don’t have those pennies in my pocket, especially as we approach Christmas.  Same for the $200 aluminium-fiber Pearl iZumi tights

Pearl's Aluminium-containing winter tights modeled by someone who unexpectedly slipped off of both pedals.

Assos bib shorts make my arms spring out like I'm smuggling grapefruit in my armpits.

It goes without saying I can’t afford to stray over to the Assos line either.  Besides, I haven’t perfected my what you looking at Assos stance.

I believe this is my excuse to buy an indoor trainer.  Just need a few more pennies.

In the meantime, I’m going a bit nuts.  I’m bored out of my ever lovin’ mind.  None of my normal pursuits capture my attention.  Standing in a library surrounded by books – which are my 2nd most expensive habit – I’m bored.  Pick up my favourite technical manual – bored.  A programming book?  Meh.  A hardware guide…nope.  I look out at my car and a long list of suitable to-do tasks reels off in my mind.  I resolve to do none of them.  I head out to the garage anyway and stare at the disarray of completed-but-not-cleaned-up projects that took over during the summer and quickly leave lest I trip, fall, hit my head and die alone, hidden in the mess that was once my mechanical sanctuary.

Food has lost its flavour and it’s fun, I’m craving everything yet nothing scratches the itch.  Television?  Whatever.  A movie?  Bored.  I’m bored of the internet.  Of Facebook.  My email.  Work.  Play.  Sleep.  If it is true that only a boring person can be bored, I’ve become a very boring man indeed.

New Shoes!

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I’ve been saving an Amazon gift card “for the right time” thinking I was going to put it towards some Garmin gear when I had some more disposable funds available.  On the other hand, one of my weak-points is books – I love to read technically oriented books.  Yesterday I felt like spending those cards, Garmin or no Garmin.

I clicked over to Amazon and started checking out the latest books on neuroplasticity – a favourite topic – yet somehow managed to find myself checking out a pair of Pearl iZumi mountain bike shoes.  I’ve been waiting to change up to clipless, eager to experience the benefits of having the “pull” portion of the pedal cycle available.  Like the Garmin gear however, I’ve been too cheap to pony up enough dough to get me started.  Call me cheap, I don’t mind.

The shoes I found – PI’s new All Road shoes with recessed cleats were on sale for a paltry $64.  They have great reviews and PI stuff seems to get good reviews for fit all over the place so I set about placing an order.  Not being overly familiar with Euro style shoes sizes, I looked up the conversion on Wikipedia (foreshadowing).   3/2 * (foot length in CM + 1.5) for those interested…though it comes out on the small side.  Measured once.  Measured twice.  Measured a third time.  Ordered a 44 thinking a little on the large side is better than too small.  Paid for the 6-10 day shipping option and found them waiting for me when I got home today.  How cool is that?

All-Roads

Excited to have new clipless shoes in-hand, I opened the box and knew immediately there was going to be a problem.  They looked too small.  You know, if you’re looking at a pair of shoes and your noggin says “nope, too small”, they’re clearly too small.  I put them on anyway in a vain attempt to defy the mathematics of geometry only to learn that math does not bend rules no matter how much you’d like to keep your new shoes.  Not just small but barely get your feet in too small.  No way could I find a way to ride in them short of trimming off some excess toe length but that’s a body modification I’m not into.

So I boxed them back up and set about exchanging them with Amazon.  No dice – no exchange program available for these shoes apparently – refund only.  They politely offered to pay for the return shipping, ostensibly because they didn’t have an exchange program.  Not ideal but not too bad.

After dealing with the return process, I set about ordering the proper size and the first thing I noted was the $12 increase in price.  Seems Amazon didn’t have my size, but one of their retailers did for a fee.  I looked at the original size and Amazon themselves had upped the price overnight from $64 to $72.

So now I’m on the fence.  Not sure whether to spend the additional $12 and another round of freight ($10).  True – it’s cheaper than the $125 price listed for a local Calgary reseller but I just can’t see paying $40 over Pearl’s list price just to support local.  I’d prefer to buy local but not at an almost 50% premium.

