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ritchey carbon echelon pedals

cycling provides the ideal athletic outlet for those with little interest in either sociability or team sports. its inherent genius is that, while catering for the individuals thus defined, it also welcomes those who find themselves not only eager to participate in sporting events as part of a team, however you may wish to define it, and those who rejoice in the sunday morning bike-ride and the conversational opportunities that often come with the territory. there's nothing complicated about the above; i'm pretty sure we all know of at least one bicycle rider who eschews all attempts to accept them into the fold, quite content to have the kilometres whistle by with nary a word spoken.

the loneliness of the long distance cyclist, if you will.

however, there are one or two velocipedinal activities in which it is difficult, if not impossible, to partake in the absence of at least one other rider. i'm thinking of what the mighty dave t would refer to as bit and bit, whereby we drag each other up or down uiskentuie strand into a biting headwind, each taking turns to put his (or her) nose to the wind, offering at least temporary shelter to one's compatriot.

i recall undertaking this very task for the mighty dave in his position as a protected rider, from foreland road-end, all the way to uiskentuie farmhouse. on reaching the relative shelter afforded by the constantly turning road, he turned to me to offer thanks and said "I'll do the same for you on the way back."

however, the skill for which we are best known in the southernmost outpost of the hebrides is that of masters of the echelon. for here, we can take refuge in the safety of numbers, offering a rotating mini-peloton, strung out in diagonal fashion, moving at speed (it's all relative) into the galeforce atlantic wind. under the expert tutelage of our directeur sportif, we have learned just where to position ourselves in relation to the rear wheel of the rider in front, in order to gain maximum shelter, dropping back almost the minute the frontmost position is achieved. it must truly be a sight to be seen from the window of the morning loganair flight from glasgow.

however, it transpires that the words peloton and echelon have been appropriated by others. a quick search online for the word echelon, turned up a number of pages eager to inform me of the difference between those static peloton bikes as advertised on tv, and similar services from echelon. last year, the former attempted to sue the latter. however, more pertinently and directly related to those of us who actually ride outdoors and experience the real world pertaining to both words, tom ritchey's ritchey logic sports a carbon-bodied set of road pedals which also answer to the name echelon.

you may recall, during yesterday's review of rapha's new pro-team road shoes, i made mention that ritchey had kindly sent over a pair of their finest echelon road pedals, to attach to my ritchey logic bicycle, all the better to appraise myself of the quality of those shoes. in the process of so doing, i intended also to take note of the purported benefits of these pleasantly attractive pedals. featuring red, three-point cleats, compatible with the look keo system. as it turned out, the shoes were not the sole stars of my investigations.

the carbon-fibre body of the pedal offers not only considerable strength, but brings the weight for a pair to that of one rapha pro-team shoe. featuring a combination of bushings, needle and cartridge bearings, the prospect is that they should last for many a long year. this is something my initial outings were obviously unable to determine, but i'll get back to you in the fullness of time. (think of this initial review as akin to those unboxing videos, without the moving pictures.) the axles are cro-moly, fitted to the cranks by means of the now ubiquitous allen wrench. my sturdy pedal spanner rests forlornly on the tool-board in the bikeshed.

as also mentioned yesterday, i have spent the last few years of my pedalling career, riding on either ritchey offroad pedals, or their compact and bijou, micro-road pedals, both of which demand a shoe with a two-bolt fitting. the echelon pedals provide a substantially increased footprint and an arguably stronger, more resilient connection to the red, three-bolt cleats. it was somewhat of a surprise to re-discover why it is that the pros persevere with this type of shoe/pedal combination. aside from a more solid feel to the act of pedalling, i'm convinced that the resulting forward motion was a tad more powerful, yet ostensibly less onerous than the previous setup.

however, as with most of my saddle engendered conclusions, i have no scientific data to back this up.

clipping in prior to the grand départ was a lot simpler than i remembered it to be, though to be fair, unclipping was undoubtedly harder. this latter aspect is controlled by two small allen-headed screws in the centre of the rearmost portion of each pedal. loosening or tightening these screws makes it harder or easier (again, relative terms) to get your feet out of the pedals. the corollary of this was sore legs at bed-time, not, as you may surmise from having ridden too far, too fast, but from the increased effort of twisting feet from pedals. happily, this has subsided, now that i've become used to it.

i had once thought that the remainder of my cycling activity would have been undertaken on two bolt-cleats and offroad shoes, never more to walk like a duck when alighting for a coffee. however, the combination of rapha's pro-team shoes and ritchey's echelon pedals has now opened alternative horizons in the uiskentuie echelon. if you're in the mood for a change, or simply on the lookout for a quality set of road pedals, these are definitely worth a closer look.

ritchey's echelon carbon road pedals retail at €158.95 (£135/$149.95).

ritchey echelon carbon road pedals

tuesday 26 february 2020