All dressed up and nowhere to go

I finally got my new pedals and shoes. I got Shimano Ultegra pedals as they matched the rest of the crankset and Specialized Road Pro shoes in Red/White to match the bike. I picked up a spare tyre and a puncture repair kit which includes CO2 inflation device so you don't need to blow it up by hand. Throw in a couple of bottle cages and its costing me the sames as a big lunch with Brownie and not just my half......

I did a quick 20k circuit but in reverse this time , the time was 43:40(new record for the 20K circuit) and it felt quite easy. The shoes made a huge difference right away, it probably felt as much of a step difference as the change of bike did.

The soles are solid carbon and very very stiff. This helps transfer all the power to the pedals and so into the wheels, so when you push you go forward without the usual training shoe flex absorbing the push down from the leg. You notice it the most on the uphill sections. The downside is when you wear them off the bike you are tottering around with tap shoes on. Think tottering Tara Palmer-Tomkinson after a night out on the champers....

There is a problem though. As you know if you've read all the blog that I've never really had a grown up bike other than a mountain bike that has remained pretty unused and of course I've never previously had the joy of pedal cleats and cycling shoes.

Unfortunately this lack of road bike experience became apparent as I reach the first junction. I slow down to stop to let the road clear. I've been on the bike 5 minutes and have forgotten I have the shoes on and of course my feet don't come out the pedals right away. My body panics as the bike starts to fall over as my feet remain fixed to the pedals. As I'm falling down in slow motion my calm head is saying , twist the foot you idiot.....crash ....too late. I'm on the ground like a beetle on its back with bike up in the air with me still firmly attached.....no damage done to me or the bike. I probably made the builders day who were working on the building next to the junction, not to mention the guy in the white van who was behind me.

Cycling Skeleton make sure you have the sound on..Pretty cool animation.

I'm winding myself up for a bike ride this weekend.....not sure to where yet but I'm thinking 50k.....we'll see if its possible. More on this later....I'm having a huge steak for dinner tonight so thats a good start.

I was in the UK yesterday and picked up a new MP3 player as my old one is eating batteries and keeps re-initialising itself. I got a Samsung YP-U4 . It was pretty cheap(20quid) and has 2gb so plenty of space . I just use it for the running of course as its way too dangerous to use it on my bike.