New shoes and pedals

Current setup.
I've been using SPD pedals with Serfas Podium shoes for around four years now. These shoes are great since they are extra wide to fit my wide feet, plus they come in a large size 49. Which gives my toes plenty of space to move around. With this much space I can move my toes around by curling or even crossing my big toe over the other toes to help eliminate any foot pain. It didn't seem to help much, but it was something that seemed to take my mind off the pain during the ride.

Why new pedals and shoes?
I was looking for a change for a couple of reasons. One, the shoe bottoms/cleat combination are hard plastic which makes them slippery on the road. I always have to be careful when stopping with only one foot down, since that foot can easily slip out from under me causing an embarrassing fall. This happened to me once last year (sorry I failed to blog about it for some reason when it happened).

The second reason is the difficulty of locking my cleat into the pedal when starting, combined with the difficulty of  pedaling on small pedals while unclipped. Usually my foot would simply slid off the pedal, sometimes scraping my shin on the handlebars. This second reason is embarrassing when I'm trying to start from a traffic stop, cars are waiting and I'm obviously having some kind of issue and just not moving very quickly and looking very amateurish.

With those two main reasons in mind, I figured I needed a pair of mountain bike style shoes that has the sole extended lower then the cleat so the shoe sole was on the road instead of the hard cleat. Plus I would need larger pedals that I could easily pedal with, even if I'm not clipped in. The main reason I haven't made the move sooner is the expense of buying both new shoes and new pedals at the same time.

Crank Brothers special sale.
When I heard that Crank Brothers was having a half price special on their high end pedals I decided this was the time for a change! All I needed was to send them an old set of clipless pedals to receive an RMA for a set of new half price pedals. Luckily I never throw anything away! I dug through some old boxes and found some old Shimano pedals. Then filled out the online form, waited for the RMA email,  then stuck the old pedals into a USPS 2/3 day shipping box and waited. Once they received the pedals and sent me the RMA email, I called them right away and ordered a set of Mallet 3's.
I liked the look of the Mallets since they seemed like they could easily be used even if I wasn't clipped into the pedal.

New shoes, first bike shop.
I received the new pedals within 5 days (they came to Indiana from the West coast). Now it was time to look for new shoes. I already knew what I was looking for, a size 49 mountain biking shoe that could use the new pedals. I figure this would be simple, so after work on Friday I drove off to Indianapolis to see what kind of shoes one of the large bike shops had.
When I walked into the store, they had less then 20 minutes till they were closing for the evening.
Right away a salesman asked "Do you need any help today?"
Usually I would say no and look on my own, but since the store was about to close I asked for help.
"Yes, I'm looking for a pair of mountain biking shoes in a size 49"
I couldn't wait to see how many options there would be.
He looked over the rows of shoes and didn't see any in a 49.
"I'll look and see if we have any in the back."
Later he was back with no shoes. How could they not have a size 49? I thought to myself.
I explained to the salesman that I had wide feet requiring a larger shoe to help with foot pain.
"Have you tried a higher RPM?" he asked.
I talked to him a bit, but was getting nowhere and decided to at least look over the available options then I could order a larger size online.

I saw that some shoes had a hard plastic for their sole, I didn't want that, since I would imagine it would be as slippery on the road as a cleat. Others had a soft rubber, like on a tennis shoe, I thought this would be better, but how long would the soft rubber last? Once I was home, I looked on their online site and found that none of their mountain bike shoes had a size larger then 48! This was looking bad, what am I to do? I know size 49 does exist, after all I do have a pair, although in a road shoe.

New shoes, second bike hop.
The next day was Saturday, I decided to play it smarter and call some bike shops before driving. I called the Gray Goat Sports and they said yes, they did have a size 49 mountain biking shoe in stock! Nice, perhaps I'll get to ride with new pedals and shoes this weekend after all! I quickly drove to Franklin, Indiana to their newly opened bike shop.

