Day: June 8, 2016

Mapping the Revised Route

Wheel full 70pxI’ve spent some time working with Ride with GPS [linkie] in revising my cross-the-country route and working out final maps.  Here is the latest all-in-one map

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and each of the five stages.

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Wheel full 70pxStage I through IV is each 1,000 miles/1,600 kilometers,  Stage V is about 139 miles/75 kilometers.  Click on any of the map images to see a full size map.  The full size stage maps are all of equal scale to the others.  Here are links to the maps on Ride with GPS, which you can enlarge to street level detail.  You can navigate between stages directly using the linkie on the right side of the map.

David Edgren

Houston, we have a (foot) problem…

Wheel full 70pxBig feet run (pardon the unintended pun) in my family.

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“Plates of meat,” as the Brits say.  More like platters in my case.

Wheel full 70pxOver the years, I’ve had problems at various times finding shoes large enough to fit properly, and especially in this day and age where manufacturers seem to arbitrarily take every hundredth bigfoot size shoe that comes off the assembly line and label it a size or two larger, and in kilometers or something. I mean, I’m no chauvinist, but why should I have to care about “EU” shoe sizes?  It’s bad enough that my feet have mutated grown from size 13 when I was in high school to their current size 15 or 15.5 state, but “EU 52?”  That sounds like some kind of Bulgarian perfume.  And why such a huge upper range (that nobody seems to make in any event)?  If your feet are EU 16, do you need a magnifying glass to see them?

Wheel full 70pxIn any event, and putting the snark aside, finding an EU size 52 bicycling shoe with SPD cleats is, in this day and age of, failing all else, being able to find just about anything on Amazon, well nigh hopeless.  Endless Google searches have resulted in zilch.  My query on BikeForums [linkie] resulted in a couple of responses that gave some seemingly specific information but after calling nearly every bike shop in Seattle trying to chase them down with no luck- lots of sympathy but no luck- I felt pretty defeated.

Wheel full 70pxEven worse, my friends at Bike Gallery [linkie] in Portland had an EU 52 Shimano shoe that seemed to fit pretty well- tight and stiff, but that’s why they are a biking shoe.  Except that my ankle where it meets my foot prevents the “strap and ratchet” closure at the top of the shoe from coming together, much less fastening.  Great shoe, but not for me.

Wheel full 70pxI’m going to call other shops in Portland today, hoping against hope I might be able to find something to take back to Alaska with me to break in over the next month or so.  If anyone reading this has any suggestions or recommendations, please let me hear from you.  Otherwise, wish me luck.  I think I’m going to need it.

David Edgren