Toe Clips

A guy mentioned a while back that a good way of training for XC is to get toe clips on a bike because it works those muscles in the front of the leg that hurt so bad when I first start sking. Eddie threw me some suggestions too so I'm thinking I need to try this. Was down at the Bikeloft getting my 30 day adjustment and asked and they said they had a bunch on sale. I'm figuring I want to do this as cheap as possible - two expensive sports: got to tread lightly on the home budget. And they had a cheap pair that fit. Also get a pair of peddles that have one side normal and the other a slip - perfect for me. Buy another tool to change peddles, so I'm ready to do this. Dave says to stand next to a wall and practice getting in and out of the clips - good advice.

Make the peddle changes, put the clip on the shoe and find a wall. Not too bad popping in and out, so I head for the hill. Meeker hill is about a mile of uphill that alternates between moderate and hard up hill. As I'm working my way up I'm loving these shoes and clips! Sure beats sneakers flexing all over the place. Hit one of the harder stretches and shift from 12 to 3 - bad idea - I'm still getting used to the shifter on the new bike. Suddenly my legs are spinning and I wonder if I have a chain anymore. Speed drops to zero and I start to go over. Some part of my brain say, 'oh, right, I've got clips'. Give the foot a twist and nothing. IN COMING. Another part of my brain says, 'this is really strang not being able to put a foot out.' By God's grace there's a patch of grass below me and I've got full gloves on due to the cold. Blam! Gotta laugh - this must have looked funny as heck - a guy going up hill, stops and falls over!

Get untangled, back in the saddle and up we go. On the easy section pratice some more. On the way down I undo one of the clips and flip the peddle over. No way I'm going over at 20mph!

All in all they great! Now where is that wall...