I quickly learned that biking in normal walking/running shoes pretty much sucks, especially if any amount of hiking has to occur. With the temptation of REI’s Anniversary Sale, I found some pink and grey Pearl Izumi X Alp Drift II mountain biking shoes that I couldn’t resist. Matt was kind enough to bring home a pair after work, but they were too small 😦 From what I’ve read, Pearl Izumi shoes run about one size smaller, so I had to order in a 41. Anyways, long story short (I’m a wordy person…), they arrived at the store last Thursday, so we
picked them up and headed up to Lory State Park west of Fort Collins, CO to do some riding after work.
I really like the shoes! It definitely helps having a stiffer sole. The only huge issue I had was the plate that covers the cleat mount is slippery, so my feet could come flying off the pedals at the worse moments. Obviously this will change once I mount the cleats that came with my new platform/clipless hybrid pedals that I ordered in with the shoes. Other than that, I really like the shoes, they’re comfy on and off the bike, and have good ventilation.
Anyways, Lory State Park is awesome! We did two laps of the Valley Loop trails, for a total of just a little over 10 miles. Lots of speedy singletrack mixed with some rocky challenges. This marked the first time I never hiked-a-bike during any portion, so another accomplishment!
It really made me wish we lived in Fort Collins, so we could play around here more often. Luckily, it’s not horribly far from Cheyenne, so we can make do, and it’s a great place to catch a ride after Matt gets off of work.
Tomorrow I think we are going to hit up Curt Gowdy State Park for our ride.
Heidi Rides Bikes 