I walked in, there was one salesman at the counter. When he asked if he could help, I mentioned I was looking for mountain bike shoes.
"Size 49?" he asked.
Ah, he's been waiting for me, I thought.
"Yes that's the one!", I exclaimed.
"I'll get them for you."
This is great, I thought, he actually does has them in stock!
He pointed me to a shoe fitting stool, as he walked back to get the shoes.
"What size regular shoes to you wear?", he asked.
"Since I have wide feet I wear a size 12 and a half." I replied.
He brought out a couple of shoe boxes opening the size 49 for me to try out.
He started talking about the Specialized shoe brand, how they have 70% of the shoe market and covered some of their highlights that made them a great shoe.

"Specialized has a larger toe box", he explained, then added,  "you shouldn't need such a large shoe"
Ha! I was thinking, I've been cycling with these feet for a very long time, I think I know what I need.
I tried on the size 49, they felt too tight.
"Do you have a larger size?" I asked,  "These feel tight to me."
He patiently used his fingers to press against the shoe and get an idea of where my feet and toes are fitting inside the shoe. What's he doing? I thought, just get me the bigger shoes.
"You have lots of room." he softly explained, "I'm a certified bike fitter.",  "You should try a smaller shoe."
What! I thought, this man must be crazy.
"I'm used to crossing my toes when I ride and I have wide feet, so I need a larger shoe." I carefully explained.
"You don't need to cross your toes on your bike. Try this size."
How does he know what I need? I've only known this guy for 5 minutes.
I gave in and tried on a size 46. They felt very tight. My feet felt claustrophobic since my toes couldn't move as much as I'm use to. But to my surprise, they felt fine when walking around in them. I couldn't cross my toes though and could only partially curl them, could I get over that?

"See, you have plenty of room." He said.
Holly crap, is he about to suggest an even smaller size?
I noticed the rubber on these shoes were a hard rubber, unlike anything else I saw at the other bike store. It looked like it would have a solid grip on the road and would last longer then the soft rubber of other shoes. They also felt very solid when walking on them. When I mentioned this he said something to the effect that this was a special rubber developed by Specialized for their shoes.
I ended up deciding to have faith in the 'certified bike fitter' and bought the size 46.

Installing and testing.
That night I put on the new pedals and shoes and practiced clipping and un-clipping a few times from the bike stand. They weren't easier to clip in, but I was getting the hang of it. It would be Sunday afternoon before I could test these out on a ride. Sunday was scheduled to be an easy slow ride. During the first traffic stop, I noticed the shoe was much more stable then the last pair. They felt very solid on the ground, with no worries about them slipping on the asphalt at all, I could even use my foot to rock the bike back and forth with no fear of slippage, very nice.

I stopped at mid ride at a gas station to refill the water and grab some food. I started the ride a little past midday and it was very hot and humid out, I was soaked. It was nice walking around the gas station shop without feeling like I had tap shoes on. When I was back on the bike it took a while to get the cleat locked into the pedal, but I did discover that I could easily pedal when not clipped in. This was helped by the combination of the larger pedal and the hard rubber on the shoes.

I didn't suffer any foot pain on this 50 mile easy ride, but I could already tell this shoe was a much better fit then the old extra large ones. Sometimes I seem to have more foot pain on the easy rides then the harder ones.

50 mile TT test.
The next day after work I decided to do a real test, I would try my canned 50 mile TT around Lake Santee. This is a fairly flat there and back route with two 6 mile laps around the lake. I was surprised by how much the new tight fitting shoes made me feel like I was an engine built into the bike, as opposed to how I normally felt, which was a loosely fitted engine that had been carelessly bolted on. Mark one up for the 'certified bike fitter'! I also noticed that it seemed like I had a lot more power when climbing the slight hills of this ride. I was actually able to easily push and pull on the pedals, I had given up on pulling, not knowing it was the fault of wearing the larger shoes. I was really feeling great!

I did get some foot pain towards the end of the 50 mile TT ride, but not the same sharp pain that I'm used to. I also had some odd pain on the outside right edge of my right foot, after I had finished with the ride and was walking.

