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May 24, 2004
Clipped In
Today I tried out my new, blue, Shimano shoes and clipless pedals. These were another purchase of late. With only four days left of work, my rationale tells me I have to buy all the things I need, (or just desire), while I still have a job. Now I am looking and walking like a real biker. However, I am still working on riding like one.
These new pedals have tightly adjusted springs which actually require you to twist the shoe's unscathed cleats out of. What a novel idea as my old Cannondale shoes had no useable cleats left and the pedal's springs had long since failed. That old shoe/pedal set was purchased with my Kona Blast back in 2000 and ridden (almost) daily since. A week ago clipping out was a merely the act of pulling my foot up harder than a typical pedal stroke. Today that was not the case.
After our cruise through Stanley Park, we rode along the Lower Levels of NV and headed up the dog walking trails along the Seymour River. Following closely behind Andrew I was forced to make a sudden stop. The "Brail-Trail" Riding Technique of his failed as he had turned into a dead end. With my eight-inch hydraulic disk brakes, the stop wasn't a problem. When I went to put down my foot, I instead put my body down. A slow calculated tipping to the left placed me and my ego into the shrubbery. After a quick blush and a giggle I brushed most of the greenery off my shorts and shirt and pedaled on.
After more minutes and many more kilometres we started on our way back towards Stanley Park. We were riding along the Seymour Parkway and opted to stop for the red light, as there were cars everywhere. I was in the middle of our threesome pack. There I balanced trying to kick out of the pedals. Swaying, swaying, swaying, to tumbling to the right this time!
With my bike and legs in the road and my body sprawled across the sidewalk I was partially laughing and partially dying of embarrassment. Because of the funny angle my ankles were in, the fact there was 33 pounds of bike on me, and the notion that I should be trying to act suave, the unclipping wasn't happening. There I lay. Fortunately my "Quick Release Helmet Visor" came off, Lars pointed out through his laughter.
After two traffic light changes, and countless motorist wondering why there was a girl flailing about with a bike locked to her feet and two guys laughing at her, I managed to untwist myself. With the humiliating portion of my day over with we returned over the Lions Gate Bridge. I eventually arrived safely back in Burnaby. The duration of the return trip was spent trying to convince myself, everybody has "accidents".
Posted by jmclean at May 24, 2004 08:51 PM