Category: Uncategorized

Since last time I wrote about bike pedals and you should buy them in a bundle with shoes, it seems only right to talk about the footwear this week.

Important: there are no uniform cleats, so your old shoes may not match your new pedals and when you replace your old shoes, you have to pay attention that they match cleats. Fortunately, for most part, bike shoes come without cleats attached and you can order them separately. This way, if you find the most gorgeous shoes you have ever seen, you can make sure they will match your pedals.

Now about the actual footwear. Cycling shoes tend to be small, closely mimicking shape of your foot – this way, they create minimum drag. They also have stiff soles, so you can maximize power transfer when cycling.

Road bike shoes

Ah, the sleek cycling shoes! Since they are very form-fitting, they look pretty cute even in large sizes (as a woman with large feet, I have a lot of feelings on this subject). Their top priority is helping you use all your power and care little about all else. This means that they are very stiff and attach to the pedal with as much surface as possible. Road bike shoes are also well ventilated, light-weight and low profile. On the down side, the cleats stick out. Doesn’t sound that bad? Try walking on tile surface in them. You will be impersonating a tap dancing duck 😆. But seriously: these guys have one purpose and one purpose alone – making you the fastest cyclist you can be. All else is disregarded. It is a benefit when you’re planning to bike for many hours and then return home. If you need to hop on the train or walk into a restaurant, protruding cleats can get annoying. BTW: they provide like zero insulation for the cold, so if you plan on riding in freezing weather conditions, invest in shoe covers and warm socks.

Mountain bike shoes

Since mountain biking tends to involve more hopping (or falling 😅) off a bike, your mountain bike shoes are easier to detach from the pedal. They still have stiff soles to help you use more power, but they are a bit softer, with rubbery tread and recessed cleats, so you can walk like a normal person. Mountain bike shoes may not be top choice for a 100 mile road race, but they are awesome for mountain biking (like the name suggests), commuting and running errands – still help your ride, but without compromising your ability to function off bike.

Use of other footwear

If you’re going with either toe cages or flat pedals, you have a lot more flexibility. Although still, please don’t ride in flip-flops… That’s just dangerous!

Yes, you can ride your bike in sneakers. Or sandals. Or hills if you really insist. For these choices, your main question should be: what is the purpose of my biking? Well, or if you are a newbie. If you are just starting out, you may not be comfortable clipping into your bike. I know it took me a while to make that switch. Also, if you’re going to just ride down the street to the store or a coffee shop, why not settle for more stylish and comfy footwear? If you’re planning to be a casual rider, go ahead, enjoy your regular shoes. Nothing wrong with that!

Note on sizing

Like with running shoes, biking shoes should have some room left when you squeeze in your foot, albeit for a different reason. When your footwear is clipped into the pedals, you can only shift your foot as much as the room inside of the shoe allows. Tight fit may become uncomfortable and lead to cramping. On the other hand, this is not running – your feet won’t swell up as much as during running.

Go look for your perfect shoes (everybody gets shoe shopping thing, right?) and I will see you on the trails!

Don’t wait for opportunity. Create it.

George Bernard Shaw

Records are set by people who say ‘fuck your limits’.

Unknown

Ah, yes, another post in the series about bikes (like this one, where I talk about shopping for one): bike pedals. And yes, shoes will be next 😉.

People either first buy shoes they want or have specific pedals in mind, which guides purchase of matching footwear. I am of opinion that pedals should come first, or at least their general type.

Flat bike pedals

These are awesome! I’m not kidding, I’m not a total snob. Flat pedals allow you to easily hop on and off a bike and work with any type of footwear (or lack thereof – I’ve seen people ride without barefoot). You can ride in flipflops (ugh) and I managed to ride in high heels back when I was in highschool.

So here are the basics: flat pedals, like the name suggests, are flat. You can easily get your foot on and off (on the down side: your foot can get knocked off when you hit a bump). They are great for beginners, who are still working on controlling the situation. They are also nice if you don’t want to have to change shoes once you get off the bike.

What are these best for (besides beginners)? Flat pedals are great when you use your bike for leisurely activity or to run errands. This way when you get to the store, you can just leave the bike at the door and walk like a normal person (more on the ‘normal person walk’ below, when we discuss clipless pedals). It’s also great when you bike in places where you stop frequently, such as through a busy city with tons of cross streets. Clipping in and out every few feet can get frustrating!

Toe cages aka clips

No. Just no. I tried it for a while and in retrospect, that was one dumb idea. Yes, my feet were attached to the pedal, so I could exert pulling force on the up movement. Unfortunately, nowhere near as much as if I was clipped in. On the down side, my feet were still trapped and I can now tell you with all certainty that it’s a lot harder to free yourself from a cage than unclip. So no, this is not a great idea.

Some people claim it’s easier to free yourself from these than from clipless. I disagree, so I guess this is ‘agree to disagree’ type of situation. My experience wasn’t good.

Clipless bike pedals

What a misnomer! Toe cages were developed historically first and they were called ‘clips’ because people were clipping into those. So when theses cleats were created, cyclists named them ‘clipless’. Ironically, same cyclists say that they are clipping in when using this type of pedals.

Road bike pedals

In my little corner of the world, these guys are all the rage! They are a great invention. You clip in your shoes and because your feet are stuck, you can exert power on both up and down movements. This translates into higher speeds and more efficiency during a ride.

So why doesn’t everybody use them? Because you are literally attached to your bike, obviously! Clipping in takes some practice, as does unclipping. I read many times ‘once you get used to it, you never forget to unclip’. And:

As I write it, I literally have a mark on my wrist from toppling over at whapping 0 mph a couple of weeks ago. Because yes, I am occasionally stupid. And sometimes you just don’t know when somebody will do something stupid/unexpected and when you are focused on dodging them, you forget to unclip.

But I don’t hold it against the clipless pedals. They really make it easier to ride fast and use variety of muscle groups.

Unfortunately, the cleats in your shoes stick out quite a bit, so if you need to walk anywhere in those, you have a weird duck waddle. It’s fine if you need to make only a couple of steps, but if you need to jump on the train during your commute and take the escalator, this may not be your top choice.

Mountain bike pedals

They are clipless pedals, like road bike pedals, but they are a lot easier to free yourself from. And the cleats in the shoes don’t stick out as much as the other guys, so you can walk around in them. On the down side, they are not quite as efficient as road pedals in transferring force you exert while pedaling.

Who will mountain bike pedals work best for? For one thing, mountain bikers. But they can be a great solution for bike-commuters who still want to be able to clip in and use as much power as they can, while maintaining ability to walk around in their cycling shoes and ease of unclipping for frequent stops.

Hybrid bike pedals

So you’re not sure if you really want to do the whole clipless bike pedals? Or you want option for serious bike rides on the weekends, but still ride in comfy street shoes to the store? If you answered yes to these, then hybrid pedals may be for you! I got them on my first road bike. You have cleats on one side and flat pedals on the other. They are heavier than the other options and can get clunky, but flexibility is awesome!

I hope this helps and I will see you out there! Stay active!

Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.

Winston Churchill

You can’t stop someone who knows where they’re going.

Michael Jordan

During my recent ride, conditions were atrocious and I spent a good amount of time thinking about my bike brakes. To be fair: issues with stopping were probably due to water and mud giving zero resistance, but still, a subject to occupy my mind while pedaling for hours on end.

I am old enough that you stopped my childhood bikes by pedaling backwards. Is it still a thing?

Before you can ponder the optimal brakes type for your new ride, you should probably get a refresher on what to look for when shopping for a new bike and that will limit your decisions.

Factors in choosing type of bike brakes:

• Type of terrain – you will need stronger brakes for downhill rides and on rougher terrain
• Importance of weight – if you are racing on a flat road, you don’t want to be weighed down by piece of equipment with relatively low value
• Aerodynamics – again: choose in a tradeoff between power of the brakes and their impact on speed

Rim brakes

As the name suggests, these stop your bike by exerting pressure on the rim of your wheels, thereby making them slow down and hopefully to a stop when desired. The brake pads can wear out or get wet. Or you can forget to connect them correctly after changing a tire… No, nobody would forget to check that their brakes are working correctly 😉. Sadly, one rim brakes have a serious issue: since the rim can get easily wet or muddy, pads can get wet and surfaces slippery, decreasing effectiveness of the brakes.

Rim brakes were next step in evolution after pedaling backwards and are still quite popular. Here are the main types:

Caliper brakes

For a long time, these were go-to types of bike brakes. And as you can see in picture above, that’s what my old road bike still has. They are awesome for road bikes! However, they don’t work too well on bikes with wide tires.

There are two types of caliper brakes: single pivot or dual pivot. At the end of the day, they work in pretty much the same fashion: break pads are attached to calipers on each side of the wheel. The calipers are pulled by cables inside of the mechanism and the breaks squeeze the rim, causing the bike to decelerate.

Cons: they can be knocked out of alignment or be too tight or loose, causing breaking to be an issue (in either direction); can get wet or covered in mud, compromising effectiveness. Pros: they are light-weight and very effective.

Cantilever brakes

Main difference between cantilever brakes and caliper brakes is that these guys have more wiring – instead of fixed arms, there are two cables connected to one in the middle. These guys are more difficult to install, more expensive and less aero-dynamic, but they provide more power and larger clearance for wider tires.

V brakes

This looks like a cross between caliper and cantilever brakes, doesn’t it?

These guys are actually most powerful of them all and tend to appear on mountain bikes. What looks like a metal part on top is actually a wire covered in protective plastic. If they are so powerful, can you guess what’s their drawback? If you guessed weight, then you were correct!

Disc brakes

These are currently the fanciest and most effective brakes available!

These powerful mechanisms don’t attach to the rim, but instead to the hub of the wheel. You attach a disc and a caliper mechanism at the center of the wheel. When you push down on the breaks, the brake pads on the caliper clamp down on the disc (hence the name). Be careful – if you’re used to rim brakes, you may come to an abrupt stop. Like the type when you kiss the ground in front of your bike😉. So keep in mind: tons of power! Another advantage? Mud, water and debris rarely makes it that far up the wheel. Oh, and you won’t overheat the rim on a prolonged descent. What, you thought that’s impossible? Clearly, you never rode or drove much across mountains…

By now, you may be asking yourself why don’t all bikes just have disc brakes. Well, at this point, majority of bikes come with disc brakes. But they come at a cost: they are heavy. Fortunately, the world is moving forward and discs are getting lighter, leading to increased popularity.

So which type of brakes do you need on your bike? Funny thing: you may have little choice, as each type tends to require different frame setup. So it’s unlikely you will be selecting brakes separately from the bike. But I hope the above information will help you understand what you are looking for.

Keep at it, my weekend warriors!

You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.

Zig Ziglar

You learn more from failure than from success. Don’t let it stop you. Failure builds character.

Unknown

Since I already wrote about benefits of running and cycling, I think it’s only fair to talk about all the awesome benefits of swimming!

I may be biased, but I think swimming is the greatest! First of all, it’s super important to know how to, even if you don’t pick it up as a sport. It’s a matter of safety! It’s a lot easier to learn how to swim when you are a kid, before a chance to develop phobias. Which reminded me a friend of mine who recently tried to learn how to swim as an adult. She totally panicked. What wonderful bruises she had from clutching onto the ropes! (oh, and the water was shallow enough that she could have stood there)

Here is a couple of other common ‘complaints’ about swimming:

• Being self-conscious about walking around in a swimsuit – people aren’t really looking. At least not at the workout pool. Besides, once you are in the water, they can’t really see, can they?
• Need a place to swim – this one is valid. I am privileged to live in the part of the US where access to pools is pretty easy. Many places have either pools as part of their apartment complex or HOA. And if not? Look for YMCAs and gyms – at least some will have a place to swim and fees to join usually aren’t really any worse than those for a regular gym. And if you’re lucky, you have access to open water (and I’m low-key jealous)
• It takes planning – I know… But once you get there, you have a better chance to run into same people every week. You could make friends! Find somebody who’d keep you accountable!

Multiple benefits of swimming match benefits of running and cycling:

• Helps you avoid heart and cardiovascular disease
• Helps prevent diabetes
• It’s cardio, so some weight loss may happen, too!
• You will most likely sleep better
• It boosts your immune system
• It’s good for your mental health

Some are shared only with cycling:

• Pick your own intensity – to be fair, you can do it with running. Although I feel like it’s more true for swimming and biking, since if you slow down too much when running, you’re just walking (nothing wrong with that, but you’re changing your activity)
• It’s low impact – this means you can do it any time and your body won’t need as much time to recover. Yay!

Some unique benefits of swimming:

• It works out all major muscle groups. Cycling is better at it than running, but you can’t match swimming! Arms, legs, core…
• It tones your muscle – it’s hard to get bulky if swimming is your only workout
• You are at total peace – I know some people find waterproof headphones and all, but vast majority of us will enjoy pool time as complete peace
• It’s safe – seriously, unless some stupid kid decides to cross your lane at an inopportune time, your risk of injury is negligible (unless your form sucks, but that’s a risk in any sport)
• Good for your lungs, including for people with asthma (although chemicals in the pool may be a trigger – so check first)
• Good for pregnant women – no bouncing the belly around, like while running or squeezing it like during cycling. And the weightlessness…
• Speaking of weightlessness: it can be great for people with various existing injuries and health conditions. It’s not a coincidence that elderly do aqua aerobic!
• Some articles, like this one, claim that you can swim longer than you can bike or run. I call bs on that though – I can bike for 5 hours just fine, run for like 3. I can assure you that I cannot swim for that long and I wouldn’t hold my breath for that happening any time soon
• Last but not least: it’s an indoor sport without compromising its appeal (like when you get to jump on a treadmill or a stationary bike), so it’s awesome training for when weather outside is awful. Like you know, when it’s obscenely hot.

I hope you are now convinced you need swimming in your routine. Keep training and I will see you out there!