Gave The Cycling Shoes a Try; Wasn’t So Bad

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Well, That Wasn't So Bad

今日は初めてちゃんとしたサイクリング用の靴を使って、美味く出来ました。倒れる心配は有りましたが、今日は倒れなかった。

After posting
“Trepidation and Anticipation: Moving Up to Cycling Shoes”
yesterday, I put the pedals on my bike and today I went out for a short
test ride with them.

It was much easier than I had feared.

After putting the pedals on yesterday, I tried mounting the bike
stationary in my house, and I had a lot of difficulty unclipping the shoes
from the pedals, so my fear of falling over went way up. But then it
was suggested that perhaps the bolts weren't tight enough, and indeed
that was the problem. Once I tightented things properly, it was easy to
clip out. Thanks Jason.

Still, with thoughts of slowly toppling over sideways on my mind, I
dressed “appropriately”, which in this case means comically. I put some
padded braces over my knees and then jeans, and wore padded winter gloves. Not quite the Michelin Man, but close enough.

I rode near home just to get a feel for them, stopping a number of times to readjust
the cleats. Once that was done, I felt comfortable clipping in and out, so moved on for a little ride.

One of the first things I did was a
little 50m (150') climb, just to get the feeling for the pedals on a
slope, both in and out of the saddle. I put a bit of effort into it, but
not too much. I could certainly tell it had been a month since I'd been on
the bike. Still, it turns out that I missed my PR by just three seconds, so that
bodes well.

I did a couple of other small climbs at a more relaxed pace,
then one final climb where I stopped and restarted over and over again,
inching my way up. I got pretty good at clipping in quickly and without looking,
so that also bodes well.

So, one day down without falling over. Good day. We'll see what tomorrow brings.