Indeed, retention is a good thing. I’d used cages and straps in the past and found them to be a bigger pain to get into and get out of than they were worth. I always wanted them as a child because grown up bikes had them. Up until now I never had used a bike for serious commuting and had never really been exposed to the road for such long amounts of time.

Having a few hills to battle on my way home I figured some retention might help make the climb a little more tolerable. After a while of looking around at different toe clips and stuff I realized I did not want to deal with it and figured maybe straps would be more what I wanted. After deciding on the straps I wanted they had sold out so I picked up a less expensive alternative from Burro. I figured they should get the job done and that they did. It was quite an epiphany. I had been riding with half of my pedal potential just pushing pedals downward when the whole time I could be pulling up too. I knew this before hand but just felt it didn’t apply to me because I wasn’t doing tricks and shit.
Now my legs are enduring a sort of revamping of their routine, new muscles being used. While my pedaling has become twice as effective my legs become tired almost twice as fast… or something close to that, who knows the point is you are never too cool for some good ole’ foot retention. By next week I’m sure my legs will be stoked and they will pump like pistons up those pesky hills.

It is worth mentioning that while I don’t really dig messenger bags and stuff Burro makes some really cool stuff from recycled billboards (NICE).