Introduction
Growing up in a region filled with uphills for every downhill, and lucky enough to have a mountain bike at at early age, I was set up in my teen years to embrace the sport of mountain biking. Fast forward to my pre-thirties and I decided it was time to buy my second mountain bike. If you’re paying attention to the lack of detail between first bike and second, you’ll easily pick up that I wasn’t a passionate embracer of the the outdoor biking sport. However, I did purchase a pair of killer shoes when I bought my second mountain bike.
My Pearl Izumis
I bought my second mountain bike and a pair of shoes that would allow me to ride it at Earth Traverse Outfitters in Knoxville, TN. I can’t recall the process of shoe determination; perhaps my great friend that found the killer bike for me helped.
Clip it! Clip it good!
I wish I could recall my first “clip in” experience, when I first tightened my newly purchased cycling shoes with the Velcro strips and felt the satisfying click of the mysterious technology lurking underneath my shoe, magically attaching to diminutive “pedals”. Clipless pedals (I’m not sure why they’re called clipless pedals since I’ve always thought of the process as “clipping in”) require a bit of confidence and commitment. You attach your proper shoe to the pedal via a vague pushing down motion and detach via a casual sliding out motion. I loved this setup, since I’ve always thought that the idea of being attached to the pedals in some way makes for a more efficient pedaling motion. Once you are committed, you need to be sure and understand how to detach yourself when needed. The only crashes I’ve had on my current mountain bike (keep in mind I don’t ride much) happened while I slowed down and for whatever reason didn’t detach correctly so I just fell to the ground.
The shoes, so old as they are, work perfectly. My own issues of detaching failure aside, there was not a moment that I couldn’t clip in or clip out. I’ve ridden in them and walked in them (I wasn’t going to always carry around an extra pair of shoes!) and never once did they fail me. Even though I’m an amateur I can detect brilliance with this mountain biking shoe.
Status: Revered Previous Resident
I’m riding the same bike but I’ve converted the clipless pedals to the more pedestrian flat pedals. My mountain bike has transformed over the years to a great off roader to a decent off roader / great urban hauler. I’m riding the bike more than ever, so it’s important to me to be able to jump on and pedal with any type of shoes I might be wearing at the time. So, it was time to give up the clipless shoes.
But why, if they still worked, were they booted from TROMT? It could be that one day I’ll look back and note that the shoe and pedals were ideal for one another, and that
Related Info
Clipless pedals, explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXgqsQlFDsA