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Yep, I’m an Idiot (so far)

Jun 12, 2017 | Move | 0 comments

I'm trying to get into cycling in a big way. I say "a big way" because that's what I need to do in order to make pretty much anything happen.

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Last Christmas I asked for (and Santa brought!) cycling shoes. And pedals. I swapped them out on my wife’s bike because it was the bike attached to the trainer. I practiced clipping in and out and rode the trainer several times in the early part of the year. Then life got in the way. Fast forward to June and I bought a used Trek CrossRip LTD. I love it. It’s cool.

I swapped the pedals onto my Trek and went out for a first ride. Awesome. As I cruised into my driveway and came to a stop, I kind of forgot that I was clipped into the pedals. Fortunately I was near our minivan, so I just leaned against it as I came to a stop, unclipped and got off the bike. Crises averted!

Fast forward again to yesterday. I had driven to Chicago to start our big cycling-camping adventure. Tammy would be joining me the next day, so I thought I would scout out a quick ride in the area around the hotel. I had a nice ride (I used to run in this area, so I knew where I was going). As I cruised back into the parking lot, I was moving pretty quickly right up to the van. I hit the brakes (discs!) pretty hard and came to a stop. And then fell over.

Two for two. So, yep, I’m an idiot. The question is how many times will I do that before I figure out that I need to unclip and, you know, put my foot down.

UPDATE! I discovered this week that the cleats were coming loose in my cycling shoes. So when I was twisting my foot to unclip, the cleats were first shifting in the shoes before pushing against the release mechanism. It was getting harder and harder to release my foot! So I tightened those up and BOOM, what a difference. I no longer forget to unclip, and now I have a much better chance of getting out even when the need arises suddenly.

Still an idiot, sure. But less of one than I was beginning to think!

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