Quote Originally Posted by lph View Post
Check your brakes by holding the wheel off the ground and spinning it, then brake slowly and try to see if one pad hits well before the other. They're rarely perfectly centered, but if one hits way before the other it should be adjusted. A bike shop will do this very quickly, or post a pic of your brake here and someone will tell you how to do so yourself.
I tried this and there does not appear to be a large difference between the two sides. I will try it later just to be sure - I am planning on practicing changing my inner-tube this evening

I think that I was in much too easy a gear yesterday in that headwind - and my legs were sure feeling it! My breathing was fine, though my heart rate was much higher than I expected. I stuck with it though, and when I turned around it was sweet It is just going to take time in the saddle in different conditions to become comfortable with shifting...if I could just learn to take my hand off of the bar for signaling then I could at least graduate to a local park with lots of trails...