2018-09-03 18:07:26 +00:00
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---
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layout: post
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title: Trust, but verify
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tags:
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- opinion
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---
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This year I got tired of my strapped bike pedals and decided to get a
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smidge more serious by purchasing clip-in pedals. Going into it, I knew that
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there was a high risk of falling over at a stop light or any number of the
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calamities other cyclists have experienced when their feet become attached to
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the bike frame.
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I visited my [local bike shop](https://www.bikepeddlersantarosa.com/) and
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purchased some nice Chrome shoes, cleats, and asked them to install some basic
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clip-in pedals on the giant bicycle I purchased years ago in San Francisco.
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The young man helpfully installed the cleats, helped me tweak the tightness
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of the clips, and gave me some tips before watching me roll off with the
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2018-09-03 18:09:10 +00:00
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trepidation of a newborn deer on my wobbly legs.
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2018-09-03 18:07:26 +00:00
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Despite my best efforts, I could **not** clip into the pedals properly with any
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2018-09-03 18:09:10 +00:00
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level of consistency. My neighbors were treated to numerous slow heads-down
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practice rides up and down the street, while I tried to figure out why the heck
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my shoes were not meeting the pedals. I could manage to force the pedals in and
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clip properly, but it never happened on the first try, and it definitely was
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always most difficult at a stop light.
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2018-09-03 18:07:26 +00:00
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Fast-forward a couple months.
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My partner, who enjoys morning spin classes, finally buckled and purchased some
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cycling shoes with cleats of her own. Being ever so helpful, I installed the
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cleats for her the same way the young man had installed them into my own shoes.
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The next morning she returned from spin class annoyed: she could not clip in, and the
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instructor also wasn't sure what the problem may have been.
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We returned to the shop with the assumption that the shoes had too much
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moulding around the cleat preventing her from clipping in. Or perhaps the
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cleats were simply pedal-specific SPD cleats, or perhaps she, like me, wasn't
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yet trained in clipping her feet into the bike properly.
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At the front desk we explained the problem to another fellow, who picked up the
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shoes and took a look at the cleats.
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"Oh, these are installed upside down."
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"Some dummy must have not known what he was doing" I chuckled.
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---
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Returning home, I sheepishly flipped my own cleats back around. Much to my
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surprise, clipping in is **far** easier when the cleats are properly installed.
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