With the Pilot being a fancy enough bike, I was convinced by the mother-in-law to try clip-in shoes versus my usual toe clips. The in-laws have actually been working on me about this for a while, but I refused to clip into a single speed bike. Plus, I'm morally opposed to falling while I'm riding and never in the mood to go to a shop and deal with salespeople.Speaking of salespeople, the guy I talked to certainly perked up when the in-law mentioned she traded up to a Madone 4.7. That got the guy's attention in a hurry. After that, he seemed to listen a little more when I said I didn't want road-specific since eventually I'd be commuting and likely walking places after rides.
I ended up with some multi-purpose SPD compatible shoes with decent rubber soles. The cleats could actually be recessed a little more, since they clack on sidewalks more than I expected. But clipping in actually isn't all bad.
Today was the first real ride of any distance, and having nearly finished my conversion to the hermit lifestyle, decided to go north instead of south to avoid Taste of Chicago traffic. Up to the turn around at Hollywood and back down. The only time I nearly fell was after that picture, where I stopped and then couldn't start fast enough and had to yank out my left foot to stand. That experience, along with riding in traffic down Fullerton and back, convinced me I need to get my grit back. And by that I mean I'm completely uncomfortable riding in traffic now, something I used to do everyday without any thought to the consequences. I need to get that back.
But going north was nice and quiet, and it's hard to get tough when you're passing ice cream vendors.
Still, I need to be riding more. The trainer helped keep my rhythm, but I miss the fearlessness that comes with riding with traffic. At least I had the leftovers to polish off when I came home. Gruesome, I know. Now to get some beer.
Current beer-scale: 6.7 (why the hell is Zambrano back in the rotation? Can someone help me out here?)
No comments:
Post a Comment