Finally Clipless
Today, I took my new clipless shoes and the pedals Emmett lent me on their maiden voyage. I got my bike out of the bike storage room for the first time in three weeks and walked it, wearing my cycling shoes, to the bike shop (about half a mile away). They put a correctly-sized spoke on the back rim, patched my tube (yeah, I’m lazy), and trued the wheel. Then, came the installation of those SPD pedals and adjusting the sprint tension, so it got easier to unclick from them. After that, I was off.
I rode around the parking lot behind my bike shop several times to get used to stopping and starting, clicking and unclicking, without falling down. After about fifteen minutes, I headed out onto Santa Cruz Avenue, slid my cyclometer all the way in, and decided to go for a ride.
“Coming to a stop, unclick the right. Unclick the right,” I chanted when I approached a stop. I rode up Santa Cruz Avenue in Menlo Park, headed down Alameda de las Pulgas to Atherton Avenue, and zoomed toward Middlefield Road. I looked at my cyclometer, deciding I could start my chart over today and get everything rolling again. I would need ten miles. I rode Middlefield to Willow Road when my bottle went dry.
After rewatering at 7-11, I prepared to get underway once again, with just a mile and a half to meet today’s goal. I got behind a car. Dude was just sitting there, waiting to go, with no traffic coming. He started to creep into traffic. I clicked in. He stopped abruptly to answer his cell phone. My brain said “LIFT YOUR FOOT OFF THE PEDAL.” That, by the way, does not work. Slowly, I began to tilt to the right. My brain panicked, trying to jerk my feet off the pedals. The man drove away as I hit the ground. Heh. There’s my fall. Unfortunately, I broke my cyclometer mount thing. The cyclometer still works. It just wants to rotate around my handlebars so I can’t read it. Looks like I’ll have to get that replaced tomorrow.
Today: 10.34 miles in 40:56 (15.8 mph avg / 23.0 mph max)
Thanks for the pedals, Emmett. They might have several thousand more miles on them when I get them back to you. I hope that’s okay.