I ended up riding the 50 miles in 2 hours and 30 minutes for an average speed of 20MPH. Not my fastest, but speed isn't a great measurement, since there are many other variables such as wind and traffic stops. Power is a better measurement and the power was an average of 3 watts higher then the last time I did this same ride four days ago. I have a feeling that the new shoes helped with greater power outage, but it could be my imagination.

Epilog
I only have around 125 miles and three rides on the new shoe and pedal combination so far, but they seem to be working out great.  I can now easily ride unclipped which is great for starting, especially when starting from a stop on a hill. So far I'm surprised that I'm liking the tighter fit of the shoes, I'll have to see what happens on a longer ride such as a double century to see how my feet handle it.
This weekend I'll have to try some larger hills to see if the new setup improves my time.

It seems I was wrong in what I needed in a shoe and the 'certified bike fitter' knew what he was talking about. Kudos to him for not simply getting what I had asked for and actually making sure I had a much better fit. I may have to try a fitting session to find out what else I'm wrong about.


Details of the TT ride

Summary image of TT ride:

I changed the 50 mile ride a bit from last year, it used to be s large loop that passed through downtown Greensburg, now it's a straight there and back ride that avoids the downtown area.

Solo Double Century to Portland

Since I had a week off from work to relax, I decided to do a longer then typical ride. I had been doing a lot of 25 and 50 mile rides with the occasional century thrown in. I had been eyeing a trip to Portland, Indiana for a couple of reasons, one it has one of our bank branches where I work, which meant I knew the roads fairly well, plus I noticed it was 90 miles away, perfect for a double century.

Looking at the weather predictions for the week, it looked like Thursday was the best day, it was to be the coolest, plus the winds would be coming from the North/East, The wind predictions increased to 10 - 15 MPH plus gusts by the time Thursday rolled around, I figured that would be fine since it would mean 90 miles of headwinds at the start, then some very nice tailwinds for the last 110 miles.

For snacks I brought some power bars plus some store bought packaged peanut butter and jelly crackers.  The bike is setup to carry three water bottles that hold 24 ounces of water each, which typically holds me for around 50 miles depending on how hard I'm riding. I knew I would have to make at least 4 stops for water refills, plus I planned on stopping at the Arby's restaurant in Portland for a roast beef sandwich or two. My overall plan was to take it easy, to make sure I was able to finish. This would be my second double century for the year. The earlier one was all within Decatur county, so there was no danger of me being stranded far from home.

I started early in the morning just before sun up, with the headlight on bright and the taillight flashing. Since it was a bit chilly and windy, I wore a plastic bicycling windbreaker style jacket. I figured I'd be taking it off in an hour or so.

I stopped at one of our branches at New Castle for a free water refill plus bathroom break. The road through New Castle was rough, being built using concrete, it had some damage so I had to watch out for some fairly large gaps between the slabs.

I was looking forward to the highway bypass around Muncie, it had exit signs with on and off ramps, just like an Interstate highway would have. It'd be like riding the bike on the forbidden Interstate. While taking the on ramp, I even double checked to make sure there were no "NO PEDESTRIANS BICYCLES ANIMALS TRACTORS MOPEDS BEYOND THIS POINT" sign. It just felt like I was breaking the law, riding an onramp! I often wondered how they expected any "ANIMALS" to read the sign? Can they still be arrested if they are ignorant of the law? The onramps aren't designed for bike travel, since the rumble strip seemed to take up most of the emergency strip, plus the strip was covered in debris. Which made it tricky for cars to pass me in the narrow road lane.

A few miles down the road, I pulled in behind the McDonalds in the town of Albany for thirty minutes for a work conference call. I took off the jacket, my shirt was soaked with sweat. I also used this time to put on some sun screen before heading back out. I didn't get anything to eat, since I was planning on stopping at Portland to eat.

I stopped at the gas station in Redkey for a bathroom break. I also bought some Gatorade to drink before starting again. A few miles later and I was finally in Portland! I was hoping make it in 6 hours riding time, but it was closer to 7. Here I made a stop at the Arby's restaurant, where I had two roast beef sandwiches and some water.

