Shoe shopping serendipity

Last night while I was volunteering at Sibley, an older gentleman stopped by with four boxes of discount merchandise for sale. He inherited it from a bike shop that had gone out of business. One box was full of water bottles, one with saddles, and two with cycling shoes. He was selling this stuff at a serious markdown, so lots of people came over to dig through it, but most of them didn't buy anything.

I found a pair of Shimano shoes my size (10.5) but they were a bit too tight for comfort. I was debating buying them anyway, and then I saw another box of 10.5s on a chair under the table. The man told me that another volunteer had decided to buy them and was just going out to get cash. I tried them on, just for kicks, and they fit perfectly. So when the buyer returned, I asked him if he would try on the slightly smaller pair. They fit!

It was a win-win-win situation. We traded shoes and I got a pair that fit for 80% off the sticker price. The ones he ended up buying were even higher quality than the ones he originally picked out, plus he got them for something on the magnitude of 90% off. The man who had come to unload this stuff made two sales instead of one, and we all left happy. Once the glee of consumerism had passed, however, I realized that I had to trasport a shoebox home on my bike. I knew I should have installed that rack! I ended up throwing out the box and Velcroing the shoes' straps around my top tube, and I got home that way without undue hassle.

Of course, as I realized, and J was quick to point out, the shoes are useless until I buy clipless pedals to go along with them. Well, I never thought I'd get special cycling shoes because they're too expensive, but look what happened last night! Next week a guy could show up at Sibley with cheap pedals for sale. You never know!