New shoes?

Many years ago (when I was young and at school) if someone wore new shoes it was a great jape to shout 'New shoes!' and stamp on and kick the shoes (and therefore feet contained within) to scuff them up. How our parents must have laughed when we came home with bruised feet and shoes barely fit for wear after one day of use. My own parents got their revenge on such actions by making me wear shoes with a little metal strip on the heel 'to stop them wearing out'. I would clickety clack down the corridors of the school like some kind of reverse tap dancer. In a way, I suppose it's not that different from the noise cleated cycle shoes make. The more things change etc. etc.

Why mention all this? Erm, I'm not sure. I kind of know. Bear with me while I witter please. There's a link in my head somewhere.

The other day, my beloved Kirby Girl purchased some new cycle shoes. Despite temptation, I didn't jump all over them and scuff them up. So, new shoes for the woman; what's the big deal about that? It's because KG has also got a new bike to go with her new shoes. Actually, that's not entirely true; the bike was ordered before the shoes.

Anyway, the Moser (with Shimano 105 groupset)arrived this morning and, after a couple of hours (no, I don't know why it took me that long either) to set it up, out we went for a spin. I don't know if it was the new bicycle or a new lease of life in the woman herself but KG was tough to keep up with today, particularly as I tired and she seemed to become stronger. My ego may not be able to tolerate this. To add to the me being easily surpassed concern, this was only about the second time KG has tried clipless pedals. I fear I shall soon be completely obsolete; a millstone round the neck of a speedy woman.

Well, I would fear all that but for my secret weapon; KG relies on me to fix any punctures (which she had one of today due to, I think, a dodgy tube). Once she does that for herself, I'll be melted down and made into glue and soap.

EDIT: I meant to mention but forgot; When KG had her puncture, I used a Topeak 'RaceRocket' mini-pump to inflate the tyre. Normally I find mini-pumps a bit awkward and can only get tyres to a bare minimum inflation but the RaceRocket did a good job and got the tyre pressure up to around 100 PSI (according to our track pump when we got home).

The combination of being able to securely thread the pump onto the valve and having a pliable hose (allowing me to put a bit of welly behind it without fearing damage to the valve/rim) seems to be a good one. As you'd expect, it takes a fair bit of effort to get up to 100 PSI or so but it's way more than I've managed with other mini-pumps. Normally I can't seem to get them above about 75 PSI, despite their manufacturer's claims.

Unfortunately, Topeak pays me nothing for this glowing endorsement.

EDIT 2: Yeah, I realise I should have put the crank in line with the chainstay and the chain into the big ring in the photo above. Quit yer griping! If I'd been doing it properly, I shouldn't have had a dirty wall with a copper pipe in the photo either and probably should have used a camera with higher definition than my antiquated phone.