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.
No comments:
Post a Comment