Warnings, shoes

Certainly the Lord gives us warnings when we might stray into dangerous territory.

Some warnings one might not attribute to the Lord, because they derive from and relate to such earthly or common situations.

For example, the heat of a flame that warns us not to draw too near. Is this a warning of the Lord? He did design our minds and bodies to function this way. But, in a common, earthly, physical matter as this, animals are also designed and "warned."

Okay, here's another one more complex. Related to my bicycle pedals and cleats and possibly my recent two bicycle crashes.

About a year ago, I purchased a new pair of pedals for my bicycle. Shimano Ultegra level. These were rather nice pedals. As I was buying the pedals, I remember considering whether or not the pedals or the pedal/shoe cleat system would offer me the feature of tightening and loosening the attachment of my shoe to the pedal. (For those of you who don't know about "new" cycling pedals, I will say that about 15 years ago, manufacturers began making a different sort of pedal for road-type bicycles especially. These pedals were designed with a snap-in feature, and shoes were fitted with a sort of clip which snaps into the pedal and sticks there tightly. Guess what, now when I pull up on the pedal, my shoe is snapped in so well that the pedal sticks to it. This more secure connection between shoe and pedal results in more security and reliability especially for racers who at times pedal so furiously that weaker connections allow some inefficiency of power transfer.)

Over the years the pedal makers provided different systems for adjusting the tightness of the snap. At purchase time for my pedals, I now vaguely remember that the feature was important to me. But, to make a long story short, I never took the time to examine the pedal/shoe system to learn it and to make any adjustment. And this, even thought I disliked how difficult it was for me to unsnap my shoe from the pedals. I said to myself and probably others more than once, "I need to do something about how difficult it is to unsnap out of my pedals." Day to day, this comes into play when I arrive at a stop sign or stop light or other situation when I have to stop and dismount my bicycle or stop and put a foot to the ground for balance. I want to and should be able to do this quickly, for safety's sake.

I can say I did examine the clip on my shoe to loosen it if I could. (I used to have a pedal/cleat system in which the loosening was effected via the shoe cleat - basically a changing of the type of cleat.) But I did not find any way to loosen the cleat. But, even though I remembered from the time of purchase that I should have a means to loosen the connection, I never investigated thoroughly into how to do this.

My own knowledge and my own sense of safety was advising me that I needed to investigate and amend the system. But I never did.

Wreck no. 1 in early May. It was a slow wreck. I thought I almost was able to stay up. In retrospect, I remember my legs being somewhat immobilized as I was entering the crash zone and then falling. Did I think through that enough to think that my tight shoe/pedal connection might have been a part of the problem? No, not enough to investigate how to loosen the connection.

"Robert, your shoes snap in too tightly to the pedal. This is a problem. You know that. And, shazam, now you fall and have a thumb in cast that is maybe a warning that this is a problem. You need to investigate this and do something about it."

Did I? No.

Fast forward 8 weeks. The Etape begins. The start is at 7 am. My brother and I are way in the back. We inch forward for 23 minutes until the start line. Sometimes we can put our shoes in the pedals and pedal ever so slowly. Sometimes - for me most of the time - we we have one foot snapped into one pedal and the other foot walking, skateboard fashion, the bicycle forward. As I moved forward slowly in this way, I noticed a big man just in front of me who kept his feet in/on his pedals at slow speed. Real slow, like walking speed. I marvelled that he was so brave - at such a slow speed he could barely keep the bicycle balanced, yet there his shoes were clipped in. He's on the verge of falling. In that situation, were I to totter and begin to fall, I could not get my shoes out of the pedal fast enough. I'd go down. How can he be so confident of his ability to stay balanced, I thought. Well, now I can conclude that it was not his great ability to balance - I myself can ride a unicycle - rather it was that he could so quickly pull his shoe off the pedal. It did not matter if he started to fall, he could unsnap the foot and plant it on the ground and not fall over. But at the time, I just wondered at his confidence to balance.

Fast forward 33 miles and you know what happened. I crashed. This accident happened quickly. If I had been able to get my shoes out in a flash, I don't know that it would have made a difference. But, I can aver that when I saw this fall coming, I did not even try to extract my pedals. I basically curled up and braced for the fall. And, as it turned out, I think my body took the fall in several places, thus spreading out the impact of the fall. I took tumbling classes about 35 years ago - I disliked the class. I was not good at it and for whatever other reason did not like to go. But, one lesson was on how to fall. Maybe that helped in this fall in 2006. Thank you Lord.

Still, did I learn about the pedals? Maybe. But, as it happened, I myself did not actually investigate the pedals. When I returned to US, I took my bicycle into shop to repair, from the crash. In that process, I asked about the tightly snapped pedals. The sharp mechanic showed me how my pedals have a screw in the back that adjusts the tightness of holding the shoe on the pedal. He adjusted it to the loosest, noting that mine was set on tightest and that really only racers need or want the tight setting. What a difference this has made. I can even ride more slowly now, confident that I can get my shoe out if I begin to fall.

By the way, when I was pedaling in Lyon, I used my street shoes, not my cycling shoes and so enjoyed being able to slide my shoes off the pedal at the slightest thought. That's how kids ride bicycles all the time. Their pedals are plain and flat. There's not a connection to the pedal. That's real good for safety and for almost all riding except for racing and maybe long rides where one is on long segments of road and will pedal steadily for 30 minutes, an hour, hours.

I might be able to talk about other warnings. Look at the Scripture. God gives us clear warnings on all sorts of matters of life. The Proverbs are full of instructions and advice and warnings. The prophets of the history of the nation of Israel broadcast the sinful transgressions of Israel, Judah, and sometimes the gentile nations, warning them that God will bring punishment and sometimes the prophets could offer mercy if the people would turn. Usually they did not.

Oops, I was wrong about a Tennessee law on motorist distraction that I previously had in this blog entry - I have here now erased it. Idea is that it is against the driving laws to engage in distracting behavior - cell phone in hand; pet management in a moving car; etc. - while driving. Keeping both hands on the wheel is sort of the idea. The law is under consideration or not yet become effective.

Anyway, the laws of the land are essentially warnings or directions of God to us - he is the minister of God to thee for good. So, I have now purchased a head-mic for my cell phone, and may even upgrade to a Bluetooth wireless. This lets me keep both hands on the wheel if I "must" talk while driving.

Okay, that's it for now.


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Cycling in the Gap