Going the Distance
Like duh and stuff. I pay for most of my equipment, and I race reasonably. I have been racing cross for 5 years. So far I have a 2nd and a 5th place at districts (seniors), 1st at districts(vet), 23rd at nationals (seniors), 8th at nationals (vet), 1st and 2nd overall at surf city (both vet), plus a few others. So I don't suck too much. More importantly, I race a lot, in lots of different conditions.
Keep in mind that everyone is different. Plenty of fast people use stuff I hate. Use this as an informed opinion only. Check out last month's equipment column for an overview of what I use and like.
So now I have some sweet new pedals and shoes from Time. I gotta say I'm pretty impressed with them so far. They definitely take a smidge more effort to get into than my 636's did, but they're no worse than regular spuds or onzas or whatever. The seem to be pretty immune to sand, and I've heard they're immune to mud, both of which are good. You have to twist a little further to get out of the Times, but that's only a matter of one ride to get used to them.
The time shoes are pretty well-thought out for cross. They have a chinese puzzle lacing system, which I may or may not be using correctly, but it seems to tighten down. The laces live under a zipper flap, which makes them difficult to access, which is probably why they use a chinese puzzle fastener instead of just tying them in knots.
The soles are curved, and have just a touch of flex in the toes, so running in them is pretty natural. They come with cleats for the toes AND heels, which kicks ass. I think duegi makes a shoe that takes heel cleats, and that's all I've seen besides these. I'm gonna be loving these pups in the mud. Speaking of mud, the sole has a very open architecture, with no shelves or ridges in front of or behind the cleat to pack mud in. I expect them to perform exceedingly well in mucky conditions. It's almost like someone asked me exactly what I wanted in a cycling shoe, then made it. I could learn to like these pedals and shoes. Expect another update when we start to get some mud.
Produced by Mark Weaver
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