The last two days of riding have been great, I am riding on my Look pedals from the 80′s and an old pair of Lotto shoes.  My mph average is up to 18!

Since the dog ate my Sidi Genius 5 shoe I have been looking for a new pair of cycling shoes to replace the Sidi’s.  In the mean time, I had thought I could get by with my mountain bike shoes.  My mountain bike shoes are an old pair of blue leather Nikes that I have never been comfortable in.  When I bought them from a store I used to work at, the owner said, “If they don’t feel right out of the box, don’t worry, they’re leather and will form to your foot.”  Reluctantly I bought them.  He was totally wrong!  They never formed to my feet and feel just as bad now as the moment I first tried them on.  I have never truly enjoyed mountain biking simply because of these shoes that hurt my feet.  I should have just thrown these shoes out and bought a new pair.

Last week I had placed an older pair of SPD pedals on my road bike and used the old mountain bike shoes.  After two days of riding with them, a toe on my right foot was black and blue, and both feet hurt.  I vowed never to ride with them again.  The SPD pedals came off with nothing to take their place.  I hoped to pick up a pair last weekend in Madison and found a pair of Mavic Zxellium shoes in white.  I have always had black shoes and the white just seemed wrong to use with my black bike.  I also could not find the old package where I had the shims for my Speedplay cleats.

I ended up finding my old Lotto cycling shoes that I bought back in the 80′s.  The Lotto shoes are compatible with my old Look pedals of which I have three sets.  So I set up the shoes and put the pedals on the bike.

The shoes felt great from the moment I put them on.  The old Italian leather Lotto shoes fit as if I was 20 again.  I know, you loose a lot of power because the soles are not nearly as stiff as the Mavic shoes would be, but man, what a feeling to be riding on shoes and pedals that are 20 some years old.  I felt nostalgic and completely fulfilled riding with them.  Ah, Italy.

Well, I didn’t wimp out today, honestly.  A dog ate my shoe!

It’s no secret that cyclists and dogs don’t always get along.  If you are a cyclist you have undoubtedly been chased by a dog a few times, or perhaps too many times to count.  Generally, dogs are a nuisance and are sometimes downright dangerous to cyclists when biking, but, well this is a new one for me.

I came down stairs to go out and take a ride.  I walked out to our front porch to pump up my tires and put on my shoes, but where the previous evening I know I had my pare of cycling shoes I only saw one!

I had left them on our porch to dry off after a muddy and rainy ride the other day.  They had been too wet to just put in their normal spot, and I usually take my cycling shoes off on the porch so that the cleats don’t scratch our floors.  But there, where there had been two shoes was now only one.

I took a little glance around and saw a boot in my neighbor’s yard.  Uh oh!  Yes, it was a boot!  Immediately I suspected what had happened.  I walked out to our front walkway and over to our neighbor’s house.  Our neighbors had just moved in in the spring.  Their dog, part Blue Healer which is a very pretty dog, has a fenced in back yard, but has on numerous occasions escaped the fence and has roamed the neighborhood usually doing nothing more than running away from it’s owner and having doggy fun.  Today however my fears of actual property damage were realized when I walked up their front walk and saw the remains of my right Sidi Genius 5 cycling shoe lying in the grass inside the gated side and back yard.  I walked through the OPEN Gate of the fence and my heart sank as I approached the shoe and saw that part of the heal was gone and the strap that latches the shoe shut had been chewed off.

We had not seen the neighbors all weekend and they did not appear to be home at that point either.  I sighed and walked back to our porch soggy doggy drool infested shoe in hand.  I was angry that the dog had destroyed my shoe, but I was not angry at the dog.  In Lancaster, Wisconsin residents are responsible for their pets’ actions.  This means that because Asia (that’s the dog’s name) was left once again to easily escape her fenced in domain that I will have to confront my neighbors and let them know that they owe me a new pair of $250 cycling shoes.

More to come I am sure.