Falling Down

Ride, 42K in 1:40 avge speed 25.8; First ride in Cleated shoes.

Craig warned me when he gave me the pedals for the cleated shoes: "you will fall over."

Craig was right.

Getting your feet out of the pedals is an art, and one to be mastered quickly. I knew I was going to have a bit of trouble so I meticulously cleared the backyard of dog turds and hopped on; and fell off. I had trouble getting my foot out just laying there on my side. I practised for another five minutes before I had enough confidence to hit the road, and fell off again at the end of the lane at the back of my house.

I picked a course that had me stopping at traffic lights where I knew there would be a safe area to fall over - two 15K loops and a 10K loop between Windsor and Richmond. I was much relieved that I didn't fall over for the rest of the ride. It felt a little harder on the legs that the other pedals, and a bit weird with the foot stuck to the pedal, but it felt a lot faster. I think the average speed was a bit slow because I picked a hilly course, and there was some slow bits where I was mucking about trying to get my foot into the pedals. At one point after a set of lights, I couldn't get my free foot into the pedal, and the other one came loose. I couldn't just stop; I was in the middle of an intersection, so I had to muck around a bit and try to propel the pedals to keep me going whilst I tried to slot them in, which I eventually achieved.

And so ends my so-called easy week. I think it was a good idea - I'm feeling a bit fresher than I was a week ago, and I'm looking forward to ramping it back up next week.