Today I was actually able to commute to & from work. The weather this morning was great, it was about 55 degrees out & I had a tailwind to work. I was finally able to try some new shoes I had gotten with a gift certificate I had won on New Year's Day from The Bike Store. I got a pair of Bontrager Mt. Bike shoes. They look as follows:
I'm still tweaking the cleat position, so it's going to take a few rides to get it right, but they are working great as of now. It's actually nice to be able to walk & not sound like a horse clopping through the stores or the hanger at work when I'm off the bike. The only complaint I have so far about the shoes are the insoles that came with them. They have e-soles inserted inside. The one for my left foot feels fine when I'm walking & cycling, but the one for the right foot only feels fine when I'm walking. When I'm cycling the arch position of the insole seems too far forward. I took it out on the commute home & it seems to feel much better without it. I'll probably get another type of insoles & see how they work with the shoes. Speaking of the commute home, it was a hard one, I had a headwind of about 20 mph the entire ride & my legs just seemed a bit on the heavy side. I'm thinking I didn't have the proper food to eat for the ride home. I took a shorter, but hillier route home. There is one good climb on the route I took today & I was able to get up in only downshifting one time. I can tell that my legs are getting stronger & I'm looking forward to commuting as much as possible this year. I'm going to try to surpass 1800 miles commuting this year. 