Now that I was leaving Portland, there was finally a tailwind, I was still taking it easy, but the speed increased by 2-3 MPH with the same effort. I always find its much more enjoyable to go faster, I planned the ride for this tailwind to help keep me motivated, and more likely to finish the ride.
I was a little concerned coming into Portland since it seemed like the wind was changing directions, from the South instead of from the North. The wind held it's Northerly source for the rest of the ride, although as evening came, the wind started slowing down quite a bit. The first half of the ride, the winds are from 8 - 15 MPH, by the time the ride was completed they were down to 4 MPH.

I made three more gas station stops on the way home, always getting a Gatorade to drink, refill the water tanks and of course a bathroom break.

I had to add an extra loop once I returned to Greensburg to hit 200 miles for the day. It took me 14 hours and 18 minutes from the moment I started till I finished, with 12 hours and 26 minutes of riding time. I felt great afterwards, I could have ridden more without any problems. According to the Garmin computer, I lost 7,199 calories ( I lost 5 pounds), had an average moving speed of 16.4 MPH and only 2,674 feet of climbing. The total mileage ended up being at 203 miles.

Here is the detailed STAVA link.

Here is the summary picture from STRAVA:

 

 

This was a great challenge, the only issues was the amount of traffic between New Castle and Muncie. Since it was in the middle of the week, there was a lot of commercial trucks. I think a weekend ride would have less commercial traffic. Although the next time, I may try to find a route to bypass the bypass.

I'm actually still riding, just not blogging as much, as you can tell. I have a lot to blog about, I already have over 2,000 miles this year plus I've made some bike mods, that actually slow down the bike, such as adding a hub generator and I put on slightly larger tire on the rear wheel.

People for bikes have chosen Indianapolis!

I thought this was exciting news, people for bikes have picked Indianapolis for their next phase of the Green Lane Project. The national organization have chosen 6 cities total for this phase of the project:
Atlanta, Georgia
Boston, Massachusetts
Denver, Colorado
Indianapolis, Indiana
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Seattle, Washington
These six cities were chosen from over one hundred possible candidate cities.

According to this Green Lane Project press release, The chosen cities will "receive financial, strategic and technical assistance to create low-stress streets and increase vitality in urban centers through the installation of protected bike lanes."

This project started in 2012 and has already successfully assisted 6 other cities across the nation:
Austin, Texas
Chicago, Illinois
Memphis, Tennessee
Portland, Oregon
San Francisco, California
Washington, DC

The Green Lane Project press release says this about the project accomplishments so far:
"the number of protected bike lanes on city streets nationwide has nearly doubled from 80 to 142 – with more than half of all growth coming from the Project’s original six focus cities. The founding cities will continue as mentors to the new class while continuing to build their bicycling networks with the momentum driven by the Project."

It sounds like this project will have a rolling snow ball effect with the earlier cities "mentoring' the newer cities. If this continues, I can imagine an eventual time where almost all the large cities across the nation would work together to have safer bike lanes. This sounds like an excellent project that could have an eventual snowball effect into the surrounding smaller towns and cities.

 It would be nice to have some safer bike lanes throughout Indy. Currently I avoid it like the plague, since there's a lot of traffic on very narrow lanes, plus some very rough railroad crossings that look virtually impossible to cross by bike. Perhaps the RAIN ride will eventually go through Indy instead of around it, once this has been implemented. Although sending over 1,000 cyclist through downtown Indy may be a mistake, safe lanes or not.

Look at the people for bikes home page to learn more about their fantastic cause and then signup if you haven't already. Here is their browse by state page, once you made your selection, you can see the key stats for the individual state, including the number of people for bikes members, local shops, grants and protected bike lanes.

2013 in review

        The 2014 riding season is quickly approaching (I hope), so I thought I should close last year before starting a new one.

I put over 3,500 miles on the Musashi in 2013. That pushes me over 12,000 miles for the three years I've owned the bike. 

Last year I joined the UMCA  , riding in three of their events:
Calvin's Challenge for 188.5 miles.
The National 24 hour Challenge for 226.2 miles
The Ohio Cycling Challenge 200 - Columbus for 212 miles

I also rode in a couple of other events:
RAIN for 161 miles
The Tree City Rolling Tour for 103 miles.

