Newbie weekly achievement thread

[jelee1311]

Hebe I'm so happy for you,a new bike how exciting! What a great thing to look forward to. I'm strictly a roadie but maybe next spring.......

[Kerry1976]

Not much new on my end....just passed 100 miles for 5 weeks on my Trek Pure Lowstep. Getting the fever though and wanting a road bike....

[Roadtrip]

Not much to report here either. Today was a really nice day and we got out for a ride around the neighborhood and ended up being MUCH more stressful then it was worth. Adding air to tires was a challenge (I HATE Presta valves) and once we got on the road (I assumed since it's a Sunday not so many cars-- yeaaaaaa right) we had a challenge dealing with cars vevving the engine at stop lights and basically being unkind.

Me and DH aren't all that accustomed to road riding, but I didn't want to load up bikes and such either to go to the MUT, plus we need to work on getting used to the road. I don't always want to pack up the car if I want to ride.

Just stressed out... got a good workout in a short time as the four miles we did, half of it was up hill, so it was a good challenge and feeling it in my legs. I also can't wimp out on the hills so need to learn to cope with those too.

PS. We had the final weigh-in with the 10 week weight loss challenge and I logged 16.2 pounds lost in slightly less then 10 weeks. Wooo Hoo!!

Shannon

[hebe]

I need to work more on road riding too, the off-road rides are just so darn close (less than half a mile of road before I'm on the track). I've never driven the bike anywhere, but hopefully should be able to do so with the new bike as the fenders will be less of an issue and I should be able to take the front wheel and seat post off and fit it all in the car.

That sounds great Kerry!

I went and looked at a Specialized Myka on Saturday. It looks great, but it was too wet to take it for a test ride. I'll try again at the back end of the week, I am excited and petrified in equal measure. It has different shifters! I have also :drumroll please: bought my first ever mini-bike-multi-tool-doo-dah set thingie. I have Allan keys, Philips head screwdriver, two tyre levers and a thingie for letting the air out of valves all in a little case. I can't wait for dd to nap so I can get out in the garage and use them to point the nose of my saddle slightly down rather than slightly up. Which hopefully will ease the soreness problem.

[Roadtrip]

I might add that the Clipless pedals were a real PAIN yesterday. I have the dual sided type pedals with SPD/Platforms, but the new bike shoes (first pair were wrecked as they were too flexible.. soles cracked just behind clip) are most defiantly not friendly to platform side. Not sure why, but the pedals kept flipping over to the wrong (platform) side so I ended up slipping off the pedals several times as I tried to flip at least one over and clip in and still maintain forward momentum. Stopping was another story too. I'd try and leave my left foot clipped in and have right foot touch down when I had to stop. Three times I tipped left and nearly fell over but unclipped in time. At least I came back alive and I didn't wreck, tho did have to do an improvised dismount in order not to go down with the ship.

Enough to make me give up on clipless.. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, eh??

[Catrin]

What kind of soles are on your shoes? My Bontrager shoes have hard plastic soles, so of course they will not work on the platform side of my pedals - plastic and metal are not a good combination. All of that being said, I have not had much luck with the bear claw type of platform pedals as far as keeping my feet on them.

You are probably smarter than I was in August when I made the switch to clipless, but I will mention this anyway. Until you can tell what effect these may have on your hamstrings - especially if you are prone to tendinitis - limit your mileage clipped in for a bit just to make sure there won't be a problem. Clipping in does activate your hammies much more than platforms do. Then again, you probably haven't been over-doing things so I am sure it will work better for you.

I rode with BMX pedals for about 1,300 miles until I switched to clipless - and I found that to make the entire process much easier after my failed attempt to go clipless in early spring. I did manage to get close to 500 miles on my SPD/platform pedals before my over-use injuries took me off the bike - and I am back to BMX pedals until at least spring. Then, well, we will see. Pity no company has though to combine SPD and BMX-type dual pedals...talk about the best of both worlds!

[Roadtrip]

What kind of soles are on your shoes? My Bontrager shoes have hard plastic soles, so of course they will not work on the platform side of my pedals - plastic and metal are not a good combination.

Yes, they're hard plastic. The Bontrager shoes I had prior were rubber, but had the recessed place for the SPD cleat, so even when riding without clipping in, I could use the platform side and had the advantage of a shoe with a firmer sole. I don't know why the shoes failed just behind the cleat, but I opted for a stiffer shoe when I replaced them, so stiffer but hard plastic.

I don't get out nearly as much as I'd like (8-12 miles a week, longest ride 26 miles) to and now the good weather days can be counted on one hand, but I can feel a difference when I'm clipped in and not, so I'll be take your warning and be cautious!!

Shannon