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Monday, November 5

Keeping the sword sharp

I'm a bit like that frog that's in a pot of water being slowly heated to a boil.  Poor cold-blooded little guy never realizes that the conditions around are going to be the end of him... eventually.

BTW: Did someone actually boil a frog to figure that out, or is this just a theory?  Frogs are kinda dope.

I've had I don't know how many sets of XTR 9000 pedals.  I know one set got warrantied, another set was sorta broken (mebbe user error) and tossed at the last move.  I think these ones are as old as they could possibly be.

Amazing what years of exposure to muck and grime can do over a long period of time of clipping in and out (which I guess occurs more on a single speed than on a normal shifty bike).

Some people don't think the universe be like it is but it do.

Worn-out pedals paired with worn-out shoes can make for an exciting ride.

That's what things look like when I push the shoe and pedal together.

And that's what it looks like when I pull up on the shoe.

So, my pot of slowly-brought-to-a-boil water has been these pedals.  I could hear my shoes jostling around on long descents, the cleat slopping about when turning high RPMs... I've had my fair share of unexpected releases.

I was probably gonna die... eventually.

Well, if you're a reptilian bike-type nerd, you probably know Shimano finally released a new version of the XTR pedal... so could there be a better time to get outta the water and hop for my life?

No.

New shoe, new cleat, new pedals all coming together the way some smart people thought they should for proper bike cycling performance.  Push up, pull down, full contact regardless.

It can be hard to toss aside something that's still somewhat functional.  I mean, I'm the guy who will open up the back of the remote and roll the batteries around for months trying to eek out the last bit of power before finally getting up and grabbing another set of charged batteries outta the kitchen drawer.  That said, clicking into this feels like I've rediscovered how good mountain biking can be.

And with that said, after I took all the photos and felt the shear joy of a proper shoe/pedal interface, I took everything off and put it away... for now.

A couple more months of sitting in the water (prolly) won't kill me.

'19 "season" is around the corner.  Like, a real "season."

Mebbe.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

funny post. did a long ride Saturday and all kept thinking about is how much fecking play was in my shoe/cleat/pedal interaction. annoyed.

Anonymous said...

Real season???? Riiiiggghhht.....HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!