Clipping In

I went on my first ride in nearly a month today. Yes, the cold weather and, even moreso, the snow keep me off my road bike (the thought of buying a mtb next winter has crossed my mind).

I road (because for one the roads and trails are actually clear enough this week)
today to get my new pedals (SPD, a Christmas gift) attached. I bought shoes yesterday (Shimano's '08 Touring shoe). So that short 1.3 mile ride is all I've had so far with the clips, but I must admit that I can see the value. While I'm quite good at getting into my toe clips, I can foresee being quicker on these clipins. And, even better, you're a lot more connected to the bike: That means more control (bunny hops, not that I dare anyway) and more power (not an appreciable amount, but there are people who pay absurd amounts of money to drop 200 grams).

I also received a perl izumi weather shell (bright bright bright yellow) and a second water bottle and other things not related to cycling.

Oh I can't wait for spring. I'm considering a Y membership now. Partially to get access to a better gym than what we have at work, but a big part of it is to get access to spinner trainers. Come March/April it's back to riding outside, often, and far.

Wal-mart + Bike Shop

The Story

Honestly this scares me. I just hope that manufacturers know to run scared and refuse to sell to Wal-mart (which is legal, Snapper mowers actually did it).

I'll say it now: I don't care how much money it saves me I wouldn't buy a quality bicycle at wal-mart I simply care to much about the industry to hate upon it like that.

Maybe over time Wal-mart will improve upon its anti-manufacturer/anti-quality ways and I'll feel better about purchasing a bicycle there. Realistically though I'll probably always prefer the one on one you get at a small shop. It's certainly no panacea, but it's much nicer than searching for an employee for a half hour only to realize they're all up front running the check outs.