Riding not Writing

Most of the time when I miss a day with this blog it's because I was lazy and didn't ride. Alternatively, as yesterday, I rode but was too occupied with other things to write.

I got a new Giro helmet at REI, and I looked for new shoes. Normally I like shoe shopping, and I have lots of shoes. But very few shoes are compatible with my newly-revived interest in cycling. Let me say right now that I like to be able to ride and/or walk in my shoes. No more silly plastic click-clacking around in $200 useless cycling cleats. Not for me.

These are the shoes I've been using. They date back to the Seventies, a decade in the last century. They fit my pedals just fine. The soles are stiff, there are ridges to engage the edge of the pedal cage, and they are only moderately ugly, thanks to black shoe dye over teal green suede. Really - purple and green shoes? Did I ever think those were stylish? I guess so, because I also have a purple and teal green kayak (which I bought used).

I tried to wear my driving shoes, as they are narrow enough, but the toe box is too large for the toe clip.

At the moment, I am frustrated because the clipless pedals today require a committment to one shoe. I have 4 bikes and 5 sets of pedals to worry about. And I am not about to junk all those Campy Super Record pedals on all my bikes. So I continue to search.

I spent the day trying on shoes in various sporting goods stores. What a thankless task! How many varieties of sport shoes can there possibly be? In my previous life as a mathematics textbook editor I never thought of using shoes as an example of infinity, but I should have!

The closest thing I could find to my Performance cycling street shoes are these Nike Gatos. I think they look good and they are a decent fit to the pedals.

What do you think?

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Final shot

I'm happy now with these shoes and the new helment. But someday when I decide to go all out, I think this shoe might be the ticket for me:

They are called Dromarti Storica Classic (above) or Black (below):