{"id":2610,"date":"2015-08-31T13:16:25","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T04:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2015-08-31\/2610"},"modified":"2015-08-31T13:16:25","modified_gmt":"2015-08-31T04:16:25","slug":"trepidation-and-anticipation-moving-up-to-cycling-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2015-08-31\/2610","title":{"rendered":"Trepidation and Anticipation: Moving Up to Cycling Shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>400 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 2500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nClips, Cleats, Pedals, and Shoes<\/span>\noh my!\n\u81ea\u8ee2\u8eca\u7528\u306e\u9774\u3001\u30da\u30c0\u30eb\u3001\u30af\u30ea\u30fc\u30c8\u7b49\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Since getting bit<\/a>\nby the cycling bug earlier in the year, I've been slowly inching my way\ndeeper into it. I took the<\/span> opportunity of my recent trip back to The States\nto buy some “<\/span>real”<\/span> cycling clothes in my hard-to-find-anywhere-but-particularly-in-Japan size,\nand this includes for the first time real cycling shoes that firmly attach to the pedals.<\/p>\n\n

Not many shoes come in European size 48 or 49 (cycling shoes seem to use\nthe same scale worldwide, which is really convenient), but I found<\/span> and\nordered three pair at Zappos.com (which I'm always pleased\nwith<\/a>) from three companies in sizes 48 and 49, and ended up keeping two.<\/p>\n\n

The shoes are combined with cleats that bolt onto the bottom of the\nshoe, and specialty pedals that the cleats clip into (which are quizzically\ncalled “<\/span>clipless”<\/span>, even though you most certainly do clip into and out of\nthem; the term “<\/span>clipless”<\/span> arose to differentiate from the\nold “<\/span>toe cage”<\/span> type of pedal<\/a> which at the time had been inexplicably\ncalled “<\/span>clips”<\/span>).<\/p>\n\n

I'm quite apprehensive about the whole “<\/span>strongly attached to the bike”<\/span> thing, because if your foot is connected to the\npedal, you don't have it available to stand on should you suddenly need to\nhave a foot<\/span> on the ground, and so you can easily\nend up falling over if the need for a free<\/span> foot arises more suddenly than\nyour ability to free your foot. I've seen it happen with others, even by\nexperienced riders who just couldn't unclip fast enough in that unexpected\nsplit second when balance was lost while maneuvering at slow speed.<\/p>\n\n

I've heard that there are two types of cyclists: those who have fallen as described above, and liars.<\/p>\n\n

So, I'm posting this before I actually try them to document my ignorance\nand apprehension, and later will compare how I feel<\/span> after getting some\nexperience with them.<\/p>\n\n

I mention “<\/span>ignorance”<\/span> because I'm naturally skeptical about their\nbenefits. Everyone<\/i> I've talked to who uses them recommends them strongly,\nand many friends from Cycling Kyoto!<\/a>\nencourage me to upgrade so that I can<\/span> enjoy the benefits. The benefits<\/span> include\nboth safety (“<\/span>I\ndon't<\/span> feel safe without them<\/i>”<\/span>), and mechanics... the ease and\nefficiency of pedaling.<\/p>\n\n

I do have trust that the accumulated wisdom of 200 years\nprobably trumps my ignorant assumptions based upon nothing more than\nunfounded imagination, but that trust is academic, so I need<\/span> to experience\nit a bit<\/span> to actually feel<\/i> it, I guess.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

So I will soon. I'll rewatch videos on how to set up the\nclips<\/a> and how to learn riding with\nthem<\/a>. I'll probably fall over and hurt myself, hopefully not too much.\nMaybe I'll dress up like the\nMichelin man<\/a> for protection. We'll see.<\/p>\n\n

Once I acquire a “<\/span>real”<\/span> road bike (something scheduled later this\nmonth), I'll move the new pedals to it and visit Vincent Flanagan for a\nproper<\/span> fitting<\/a>, and hopefully then go on to make lots of personal bests\non my Strava<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Going forward, I suspect I'll still favor my own “<\/span>style”<\/span><\/a> (or\nlack thereof,\nas the case may be<\/a>) for my cycling wear, but now that I have<\/span> “<\/span>proper”<\/span>\ncycling clothes, once everything is in place I'll try a full<\/span>-on proper cyclist getup and report on it here.<\/p>\n\n

Continued here...<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since getting bit by the cycling bug earlier in the year, I've been slowly inching my way deeper into it. I took the opportunity of my recent trip back to The States to buy some \"real\" cycling clothes in my hard-to-find-anywhere-but-particularly-in-Japan size, and this includes for the first time real cycling shoes that firmly attach to the pedals.<\/p>

Not many shoes come in European size 48 or 49 (cycling shoes seem to use the same scale worldwide, which is really convenient), but I found and ordered three pair at Zappos.com (which I'm always pleased with) from three companies in sizes [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}