Last year wasn't my highest mileage year,  but it did have the highest number of rides over 125 miles.

2014:
In 2014 I'd like to ride at least a 300 mile ride, 400 miles would be even better.

I really enjoyed the UMCA races last year, here is their 2014 calendar of events.
I'm interested in some of their events that are close to home:
CtoC Cincinnati to Cleveland, 500K (new ride)
Patriotic race over 500 miles (new ride)
Calvin's Challenge 12 hours
RAAM Ohio Cycling Challenge 200 miles
24h National Challenge 24 hours

The two new rides look like great challenges for both riding endurance and the wallet. I would need a sponsor to ride all these events. In light of that, I have been considering skipping the UMCA events altogether this year and simply plan my own long distance rides.


I'm starting to wonder if the 2014 season will ever start, It's been a rough winter here in Indiana with record lows and lots of snow. Here it is, the first day of March and they're predicting up to 12 inches of snow! Will it ever end?


The Musashi is a great bike, but is it time for a new ride? I'm keeping all options open,

  

Ohio Cycling Challenge 200 -- Columbus 2013

Sorry for the late entry, this ride was back  in September the 27th.

I decided to try this ride at literally the last minute. I had to be on site before 6:00PM for registration on Friday, the day before the ride, for the bike inspection and pre-ride safety discussion. According to Google, it is a two and a half hour drive (assuming I don't get lost on the way).  I made it with a very slim 15 minutes to spare! Talk about cutting it close! Although I think they would have been Ok with me registering a little late.

During the safety discussion they mentioned the ride had a detour since one highway was closed for repair. This detour added another 2,000 feet of climbing! I later found out that 3 of the steepest and longest  hills on the ride were on this detour, Strava rated them as category 4 hills. I have only attempted one category 4 hill before, that was last year on my ride to Shelbyville Ky. I ended up walking that hill. I am happy to say I managed to ride up all the hills on this ride, with the stock Musashi gears.

This would be my first sponsored ride that was unsupported (no sag stops) and on top of that the route was completely unmarked. Since I couldn't talk anyone into following me with a support vehicle, I was also riding randonneuring style, which simply meant I was completely on my own.  I had the route map loaded onto the Garmin 800 to help with directions, I even brought along my old Garmin 705 in case the battery died on the 800. The ride included cue sheets that showed where to turn and the locations of the time stations. The riders called in at each time station to help the organizers keep track of where we are.


Ride summary:
There were a lot of big hills on this ride, three were labeled as CAT 4 by Strava. At one stretch it seemed like there were an endless number of 200 foot climbs. Climb 200 foot, descend 200 foot, then repeat, over and over. I did get used to them though and when I hit an unexpected shorter climb, I was actually disappointed.

The longest and steepest hills seemed to be on the detour stretch, here my RPM's went down to 67. So I'm sure I would need lower gears to climb any steeper hills. I really surprised myself at being able to complete this ride with plenty of energy left over.

The biggest problem I had with this ride was getting lost! I usually get lost on marked rides, let alone unmarked ones like this one. Some of my issues was simply missing road signs that the cue sheet labeled as the next turn, especially when it was dark out.
Some problems I had though came from the cue sheet having me look for road signs that didn't exist. This happen since some of the streets had two names and the actual road sign had the name not mentioned on the cue sheet. If it wasn't for my Garmin, I would have been totally lost.

I did have one wreck, caused by me trying to ride over a ridge in the road, the front wheel would not go over it, and washed out instead, throwing me down and sliding down the street after my bike. I didn't get hurt too badly, I reinjured my Rotator cuff and later found I had ripped a hole clear through my cycling shorts. This wreck happened just past the 100 mile mark on a busy highway that had some bad road repairs creating the ridge that I wrecked on.

I really enjoyed the challenge of this ride, and looking forward to riding the next one in 2014.
The ride directors made me feel like a rock star at the finish line, plus they sent me a great looking finishers jersey.

The Garmin 800 battery died, so the ride is split between two Garmin entries:

Ride details, first half
Ride details, second half


Ride summary's: