New Shoes

My new Giro Petra cycling shoes got their first test in the rain this evening. The uppers are part mesh, and let in enough water to get my socks soggy, but I'm hoping they (the shoes, I mean) will dry out fast. I'll just have to remember not to leave home without my shoe covers for the next several months. I'm pleased with the shoes so far. They're more comfortable for walking than most of my street shoes. The soles have enough tread to catch on the pedals, but the material is a bit smooth and plasticy, so my feet slip off at awkward moments, especially if it's wet; I'll probably put cleats on them soon. They fit high around the front of the ankle, so the tongue rubs a bit when I walk, but with my toes dipped down while pedaling that's not a problem.

I've always liked cute, chunky oxford-type shoes, a big style advantage for a bicyclist. When I first started commuting by bicycle, riding five miles each way, I wore Skechers or similar shoe styles. The nubby tread was enough to keep my feet on the pedals without straps or clips, and the soles weren't too thick, without the wide over-hanging heel that athletic shoes often have - the cushy heel can bump against the crank arm and knock your foot off the pedal.

Then I started riding with Team in Training, training for the 200-mile Seattle-to-Portland ride. By the time I got to the point of doing forty or fifty mile rides, the knuckles and tendons in my feet began to get sore, and I realized I needed some real cycling shoes with stiff, substantial soles.

I bought a pair of men's Shimano mountain biking shoes, which are still in pretty good shape, though the padding at the heel is worn. The men's sizing wasn't a problem, and the shoes were on sale for ten or twenty dollars less than comparable women's shoes. Six years is a long time for a pair of shoes to last, so they were a good buy, but my feet are six years older now, and don't fit in to them so well - the joints at the base of my toes have widened, making bumps like small bunions by my big and little toes. So that's my excuse for buying the Giros.

I also had a pair of women's Pearl Izumi X-Alp mountain biking shoes. I wore those without cleats, and often wore them at work, doing light warehouse work and even at my coffee shop job. They had light mesh uppers, and got drenched and saturated many times, until they began to smell so bad I threw them out. But I did get a lot of mileage out of them for two or three years.

update: The Giros were dry by morning.

The Dirt in Ferndale

The Ferndale bike jump park is now a work in progress, next to the American Legion Hall at the end of Third Avenue. On Sunday a lone man with a shovel and a bulldozer was working at the site. The dirt piles appear to need some forming, smoothing and packing, and the guy could probably use some help.

Several years ago I joined a volunteer work party to spend a Saturday clearing brush on the Bay to Baker Trail, a much more ambitious local bike project. Five or six people showed up, all between the ages of 45 and 70 years. My feeling now is that kids should beg their elders to build places for them to play, and then show up to help with the dirty work.

Or, you could go fishing

Flashbacks

One morning this week, as I was studying at home, I heard footsteps on the walkway outside my apartment, then a shuffling of papers, a light tapping on my door, and a noise like adhesive tape unspooling to stick up a notice. Like that dreadful blue painter's tape they use for eviction notices. I looked up and saw a young man with a sheaf of papers in one hand pass by my window, walking away from the building while punching the keypad on some type of hand-held device. My heart started thumping and I broke in to a sweat. I checked my wall calendar, noted the date was past the 10th of the month and told myself, "It's too late for a 20-day notice." Still, my hands were shaking as I reached for the doorknob, pulled it open - and found an election campaign flyer taped on my door.

It's three years now since the beginning of the dispute with my old landlord that landed me here in Ferndale. I could think of plenty of negative things to say about my apartment, and the whole town, but the place still feels like such a safe refuge that I've pretty much always been pretty happy here. Still, it's probably good to get over that childish sense of denial that says really bad things won't happen to me, and everything will work out OK.

Somewhat belatedly

Classes began two weeks ago at the community college, and I had my first quiz yesterday. It's been difficult to adjust to studying after several years of working routine, repetitive jobs where I didn't have to think about what I was doing, then spending my off hours scanning on-line job listings and randomly browsing through websites. At first it was hard to focus and retain material from reading and in class, but my mind is beginning to recover.

With classes scheduled roughly 4-7pm, I can ride the bus to campus, but I need my bicycle to ride home in the evening. Since the bus runs only once an hour, I'm finding the best plan is to leave home early in the afternoon and get to campus at least an hour and a half early. Otherwise, I'm likely to get preoccupied with studying or doing chores at home, then suddenly realize I have to rush to catch the school bus. If I missed the bus by a few minutes, I could still ride my bike all the way, but I'd arrive just before the bell, sweaty, flustered and disorganized. By taking an earlier bus I have time to study on campus before class.

The Skillshare Faire convened at Hovander Park the weekend before school started. On Saturday the weather was warm and sunny, and I hear the fair was crowded with resourceful, multi-talented people demonstrating food production, preparation and preservation, skills in textiles, wood-working, jewelry-making, as well as music, dancing and much more. Foolishly, I chose to do boring errands that day, and went to the fair on Sunday, when it was cold, wet and stormy, and only a few resilient and dedicated participants were still there.

The llama wagon

A bicycle-powered grain mill

Next year I'll plan to be back on a sunny day, but it was still worth walking in the rain to see the remaining exhibits, and test out my new winter coat.