SHIMI-NOW!

Woot. Guess what I had sitting on my doorstep last Friday? My first ever pair of cycling shoes. Thanks to an amazing AMAZING deal on bonktown.com, I snagged a pair of Shimano SH-WR40 cycling shoes for the low low price of just over $40. Which meant that I no longer had to be one of the folks in spin class who had to get a bike with cages on the pedals! I can actually clip in!!!

Now let's go back a few steps - I did mention this is my first ever pair of cycling shoes, right? Okay, just wanted to make sure that was out there. With that clear, I was a bit nervous the day before my first spin class with my snazzy new shoes. Thanks to the awesome folks at Roll, I got my cleats installed on Sunday afternoon, so my shoes were all ready to go come 6am on Tuesday morning for class.

A ball of nerves, I read online (several times) about how I clip in and clip out. I was all ready. I knew what to do, and I was ready to spin spin spin in my snazzy new shoes. I get to class with about 5 minutes before start time. I select a bike, roll it into position, ditch my flip flops and put on my socks and my new shoes. Okay, here we go. I put my right foot above the pedal, dip my foot forward, push down and TA DA! In. Wow. That was easy. Now for the left foot - repeat the process, right? Dip my foot, push down, nothing. Hm. I try again. And again. Evidently I tried a lot because by this time, class had started. I was still not clipped in. All of a sudden, I look up and there's the instructor. "What's the deal?" he asked. I CANNOT FREAKING GET THIS TO CLIP IN. He takes my shoe (it's off my foot at this point) and he tries to clip it in. No go for him either. Turns out it's the bike.

::le sigh::

I had no idea if it was me or a crappy bike - I don't know how easy or difficult this whole process is to be. It was the latter. Snagged a new bike, then TA DA - clipped in within 15 seconds.

At least the newbie first timer drama was over.

I love the shoes. I can now actually focus on pulling up - which is a much different feeling. I figure that a winter of the spin bike will get me all accustomed to the whole clipping procedure so I may be ready to move up to a fancier bike come spring! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Baby steps, right???

(and as for the blog post title, around our house we call the Shimano brand "SHIMI-NOW!" in full rock star type style)

Becoming a real cyclist. (or....Insecurities regarding bike gear)

FYI: This is more pontification than anything else. I am no where near being a real cyclist yet - this I know. Riding on the road makes me a nervous wreck. I know of three people who have been hit by cars while on their bikes - one of them with injuries so terrible it hospitalized him for over a month. And his accident happened on a college campus where car speed limits are 25mph. Therefore, riding on a country road in G-ville where the speed limit is 55 but people actually drive 75 is in no way on my list of things to do for fun on a Saturday morning.

Yet, I see lots of cyclists - and I mean LOTS of them - in my community every weekend. They all have their super cool branded cycling jerseys and go out for what I assume are 200 mile country jaunts with their other awesome cycling buddies (remember, this is my POV). G-ville has some amazing topography - lots of hills, beautiful scenery, etc. If I actually gained the confidence to ride the terrain in my own community, I really could become a good cyclist. I have a fantastic area to ride. I just have to get over my road biking fear - and one other obstacle. At least it's an obstacle as I see it.

The gear. All the "cool kids" have these branded sweet looking cycling jerseys. I've looked these things up online - they are $60-100+ a piece. WOW. I know I love my gear and my cool running tech shirts. My drawer may be filled with an abundance of wicking tees, but every single one of them is a race shirt. I haven't bought a single one. When I go out for a ride, I pull on my tri shorts if they are clean (if they aren't, I opt for my second hand umbros) and a tank top. A $5 target special tank top. I think I'm the only biker I have ever seen wearing a tank top.

Anyway, I am realizing this may be a cyclist culture thing. So give me the scoop - when are you required to move into expensive jersey land? As silly as the question may be for an experienced cyclist - why is it the norm? Do they make you fast? Do they cool you? warm you? Honestly, I am really curious.

Beyond my lack of cool bike gear (I also use a freebie University of Toronto press for my water bottle - classy), I ride on the bike path or the sidewalk if its big enough. The cars scare me. I know you aren't supposed to ride in sidewalks in most places, but I would much rather get a talking to from a police officer than smacked by some teenage jerkoff on his cell phone speeding down the road at 70mph. Le sigh. Someday I'll get there - maybe?

And does my Target Schwinn helmet make me look like a 12 year old girl???