Worn Out

Sometimes you find a product that is just so good that you never want to use anything else. Specialized Body Geometry Pro Mountain Bike Shoes have been my weapon of choice for well over five years. After a couple of seasons of racing and riding including a TransAlp and the Cape Epic the third pair of shoes are now going to have to be retired.

The upper has worn through to holes on the outside edges of both shoes and most of the rubber sole lugs have been cut clear away – that remaining isn’t properly stuck to the shoe any more. When I was out riding last week there were a couple of sketchy moments when, needing grip all the shoes had to offer was slippy plastic and I might as well have been wearing a pair of road shoes. This enforced retirement comes at a bad time, because it’s really too warm to wear the other riding option – a pair of Shimano Winter Boots – and leaves a very old pair of Cannondale Trail shoes (normally used for commuting) to take up the role of appropriate riding wear.

Alex Leigh over at Pickled Hedgehog found a rather amusing link to a chap called Mike Grieve. Mike clearly fancies himself as a bit of a contender for the Redbull Rampage, but unfortunately he’s finding that there is a fairly steep progression curve to becoming a freeride demigod.

With more YouTube madness out there it was interesting to see that the Norwegian behind this video – skiing down Europe’s largest escalator at the Angel Tube Station in London, actually made it into the national news via the BBC website. Finally anyone with any interest in fast cars will find this short clip of American rally driver Ken Block setting an immense 175ft gap jump in a Works Subaru more interesting than watching recent F1 Gran Prixs. I suspect the broken windscreen that resulted from the landing was the least of the worries to the structure of the car…