I got a email from a guy in St. Louis. He had some ??’s about training. I tried to give him some answers. Anyway, he gave me his schedule and it involved riding 3 days a week on a trainer. 3 hours on Wednesday. I told him that I thought that was completely nuts. He had some extenuating circumstances-family, work, time constraits, etc., so I could understand his inability to get outside and ride.

I do realize that I have the luxury to be able to ride during daylight hours virtually the whole year. And during those hours, I can usually wait out the weather, so I can cherry pick the best time to ride.

But, that being said, I don’t understand this trainer thing. I love riding my bicycle. I dread riding a trainer. One of the main attractions of the sport of bicycle racing is the beauty of riding a bicycle. That means riding a bicycle outside. Not riding a stationary machine in your basement. I have almost never done a indoor trainer workout that matches a similar workout outside. Plus, on a trainer, it is nearly impossible to stand up. At least, stand up and ride properly. And riding off your seat efficiently is a super important aspect of the sport. Plus, the sweating aspect is a huge negative. It all wears me out mentally.

Daylight saving time is here. 1st day of Spring is today. So go enjoy your bike OUTSIDE whenever you get the chance.

OK. I know I haven’t written about the two road races up in Iowa last weekend. I will. I’ve been building Brian Jensen (actually Brian & Michelle’s dog, Jasmine) a fence for their new house, as a house-warming gift. It’s been raining, of course. It’s muddy and messy.

Anyway, a couple of days ago, Catherine Walberg brought some shoes over to get some cleats mounted. She has a million different kinds of shoes. Seems to have an issue with getting the cleat forward enough or something. I was amazed at how many different kinds of shoes she has. Specialized, Sedi, Carnac, Nike, Shimano. It was mind boggling.

She did have a point about having trouble getting the ball of her foot over her pedal spindle. The new Shimano shoes, we were putting the cleats on, will hopefully solve that problem.

I’ve ridden Shimano shoes most of my adult life. Ever since they started making them. I rode Nike shoes some back in the Schwinn days. That was mainly a $$ thing. The shoes sucked. Shimano came out with pretty great shoes as soon as they released them for production. It always amazed me a shoe company, like Nike, couldn’t make a decent cycling shoe when they were a shoe company. And, a bike equipment company could.

I have never been much of a fan of movement cleats. I don’t understand them. I never have ridden them unless mine were so worn out that they became movement cleats. I was completely stoked when the new Shimano pedals came out with the fixed red cleats. That is the leg to pedal connection every pedal manufacturer should try to attain. Enough about pedals.

Shoe table!