Friday 28 January 2011

Entering into the world of clip on shoes !

Well I decided I needed to invest in a pair of clip on shoes, my feet keep bouncing out of my toe clips and my feet are so cold in my trainers.Also I have just entered my first sportive...the Cheshire cat 45 miler. I'm sure this set up will be beneficial and enhance my training.
Went to JE James today and got the best customer service I have ever had. The guy knew everything there was to know and spent ages with me going through all my various options, which shoes fit which cleats and which pedals... and on and on it went...so much choice. I tried on a few shoes and finally plumped for a pair of Shimano RO85. There were more cleat options with this shoe, with the other types I was limited to a much more expensive pedal/cleat. The pedals I went for are shimano M520 SPD. They are actually listed as mountain bike pedals but are aparently used just as much by road cyclists. They are fairly light too at 380g a pair, you can pay up to 4 times as much to gain just 50g (not of too much importance to me at this stage) One thing I really liked is that you can clip onto either side of the pedal which I thought would be useful, theres also lots of tension ajustment !
I was telling the guy in the shop how much I suffered from cold feet...he said wait there...and scurried off to fetch me something. He brought me a pair of socks that he swore by ..they are called seal skinz,(www.sealskinz.com)windproof and waterproof socks that he said he wouldn't go out without. I must admit they were very expensive but to me worth every penny if they do the trick...I will let you know !!


Follow up......

Pleased to say I have just had a trial run and they were fab(not tried the socks yet) pedalling felt much better and clipping on and off wasn't nearly as scary as expected.

1 comment:

  1. Good move - I think they'll definitely turn out to be a good investment and you'll get used to clipping in and out. Be prepared for an embarrassing moment when you come to a stop at a junction, forget you're clipped in and topple off sidewards. Everyone has to have one of those! I like the SPD's for being able to clip in both sides - I have Keo Look where you can't do that.

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