Very frustrated and sad (longish)

[OakLeaf]

In 1982 after being laid off from my job, I bought a set of racks and panniers and set out alone on my first tour. Gym shorts, cotton underwear, floppy sneakers, no helmet, no gloves, liquid soap and liquid cherry juice concentrate in a glass bottle. That was 60-80 miles most days. Did I mention the tensioned leather saddle that had been ridden in the rain so often that the seatpost stuck right up through the middle of it? It was on that tour, one night at a campground, that I met a couple of cycle tourists with all the gear. So I totally get what you mean about feeling like a hick. Oh, boy, did I. It didn't help that these were a couple of Canadians whose speech was so precise that I felt like I had a mouthful of cotton balls when we talked.

The next day, I rolled into the nearest town, begged the LBS to take an out-of-town check, and bought my first helmet. Safety seemed like a pretty darn good idea. But it was years and thousands of miles before I had a pair of cycling shorts.

You're fine Gray. You're beyond fine, you're a valuable, participating member of this community. You RIDE. The rest is just details.

And, you're planning on riding for a GREAT CAUSE! Hint: some of the costumes people wear on charity rides are hardly high performance cycling gear.



(Just to address what you said about your cleats, you can buy them separately from the pedals for $20-30. Depending on what system you have, you probably only have one choice of cleats. Even if you have multiple choices, if the ones you had were working for you, just get the same ones for now.)