I thought the article was decently done. The only way to get an article done the way one of us would do it would be to have one of us actually write it. And then two thirds of us would rip it to shreds anyway! So I don't think this woman has done so badly. Possibly a lot of people who have not ridden a bike in a long while would not have made that hill either and I doubt a lighter bike would have helped much. When you climb a hill the majority of the work you do is lifting your own mass. I do think the shoes were silly though. I see well dressed business women on the train platforms every working day. They all look like they stepped right out of a business magazine, except for their feet which are most commonly clad in athletic shoes. They may walk a mile or more from their final station to their offices and three inch heels don't cut it. The heels are in their purses or the rolling carry-on bags so many of them tote. There is simply no reason to cycle 7 miles in three inch heels. More and more the men I see on train platforms are adopting the same strategy even though most men's dress shoes are far more sensible than three inch heels.

Ah, but there are exceptions. Some years ago I was waiting for my train in the morning and I looked up to see a 30-something woman teetering precariously in three inch heel across the tracks to get to the right train platform. Quite obviously the very first day in her life for wearing heels. I must have seen that same woman 2 or 3 times a week for almost two years after that and every single day she looked like she was wearing heels for the very first time in her life! I don't know what could possibly motivate someone to persist that long with a fashion choice that so clearly was not working for her. For all I know she is still tottering around on those heels, I never saw her in any other shoes, I just stopped seeing her at the station altogether.

Ken