The Shitty Shoes

holy crap you must have the widest feet known to man. sidi makes widths, you know?

“Byron Wide-Foot,” they used to call me in my Cyclo-Cross days… no, they’re just that old. 15 years minimum.

I’m very particular about my gloves, so when last I found a design I really liked (full fingers, almost no padding), I bought five pairs. I’ve worn out four, and number five is starting to disintegrate.

But hey, my philosophy of bike gear is to ride it until it falls apart. Sneering at the guys whose gear is too shiny to have seen serious mileage always warms the black, coal-like lump where my soul used to be. :)

but if there weren’t people to buy shiny new gear all the time, the second-hand market would be scarce!

plus, everything’s gotta be new sometime

Dear God, NO…

When Sidi’s rigid soles start to flex unreasonably, you lose leverage. Time to toss and replace. Got about 20 km out of last pair, and replaced with exactly the same. But retained the custom made orthodic innersoles, which make all the difference. If only plastic cleats, scraped on pavement at every stop, wore as well…

@Scott

See that’s the Einstein approach. He only wore gray suits, had 7 of them, then never had to think about it. Jobs does the same thing and when I find something that works, I buy multiple pairs. With gloves, it’s the Garneau — best damn gloves ever and then the change ‘em up. A friend scoured the Internet to buy all he could find of the gel ones we like. Same thing every year with Winter Cycling Caps. You have to search and find the winter cap with the bill and the ear covers.

That style of cap is very hard to find and nowhere can you find it in Wool. That’s an Italian style. The bill protects the eyes from water and sun, the ear flaps keep you warm, if you get too warm, you flip them up. I’ve got a few old wool ones that I cherish.

I have an old pair of Metolius climbing tights. They are the best thing ever. They are comfy from 15 degrees F to 50. I’ve had them for 10 years now and they show it. I use them for X-country skiing and biking. I hate to even think about buying another pair of tights.

I have a set of carnacs from 95 that I just can’t get rid of…

Also I have been carrying around this Topeak 8/10mm wrench since my days wrenching in the 90s: http://robonza.blogspot.com/2008/08/cool-tool-topeak-810mm-ratcheting.html

-Joe

Carnacs will last forever. That’s the old Lemond Carnacs. You just can’t kill the kangaroo leather or the kevlar straps. The kevlar also protects your feet in a gang banger cross-fire.

Awesome shoes. I have a pair of sidi mountain bike shoes from 1994. I love my shoes. Granted I bought a road shoe and have a spare set of shoes for winter but normally I go back to the original shoe. I tend to wear cycling things until my wife rips it off my body. (and that starts a whole different topic :)

@Robert,

That’s when I bought them! 1994.