I searched online and one advice was to use a baby carrot. How could customer service be this bad? But it didnt end there. The spring response is even better now after use. Going down to an 11 also solved the problem with the pinkie toe. No you cant do some work from both sides of the bike rack. I sincerely hope that this was a freak incident. After getting this and seeing it would not couple the hoses together as I thought, I read the reviews and others say the same thing. I love chacos. As you can see my original white ones were pealing and I never knew you could buy replacements. THESE SANDALS ARE GOING TO CHANGE MY LIFE!