Today, will be my first day riding my road bike clipless. I have long been a fan of flat pedals, especially the MTB ones with little pins that stick up. They really stick to my shoes, sometimes too well. I'm finding I'm moving my foot around quite a bit, trying to get comfortable on my right leg, as my adductors, especially the one on the right is bugging me. The trigger point just above my right knee gets a bit painful past 40k. I really must remember to stretch and do more warm up. That being said, I didn't do the latter at all, as I was so eager to get out and ride clipless.
I decided it was time to go clipless about 2 weeks ago, as mashing the flat pedals was only making my lower back sore. I ended up going to Caps to get a hybrid clipless pedal (flat on one side, Shimano SPD on the other) and some shoes by Bontrager (Evoke DLX) women's with hot pink insides to match my POC helmet. They came with black cleats, the kind that one needs to really twist to get out of and did some more research and found there are cleats that are multi-release and much easier to get out of being clipped. I tried both on the pedals while riding on the trainer, so the multi-release ones are the choice I have made.
I have my snacks and electrolytes in 2 bottles, plus my Camelbak hydration pack and I'm off and I'm pretty stoked about riding clipless and I'm hoping the extra power transfer is worth it.
I have no idea where I'm riding to, so I'll just ride. It's a nice sunny day, with just a few clouds out. I didn't leave as early as I wanted, but I left on my ride.
I rode my normal way and was on the Bypass when I encountered the backside of Linda Meyer. I just buzzed on by and no looking in the rearview mirror either. I continued on and up the hill on 227th I go and I'm sweating pretty good and it's really muggy out, so I stop to take a drink. I knew I should've left 2 or 3 hours earlier, but I procrastinated about getting up early, as today is my only day off. I headed up the hill again. I'm getting the hang of the clipless pedals and am really liking them for riding. I wonder how sore I will be when I finish or if I'll bonk sooner than later.
I get into town and I'm on 216th, heading to 123rd bikeway, not really knowing where I'm headed and I decided to call my cycling buddy to see if she's home as I want to drop by and show her that I haven't fallen off, broken my wrist, shoulder or god knows what else. She's been really down on me riding clipless, yet she rides with straps, which I find highly dangerous. I don't try to discourage her from riding with them, but she sure is being discouraging to me. I'm pretty surprised at how easily I've adapted to riding clipless. I'm finding being attached to my bike is awesome for power and I'm paying more attention to the road than usual, which is pretty cool, since I'm pretty observant anyway.
I go see Anita and she's going kayaking with her friend Sarah and the first thing she says is "how many times did you fall" and I laugh and told her none and I didn't plan on falling. I showed her the pedals and cleats and shoes and explained how different they are and easy to use. I'm not a roadie doing a lot of climbing out of the saddle, so these are just right for me.
I was going to go over the Golden Ears Bridge, but remembered the Gran Fondo was on on the other side of the river and I didn't feel like getting stuck in that bunch, so I thought about going to the path over the Port Mann Bridge and then back home via the Golden Ears Bridge. I got to Kennedy Road at Lougheed Hwy., and decided to go out Pitt Meadows way to the Stomping Grounds instead, as I was feeling a bit tired and the headwinds were getting to me, plus I was riding harder than I normally do.
I ended up at the Stomping Grounds at Osprey Village and had a Red Tea with ice and a cold bottle of water and sat down to relax in the shade. There was a dog tied up to the bench I was sitting on and she came over and sat down beside me and I petted her for quite awhile and then I let her go lay back down and headed off towards home. I could feel my right knee/adductor bugging me a bit, so going home was a good thing.
I stopped off at Caps on the way home to let them know I survived riding clipless and that I wanted the same pedals put onto the Squishy bike. I'll pick up a couple of extra cleats, as they say these wear out quicker than the black ones.
I made it home and I was sweaty and tired and holy shitballs, did I ever bonk bigtime! Luckily it happened when I got into the house and after I had put my bike away. I barely made it up the stairs to have a shower to get all the salt off of me and could hardly get back downstairs to sit down. My right hand and foot were cramping and adductors are crampy, all on the right side. So, more stretching to do.
That's it. The ride was almost 48k and many times I was much faster than usual. All in all, clipless is awesome.
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