Markus points out that I should just ditch the clipless pedals and ride with bigger shoes and plain platforms. But! I'm not sure I *have* bigger shoes - the bike shoes I've been using are size 41, which is already on the big side for me. Also, I really like being clipped in. And... ummmm... I'm pretty sure I didn't lube the threads well when I put these pedals on... uhhhh... ten years ago. Thus, I don't think getting them off would be a particularly easy proposition - but they are *on* and they *work* and thus, not using spd-compatible shoes is not an option on this bike.
I do have the other bike, but it does not yet have pedals and I can't just move my existing pedals (see above). I did go into the city yesterday to get new pedals, but the kind I wanted (platform on one side, clipless on the other, and not the Wellgo ones because I'm told - even by the sales staff at MEC - that they're flimsy and I am, after all, the sort of person who thinks nothing of using the same pedals for ten years) were out of stock. I did pick up a seat for the other bike, and I found more streamlined fingerless bike gloves that fit under my ordinary windblocker gloves. Also, I was talking to the bike guy about my cold feet issue, and he recommended these toe cover things. All the spring stuff is being moved in, and they only had one pair left, in size small. But, he said, it's men's sizing, and a 40 or 41 *is* a small in men's, so I bought them. I did have to trim the neoprene a bit to make the cleat on my shoes be exposed, but whatever. I had something new to try.
So. Today, it is sunny, and still below freezing. Fortunately, the wind is substantially diminished, which means I can ride some roads to the south (on principle, I try to ride into the wind when I'm fresh, and let it push me home. On 30km/hr days, that's the only way I don't spend the entire ride fretting about having enough in the tank to make it home easily, and I can't enjoy the tailwind if I know I have to push it all the way back). I went for even warmer layers on top today (expedition weight fleece instead of thin fleece, and everything zipped up to the neck) because the internet said that cold feet happen because of a cold core (I didn't entirely buy this argument, since that would be cold extremities in general, and my hands have not been cold yet). I ditched the hated sealskins, since their entire purpose was to block wind and they trap so much sweat, and used a polypro liner sock along with a thick wool sock. Also, I promised myself that if my feet got cold, I would immediately turn around and come home.
No comment from my feet until about 20km in, and then it was just a "we're not toasty anymore, but we're fine" sort of comment. I was on my way home by then anyway. At the end of the ride (33km total), they were cold but not unbearably so and there was no burning sensation when they started warming up again.
155km so far. I'm going to have to find ways to fit rides in during the week if I want to get to 1000km.
Posted by Johanna at March 23, 2008 02:16 PM