Two Wins

Frida and I were walking at the pond.  Across the pond we saw a dog walking off leash.  It wasn’t walking near anyone, but would go ahead then fall behind a person who I assumed was its caretaker.  As the pair passed us, the person asked if I recognized the dog.  It wasn’t hers.  It was walking alone.  It was hanging with us, so I took it by the collar and had the woman hold Frida.  I threaded Frida’s leash through the dog’s collar then reconnected it to Frida’s collar. Two dogs, one leash.  I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the arrangement, as the dog was a large male pitbull, but it was docile and I was even more uncomfortable with the idea of letting it remain loose.

We walked back to the playground to ask Jack, aka the mayor of dogville, if he knew the dog.  He did, it walked at the park every day with a caretaker, but he didn’t know the caretakers’s name.  No tags, either.  So I walked the two dogs home and called animal control.  By this time I had named the dog Guy.  While we waited for the authorities to arrive, Guy and I played fetch (Guy found one of the tennis balls that mark the badminton net pole holes–the same balls Frida never touches) and looked through the fence.  Guy also napped and drank a bunch of water.  

I left Frida inside.  While they were on the leash together, they played some.  It was good play, but it made me nervous all the same.  The leash arrangement I put in place was risky.  If they wanted to fight while hooked together, I’d have a hard time getting them apart.  Heck, if they wanted to fight off leash I’d have a hard time getting them apart.

I was sad when animal control arrived.  The officer was really sweet, though, and Guy walked with him like it was no big thing.  I left a note on the shed at the pond to let the caretaker know the dog is at the shelter.  I will visit, maybe daily, until Guy is claimed (the shelter is busy and won’t give info over the phone).  Here’s hoping for a good ending.

Happy to report that the owner of the Lotus with the Shimano AX group got toe clips for the odd Shimano AX pedals.  He got lucky.  If you search for toe clips for AX pedals, they are very pricey due to the short production time of that group.  Don’t know AX?  It was an aerodynamic group and the pedals had large threaded axles (see the huge threaded axle in the upper right corner of the picture below). 

If you have the cranks, you need the special pedals.  If you have the special pedals, you need the special toe clips.  The Lotus owner had the AX cranks and pedals, but not the toe clips.  The one sided pedals aren’t too fun to ride without toe clips.  

The picture above is from an eBay listing for a pair of pedals with toe clips and straps for sale for $191 bucks.  Luckily, I found on eBay a pair of toe clips for standard Shimano Dura pedals (not marked AX, but they had the special three bolt pattern).  I think the Lotus owner paid about $25 bucks for them.  A good deal, considering clips marked AX go for double that or more, if you can find them (and those will probably be made of ugly gray plastic).  Here is a pair on eBay marked AX.  The seller wants $125.  We weren’t sure the non AX toe clips would fit, but we rolled the dice because they looked like they would (and they did).

So why are the same toe clips cheaper when they are not marked AX (here is a pair on eBay not marked AX for $60)?  If someone had trouble finding toe clips for a pair of non AX Dura Ace pedals (with standard size threaded axles but the three bolt toe clip set up), they could easily swap the pedals for pedals accepting standard toe clips.  That must be what more folks do, and that keeps the price for Shimano toe clips that aren’t marked AX lower.  Also, it may be cheaper to buy pedals with the toe clips on them.  Those sometimes go for less than just the toe clips alone.  Like here, currently at $14 with three days to go.  All good to know if you find yourself in a similar pickle.  Better still to avoid getting a bicycle with the AX group.  Still sorry I didn’t notice that when I helped the Lotus owner buy that bicycle from eBay.  

Enough!  Take care.