I've also recently met some very nice people at Gee Hin Chan and Rodalink in Singapore. I had previously bought some stuff from Gee Hin Chan and dropped by again about a week ago to buy my shoes. These are hybrid shoes with the quick-release SPD clips on the bottom, but with a rubber sole you can walk on, just as if they were regular sneakers. The SPDs will give me a more efficient ride as I can pull on the pedal on the uptake - especially useful going uphill.
Gee Hin Chan were very helpful with a few items - I even got a tyre pressure gauge free! - but didn't have the shoes in my size. They referred me to Rodalink in the East Coast who were just as helpful and friendly when I dropped by one day. I picked up a pair of Shimanos for under S$60 which seemed to be a real bargain.
The last time I wore cycling shoes was in 1983. My shoes then had a leather upper and a sole made of wood into which you hammered the cleat. The shoes were upturned at the toes and gave you an Aladdin look when you were off the bike and trying to walk around. The cleats fit snugly around the edge of the pedals and when you tightened the toe clips, your feet were snug as a bug in a rug as it were.
Too snug sometimes... The toe clip straps had a quick release buckle, but you had to lean down and flick it off to release the strap. Then, and only then, could you work your shoe off the pedal. Bad news if you had to stop suddenly...
I fell off the bike comically one day when, after making some adjustments to the gearing, I took off up the slope outside my house in PJ. Nearing the top, I flicked the gear lever down. Turns out my adjustments weren't too good as the chain fell right off the crank... Suddenly slowing, with no drive to the rear wheel, and my feet tightly clasped in the pedals, all I could do was let my reflexes take over and do what anyone losing his balance would normally do - pedal frantically. A hopelessly useless endeavour when your crank is no longer connected to the chain! I slowed to a stop at the top of the slope, my feet whirring madly at the pedals, my eyes going wide at the realisation the horizon was starting slowly to tilt.
I crashed to the ground, worked myself free from the bike and looked quickly around to see if anyone had witnessed my comical descent. Fortunately no one was about so my ego was hardly bruised, even if my left knee was not so fortunate.
Still, it was less embarrassing than the experience one of my cycling buddies had when he stopped at a set of traffic lights, could not work his feet out in time and crashed to the ground right next to a car whose startled occupants watched as he sheepishly got to his feet.
SPDs are much easier - you twist your heel inwards or outwards to dislodge the cleat from the pedal clip. Just have to remember to do that now...
Post to del.icio.us
No comments:
Post a Comment