Eh -
compulsory SPDs?
I've never heard of any event where a compulsory pedal type was mentioned! Helmets - yes; mudguards - maybe; pedals, er, no!
What event is it and why are the organisers interested in your choice of pedal?
It's in France, a part of a 'fun exercise day' while I'm staying with a friend near Verdun. All it is is a peculiar trip round the group of villages where the people from each village join where they live and go round from there finishing at the same place they started. There's a running event too. I declined to do the run (fun run being the ultimate oxymoron) but said I'd do the ride if I could borrow a bike. They say the pedals are for safety reasons and when I asked the reply a week later was insurance! Couldn't see the shrug of the shoulders on the phone.
Helmets aren't mentioned, mudguards aren't mentioned, neither are brakes, lights, tyres or saddles, but 'pédales automatiques sont obligatoire'. It's stupid. I don't understand why but suspect it's a conspiracy to see if they can get their English guest to fall off in public.
I'm practicing because although I'm not a fan of the pedals, and in what's now about 600 miles I've never come off, I'm absolutely determined not to be the old English bloke who falls off his bike in front of a few hundred mildly inebriate French people!
An alternative explanation is that one of the event sponsors is DesMoulins Cycles - which appears to be a shop.Friend Giles says that everyone entering gets a 10% off accessories voucher.
