After a relatively short life, my (left) Crank Brothers Quattro pedal kicked the bucket this weekend. I found myself on an un-ridable pedal while on my way to our local bike shop. The shop didn’t have a whole lot in stock, but I opted for a pair of Speedplay Frog pedals. They look a little goofy, and have a LOT of float, but first impressions are pretty good so far.

This brings up a problem with my other pair of Eggbeaters though. I was able to ride both bikes off the same set of cleats previously. Now I’m finding myself looking for a pedal alternative for the (currently fixed) IF bike. I am running platform pedals on it right now, but I feel my foot slip around while spinning downhill. I’ve lots contact with the pedals on a regular downhill bump that I have to hit every day, so I am pretty uncomfortable without foot retention. I kicked around getting toe clips/straps so I can just ride my “regular” shoes. I have very limited experience with them and am afraid that they will make my bike a rolling death trap (especially with the fixed wheel). I am probably overstating the learning curve, but it makes me nervous to drop any money on something that I can’t test out before hand.

Option number two is buying a second set of Frogs. I haven’t put enough miles on the first set to know if I am going to be happy with them. I’d hate to have 2 sets of pedals that I don’t like. This is a viable option if the pedals hold up to my 200k this weekend though.

The third (and possibly most expensive) choice is to buy a new pair of shoes. Sure, I could buy some cheaper shoes… but I am probably too vain to do that. There are a lot of ugly bike shoes out there. Besides, I am sure that I’ll need another pair of SIDI’s some day.

I suppose if this is the worst of my problems right now, I have it pretty good.

Thanks for wasting your time with me.

p.s. Le Tour is getting good. Doping be damned.