Anne and I rode 10.01010101… miles and felt great. Felt great, really? Felt good? Just OK? How about, lost all feeling in our legs? What do you expect from cyclist’s that rack up irrational mileages? My apologies to Tom and Audrey, Anne made me do it. I couldn’t help myself? I’m just jealous of Tom’s big mileages? Who knows?

Anne and I drove across the river to Collinsville, IL and attended the annual bike swap meet. After we parked in the back lot, we saw a Cooper’s hawk. It was sitting on a lamppost and was calling out, so it was kind of hard to miss. I think that it was complaining that all of these people, these bikers, were invading its territory. In addition to bikes, bike parts, bike clothes and bike paraphernalia for sale, there were also a few classic bikes on display. For you non-bikers out there, think a classic car show, but with only two wheels per vehicle. I love the colorful row of Stingray bicycles, lots of chrome. Anne shot the picture of the Arch and the old cathedral, on our way home.

I bought new bike shoes and a few other things. My ten plus year old Sidi winter bike shoes are beyond hope. Both soles are split, just behind the cleats and although I have held them together, for that last few year, with super-glue, I’m not willing to stoop to duct-tape. They were great shoes though, may they rest in peace. The Maplewood salesmen described them as being “high-tech”, but I’ve always thought that he was being derisive. He seemed kind of old school. They had two kinds of buckles, which have both subsequently become common in the world of cycling shoes. One fastener is reminiscent of a ski-boot buckle. It makes a loud click-click-click sound when being fastened. Anne would sometimes hear it and call down to me before I set out on my pre-dawn sojourn. The other kind of fastener had a flip-up key that I would turn to tighten a length of plastic line, similar to thick fishing line. I always thought that this line would break, but it is still functioning fine. I replaced my old Sidi shoes with new Sidi, no fancy fasteners this time, just Velcro. They are jet black and beautiful.