Toronto Spring Bike Show

I should have another tab on this blog called Shopping, but for now Learning will do.

Today I spent 9 hours, minus lunch, at the Toronto Spring International Bicycle Show, mainly with my buddy ML and his friend T. How could I possibly have filled all those hours in as small a space as the Better Living Centre? I used an endless loop approach to moving around the show.

First, I needed to get the technical items out of the way. We asked one store about saddles, as my bum is quite uncomfortable on what I have now (a Specialized Toupe 143). The proprietor showed me some tri saddles, but said that it might just be the way I'm fitted. We concluded that since I hadn't really ridden the bike after my fitting, I should get some rides in on the new set-up and see how it goes before jumping on a new saddle. Good guy - from Racer Sportif.

We moved on to replacing my tri shoes, which are currently Specialized Women's Trivent size 39, an excellent carbon-sole tri shoe, that is unfortunately too tight through the toes. We spent hours looking around, and I certainly dismissed some brands outright and put a few on a maybe list. There are wider shoes out there, especially from Shimano, but honestly, most of the offerings were plastic-soled and quite squishy. ML advised me to get a stiff shoe for maximum power transfer.

We came back to a Specialized dealer with good selection, Gears, and I tried the men's version. It was definitely wider, and is now at the top of my list. The other option is the Shimano WT-52, also a carbon-soled women's tri shoe. I'll have to find my size, as 39 is too small; but this is comfortable and well-made otherwise.

Other points to consider besides stiffness were the loop at the back of the shoe to make it easy to pull on, the fact that I might have to trim the velcro strap on shoes that close inward, and the fact that I need shoes that fit Look pedals (which most shoes seem to.)

With shoes out of the way, I turned my attention to bike shorts while the boys looked for a few items for T. I found an inexpensive pair of comfy and stylish Sugoi shorts and took 'em. As we were leaving, I facepalmed, as I had forgotten that I'd wanted a bright, reflective biking windbreaker as well. We went for lunch, but I decided to come back to the show for another spin around the room for jackets.

My criteria were: windbreaker, reasonably water-repellent, breathable, lots of vents, easy pockets, well-fitted, bright, and covers the lower back in aero position. I must have gone to nearly every store before getting a nice deal at the Trek stand on a Bontrager jacket that basically satisfied all my needs, and was in my size! I later also found an absolutely gorgeous thin cold-weather jacket from Mavic - the Cascade. It was too expensive at the store, but it was perfectly fitted, waterproof, with extra hand protection at the cuffs, with not just venting under the arms, but at the forearms as well; it had perfect back and front pockets, and covered the entire butt. The colour wasn't right, but I can get it cheaper online in something bright and have a sick jacket for next winter. One of the best-designed garments I've seen in a while.

Having finished with the jackets, I turned around and walked straight into an outdoor outfitter's Camelbak display. I don't know why they brought anything other than the bike packs, but they had a bunch for adventure racing that I'd never seen before. I'd really like to replace my new Salomon XA 20 women's pack, which has all the wrong compartments, side pockets that are too small, and it comes in pink, yuck. Of course as I started trying the packs on, I realized that as with other packs I'd seen in the past, these were made for men - at least for people with longer torsos and broader shoulders. The most perfect design I found was the Octane XCT, and by the lime green colour, I assumed it was branded as a women's model - but still too big in the shoulder straps even with everything else tightened down. It's a model with 100oz / 3L of water, but there is apparently a 70oz/2L version that I will try to hunt down. I went through the show again, this time with an eye out for Camelbaks, but all the other sensible stores only had the small flat ones.

I then noticed the electronics. I realized I need a bike computer with cadence for the new bike, duh! I called ML, now comfortably back at home, and asked for advice on wired/wireless models. He confirmed that wires are clunky and look terrible, especially on my sleek hot wheels. He suggested the pick of the litter: the Garmin Edge 500, which has cadence and a million other features, including a heart rate strap and a GPS for uploading your route. I don't need the HRM or GPS, but I took this under advisement. Much too expensive at the only store that had them. I took yet another trip around the show, and also looked at the Specialized and Cateye wireless cadence computers (Sp. needs a separate wired cadence monitor). They don't have all the bells and whistles, so the Cateye may be the way to go, unless I want to save up for the Garmin, which all the cool kids have.

At this point, they were shutting down the show around me. I had walked away with some nice thick butt padding on my bike shorts and a windbreaker for riding across town in, plus a phone full of info about all the things I now need to find and buy online.