Wednesday Dec. 13th RIDES

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Silver, I'd put comfortable pedals on your new bike if I were you- just get riding it and build confidence riding without worrying about pedal clipping, fer gosh sakes! The idea here is to feel GOOD. (Wouldn't it be a "good" concept to just ride, not worry, and not have a clipless fall for just a "little" while??)

This turned into a wed/thurs ride thread, so gotta say I had a GREAT sunny 21 mile ride yesterday (thurs). Gorgeous weather- 50 degrees and lite breeze and sunny- like Spring at Xmastime!! My cold is slwly fading- just a lot of mucous now but no more earaches or sore throat or balloon head. YAY! What a relief.
So good to get on my bike and ride again! (I bet Silver is saying this too, bigtime!!)

[silver]

yes, Lisa! I will. I checked out the spd pedals and the right one is so beat up, but I'm pretty sure they are going on the madone today. I've got everything else ready to ride the madone, computer's on and chain is waxed. The weather is beeeeeeeautiful. The madone and I NEED to ride!

[Bad JuJu]

Soooo glad to hear you're back on your bike, Silver. I remember my first few rides after laying off for a back injury, and you just know that's where your body wants to be. Good for you!

[Grog]

Well the old pedals are practically wasted from the wreck, but if I can't get comfy with the new ones tomorrow the old shimano SPD's are going on the madone!

For some strange reason the Shimano road pedals (105, Ultegras...) are very different in the ease to clip in and out from one pair to the other. I have tried three different pairs and the Ultegras I have are better than the 105s I first had, but neither of these is as easy to clip in and out of as my partner's Ultegras. Note that all pairs are set at the easiest setting. Also when my cleats get wet they're really hard to unclip of. I had to "train" my ankles to do it...

The mountain SPDs are very, very easy to get in and out of, of course.

So definitely do keep the mountain pedals for now. You can always try the Ultegras later, or just find better pedals. That's probably what I'm going to do this summer (Looks? Candy? Speedplays? who knows?). I just thought it was convenient that we'd have all the same pedals on the different bikes, but it's becoming dangerous not to know whether I'll be able to unclip or not.

[silver]

thanks grog!!! well, I went out to today and tried the ultegra pedals on the new madone! I actually survivied! I was scared to death at first and then very concerned and finally enjoyed myself! I'm still not comfortable wtih the ultegra pedals, but I'm ok with them. They are on the easiest adjustment. I'll give them some time and if I can't adjust I'll switch later.

I rode 20 miles!!!!! So nice on the madone! She's just lovely! She does need some derailler adjustments. She'll go to the doctor on Monday.

thanks everyone for your encouragment! It was just such a blessing to get these few days of nice weather to get back out there again!