So now we’re back to looking at more books.  Or maybe some pedals…

I Do and I Am…Maybe

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Lacking any modesty, I use any opportunity to pronounce my new-found religion.  Meet for lunch?  Only if it’s nearby – I cycled to work today.  Give you a lift?  Sorry – rode my bike this morning.  Lost weight?  Thanks, yeah, 30 pounds now, riding my bike all the time.  This is typically greeted with a positive response – Really?  That’s cool. – followed almost immediately by one of the following.

You don’t wear spandex do you
This seems to be the primary concern of my friends.  It’s almost as if they’re afraid of catching some heretofore unproven-but-suspected sickness that might render them powerless against showing up at the office Christmas party or the Friday-night poker game in head-to-toe spandex.   Ken, completely bonkers downhill racer, a man I’ve known since before either of us could shave and never noted as a conformist rolled his eyes “oh gawd, you’re not wearing those black spandex shorts are you?”, the disgust dripping from his words.

In truth, I don’t but that’s not because I’m unwilling…now.  When I was 40 pounds overweight (as opposed to the optimistic 10 I am now), you wouldn’t have been able to bribe me into them in public at any price.  I rode in my cargo shorts with the stealth chamois shorts hidden underneath.  I thought it was perfect but then single-digit temperatures arrived.

It didn’t take too many mornings in the almost-freezing air to figure out I needed something to cover my knees if nothing else.  Enter my first stretchy-pants – the MEC winter cycling tights.  When asked recently if I wear those shorts I replied “no – I have stretchy pants, like tights” just to watch the reaction.  As predicted, my friend reacted with horror, disapproval and disappointment.  You’d have thought I’d just told him I’d been having an affair with the neighbour’s poodle.

It’s not like I’m asking them to join me in my new-found clothing choices.  I’m comfortable in my choice of clothing – I don’t need someone else to validate it for me.  Yeesh – it’s not even like we’re riding together and they can’t handle being seen with a lycra-clad rider in the group.  Doesn’t matter though – switching back and forth between the cargo shorts and the stretchy-pants leaves no doubt – stretchy-pants rule and stretchy shorts are a foregone conclusion when the temperatures relent.

You’re not going to be one of those guys
Jason and I went for lunch recently and the topic of my riding came up…because I brought it up.  Jason, who doesn’t ride and hasn’t expressed an interest to (yet) has no problems with my stretchy-pants though he expressed some degree of relief that I wasn’t wearing them in the restaurant.  Jason was supportive and complimentary, arguably the most supportive of my small cadre of friends.  He came from a different angle.  “Are you going to ride this winter” he asked, to which  I replied with an enthusiastic maybe.  “I’d like to” I told him “but we’ll see how much I want to when there’s snow on the ground and no room in the lane”.

“Noooooooooooooooooooo” was the immediate response, his head shaking .  “Don’t be that guy!  Put the bike away and just drive a car like a normal human”.   Now, I could see if I was his courier or pizza delivery service how my desire to pedal through the winter might cause him some concern.  Luckily for both of us, I am neither of those.  So, what’s the issue?  We don’t work or live in the same quadrant of the city and virtually none of our respective commutes or general travel overlap…so what if I ride?  The reaction is almost reason enough and Jason is not alone in his disapproval of my plan.  Well, not really a plan so much as an idea.

 

Now these are all friends that have eaten my food, who have fed me and my family.  They’ve taken their weekends and evenings to move me – in the case of Ken, 3 times in a single 12 month period.  These guys aren’t peripheral or fair-weather friends – they’re the real deal and I’m lucky to have them.  So what is it about cycling that makes even your closest friends hang their heads, cluck their tongues and nod disapprovingly?  If I’d bought a motorcycle and we were talking about leather chaps or riding in the rain, there wouldn’t be any such reaction – unless I demonstrated my predilection for wearing the chaps without anything underneath them.  What is it about bicycles that puts everything on its head?