Clipped!

Clipped-in that is! I went and did it. After almost three years of cycling I went out and got clipless pedals and real, honest to goodness, cycling shoes! I know! Right? Me!.

My personal Bike Guru, Derek, long ago sold me shoes that fit (tacky road shoes and clipless pedals. The thing about those shoes it that they require the rest of the outfit to not look totally rediculous and out of place. Also, they are NOT the type of shoes to be seen in when you crash as a learner. No one would look at those shoes on an unconscious rider lying in the street and think,

"That poor guy trying to learn clipless! He fell off his bike and got knocked out"!

No, they migh bring a response, or thought along the line of ,

"Nice Shoes Lance. Should have bought some bubble-wrap for your un-conscious ass instead of all that spandex".

So I had those shoes, and some clipless peddles that had NO grippy sides and they sat in a box. For a while. then, randomly, I got it in my head that I should at least try clipless peddles so, naturally, instead of using what I had, I went out and bought new gear! What I got was two-sided peddles: one clipless and the other "normal" so I could install them on my bike and have the option to ride either way as the situation or my mood dictated. Secondly, I bought some MTB cycling shoes. The kind with laces. The kind that don't look like clown slippers but like sneakers. Sneakers with reflective striping and the word SHIMANO on the side but close enough.

Next step, install the peddles. Easy as pie. So easy in fact that I am fairly convinced that I did something wrong and that they will fall off any time now. They haven't yet though, so I am off to a good start any way. So, I set out for a near-by field, using the normal, gripy side of the peddles.I was instructed, in no uncertain terms, that I should make sure that I was on grass and practice for hours clipping in and out of the clipless peddles as I would be falling over like a drunk at 3am Saturday morning every time I tried to start or stop my bike. I am impatient. I couldn't wait. I struggled to find the right, clippy, side of the peddles but after a few tentative stabs with my toes, snick! I was in! Now the other side. Snick. Excellent.

Well, as things turned out, I had to start and stop several times during the ride. I remembered to clip-out ever time that I had to stop and got a little smoother at snicking back in after I started. I think that mechanically, the getting IN part will be harder than the getting out part. I think functionally, after I stop constantly reminding myself to "clip out when I stop, clip out when I stop, clip out when I stop, clip out when I stop" I WILL indeed fall over. Oh well. Not yesterday.

I rode a around for about an hour. I checked out our local bike-path. It was in a little nicer shape than the last time I checked it out and less "bummy" for sure. As for the experience of riding clipless? Well, at first I was like, "big deal". BUT after a while I began to feel like it was more efficient and a few hours after I stopped riding I realized that muscles that do not normally ache after a ride ached. So, low danger, little perceived change in how I go about my business while I am riding and expands the list of muscles used to do the riding. I am, for the time being, going to call the clipless peddle a "Win".