Saturday, August 21, 2010

Be The Bike


Wait for it...click. click. click? CLICK!?!

Where's the click? Did you hear a click? What a tease. What a disappointment. What a rip.

What I wanted was pedals with an option. I love choices. I hate being backed in a corner, put in a box, stuck in something other than an SPD. Nobody puts Baby in the corner!

Today I flipped my platform pedal looking to marry to the cause. I was ready to lock and load. Ready to go the distance. Ready to commit. This wasn't running or walking. This was biking; let's get it on!

Cool your heels, said the metal from the pedal. My shoe was denied. Denied? No satifying click. No one with the pedal. No push while you pull. Just perpedual independence, not that there's anything wrong with that.

I was robbed! But it wasn't like that. Like the oft used: It isn't you, it's me, it really was! All me! It wasn't so much Operator Error as it was a Wardrobe Malfunction. Don't tell the FCC.

Clipless pedals (although somewhat misleading to an inexperienced cyclist) actually require a cleat that clips into place creating the link between you and the bike. Without it your stroke is uneven, less effective, only half satisfying. With it You Are The Bike.

But the key is that cleat. When you put on the wrong shoes...without the actual cleat, they don't really work. At all.

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