Zion Cycles – A Transformation
Friday, July 09, 2004
As mentioned earlier, for every fool out there trying to make this a bit harder, there are three or four people that make it all worth while.
Fred Pagles, owner and cycle dude extraordinaire of Zion Cycles in Springdale, UT is one the great ones. From the minute I walked into his shop to get some spare parts he took a real interest in the ride, the bike and anything he could do to make them both better. Of course, Fred is a cyclist himself and, as I later found out, has done some cool touring in Alaska and elsewhere.
He went through all the things I was concerned about, worked into the evening to get the bike tweaked just right and by the time I left I had better tires, shifting back in order, bars adjusted and – most important – new killer pedals (Crank Brothers Mallet Cs for those interested…).
Between dangerous, no shoulder roads to spinning up major climbs, I’ve been spending at least 50% of my time without being clipped in – just too risky to have to clip out quickly before crashing – and the pedals I had were a pain to use without being clipped in. Even when I was clipped in there wasn’t enough surface area under the softer hybrid shoes I am wearing (so I can ride, hike and walk with the same shoe…) and if I wasn’t clipped in it was like pushing down on a big stone – in short, not fun.
The new pedals are a dream – wide platform (which means I can use lots of foot positions during climbs to use different muscles) and they are by far the easiest I have ever had to clip in and out so I clip in/out under conditions that I normally wouldn’t feel safe doing so.
To top it all off, Fred had super smooth cycling shorts in stock (Trek Criterium for fellow cycle freaks out there…) and I FINALLY can sit down for long periods of time without pain. The others I had (Tricos) had too much padding and it ended in all the wrong places – ended up right where my pelvic bones hit the seat and I could never find the right spot. As my legs have gotten much stronger during the ride it was frustrating to have to keep stopping just because I couldn’t take sitting down anymore. Not anymore! The pedals have me clipped in and powering along, the shorts are perfect and I am moving like never before!
I took a little test ride this morning just to be sure. Got up early and took me and the bike on a shuttle bus to the end of the large canyon here in Zion and just floated down that one just as I did the other, narrower canyon run the day before. The best part here was that no cars are allowed – only shuttle buses – so there I was, no bags on the bike, just zipping along, weaving all over the road like a little kid (just because I could – the road was all mine!) and once again surrounded by absolutely stunning views on all sides as I rode down the middle of this huge canyon (I’ll post photos as soon as I get connected to decent system – only problem is I have a hundred or more to choose from…)
And Fred has also hooked me up for tomorrow – I’ve heard that it will be much better to head back up Zion to the east entrance (where I came in yesterday) and take an alternate, more direct route to Bryce rather than mess around with a long loop west that will force me back onto the Interstate.
Since I’ve done the ride already and it will be a bit tricky to deal with cars going up (always in a rush, I can only go 4-5 miles an hour and there is no shoulder at all…) he’s going to give me a lift back to the gate and I’ll double back from there. A true fellow traveler…
So. Many thanks to Fred… You never know where you are going to find what you need, but when you do, there it is – and the world is back in balance again. His help has made a great run even better. Much appreciated…