Two rides with clipless pedals and still in one piece ;-)

Two weeks ago I bought a pair of clipless pedals and a new pair of shoes. I've been using toe straps so far. When it's too tight, it's hard to take your feet off and when it is too loose your feet keeps moving on the pedal. It's good for casual rides but it wasn't the right pedal for my long training rides. Certainly wouldn't be good for the 585 mile ALC ride either. So I replaced them with Speedplay clipless pedals. Although they are called "clipless", the idea is that the cleats at the bottom of your shoe CLIP to the pedal (kinda like skis), so pedalling gets more efficient, especially going up the hills. The downside of a clipless pedal is that if you forget to "unclip" when you come to a stop, you... FALL! So I was quite nervous on my first ride with the new pedals last week. I went to Coyote Creek trail by myself. Initially it was awkward to clip-in but after a while I got used to it. I stopped a bunch of times just to practice unclipping. It was quite easy! I did a 22 mile ride, my average speed was 11.9 mph although it was a relatively flat train. I was focused on getting used to the pedals rather than going fast.

Today I joined a training ride. We met at Arastredo and Page Mill in Palo Alto. There were about 10 people, almost all of them veteran ALC riders. We did a nice 36 mile run between Palo Alto and Woodside, with a lot of rolling hills. My average speed clocked at 12.9 mph with 28.5 mph as my highest speed. It rained just a little, nothing that would cause us to stop. Overall it was a very nice, fun ride, and I totally got used to my pedals now. I am still in one piece, keeping my record of not falling at stops ;-)