Day 8

Ok, so Saturday I got my a mother’s day present early. I won’t be here on Mother’s Day so it was all good. I got the new pedals and cleats for my bike. If you don’t know anything about cycling, at least cycling that is a tad more than a stroll with the family, then I will explain. You have these nifty pedals that you actually attach your foot to. The cleats are attached to special shoes, and then when you get on the bike you snap your foot into the pedal. I am sure there is a professional sounding name for that, but right now I do not know what it is. So, you are physically attached. You simply turn your heel out left and it disconnects you. Only thing you have to remember is to disconnect at least one foot before you come to a complete stop. I imagine if you don’t do that once it will be the only time you forget to do it. Thus far I have not eaten the ground. You ask is it really necessary to have these fancy shoes and pedals. I mean you have ridden and you never needed them. I asked myself the same thing, but still plunked the money down for them. YES…oh my yes. You definitely need them. Now, I didn’t get to test them out Saturday because the floodgates of hell opened up on us. Poor guys at the cycle shop had a waterfall down the back wall and a flood on the floor. Fortunately we had the handy dandy camera and pictures were snapped for the insurance company. I felt so bad for them. I just sat there. I was certainly not loading a bike on a rack in that down pour. Finally let up. Ok, back to the shoes. So, Sunday was my first day out. I chose to go on to the park and ride from there as opposed to traversing the hills from hell in my neighborhood. I did however decide that I would ride out of the park and down the side walk I had been on the day before to Randol Mill and back. Figured that would be a good ride, then ride around a path or two in the park. Even saw a bobcat while I was riding. Not sure who was more startled. Bottom-line those shoes and pedals make all the difference. I did an hour. It was far less effort with them. I didn’t have to work so hard to prevent my foot from slipping off when changing gears (yes I am learning how to use them although I am still not all that sure I am doing it right). I was able to get benefit from the down and the up motion of the pedaling so I was able to have momentum in each direction. It was awesome. And I may be slow, but I finally figured out why cycling shirts are longer in the back. So that when you ride through water and all that splashes up you don’t end up with a soaked butt. Figured that out the hard way