For reasons I will outline below the events of last night, post bike ride, are some I’d like to never repeat.
Ride, Paulie! Ride!
I joined ITP-Reader Melissa for a twenty-eight mile bike ride last evening. The ride had all of the trappings of disaster — poorly maintained roads, cars making unpredictable maneuvers, discovery that I left my seat bag open and I thought that I lost my car keys (which were found in one of my jersey pockets), and mechanical failure.
Our path wound through Kirkwood, up toward Decatur, through Avondale Estates, out to Stone Mountain, and back. If was near Decatur that Melissa saw that my seat bag was unzipped. We stopped to check it out and upon not seeing my keys where they belonged I jumped to the conclusion that they were dropped somewhere. Luckily, a second later I felt my jersey pockets to discover them.
In Avondale Estates we crossed with the traffic light only to hear a police siren start. We feared that we were the target of that siren only to then realize that a car ahead of us had made an illegal right turn on red. It was at that point that I also realized that my right pedal had broken and that I was unable to clip my foot in. Flat roads provided minor difficulty since Spinning courses taught me to pedal in a circular motion, but my inability to pull with my right foot proved to be a royal pain in the ass on inclines. This malfunction was discovered by me at mile eight, and I did my best to disguise it so that we’d not cut our ride short. I think Melissa must have caught on when my hill climbing was abysmal, and I begged out of going into Stone Mountain park. 😉
Our return route took the flatter Dekalb Path, through the parts that I think I’ll give up on in the future. At one point I was not-so-kindly directed to “Get the fuck out the road” by some gentlemen in a POS car. I don’t need that sort of anger directed toward me, especially as I am trying to use the path constructed for recreation.
Today I plan to splurge on some new pedals for the Red Rocket as well as some proper road cycling shoes, my first ever a pedal wrench to swap my road bike pedals with my mountain bike pedals.
ITP Flickr Pic
Why stop here?
Because I am sore and tired.
Rest, Paulie! Rest!
Yesterday I spewed bravado about riding last night, and then riding again tonight. That ain’t gonna happen.
Last night’s ride was tough, but nothing that should put me on the shelf today. Upon returning home I popped some ibuprofen, took a cold shower, and iced my knees as I prepared to watch Hell’s Kitchen.
As I sat there, also cooking a pasta dinner to help with my recovery, I started to sneeze. And then I sneezed again. And then again. And then my mouth started to swell. And I started to feel sore. And I continued to sneeze. WTH? I ate my dinner as I watched Hell’s Kitchen and then went promptly into bed to rest.
I’m not sure exactly when I dozed off, but I can tell you that I awoke precisely at 0123 (1:23am) EDT, with a knotted back, and could not get back to sleep until around 0430 (4:30am) EDT. A 0430 sleep time does not bode well for someone whose routine it is to wake at 0530. I “allowed” myself to sleep in until 0630, so I fully expect to hate today and fall asleep at my desk sometime around 1400 (2:00pm) EDT.
Shopping In Stores? What A Concept!
Today I’ll be visiting the local REI for my new pedals and shoes. I’m sure that I’ll also poke around the camping area to kindle my desire to get out and “camp” this Fall.
On Friday I’ll be visiting the local Apple store to pick up my copy of Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6). I’m not looking forward to all of the preparation and work needed to upgrade my Macs, but am looking forward to a leaner, meaner version of OS X.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – sore, really tired, cranky
Current Music – last week’s “Sound Opinions” podcast
Website Of The Day – The Fancy Fast Food blog is really neat; what they do is take ordinary fast food and reconstruct it as fancy food.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – cycling, 28 miles
Morning Weigh-In – 199 pounds
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~12.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 175 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 14 (14)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 25
Marta Rides – 0
August Goals
– Not get fired from my job
– Restart work on house, actually making progress this time
2009 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
– Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
– Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
I would probably have just said – “Fuck you” back at that driver.
At least you rode last night – I blew it off, (Michelle had to work late, and I couldn’t convince myslef to go out alone) and I think my body is punishing me for that, I feel like crap & slept like crap last night. I really wanted to call in sick today, but too much work (for a nice change) and it would be even more hell for me tomorrow if I would have done that.
Road Shoes & pedals? The ones with the slick soles that you can’t walk in? No thanks – I’ll stick with my multi-purpose mountain biking shoes.
I agree with Barb on both points. A hearty fuck you would have been yelled back with a finger thrust into the air.
Secondly, you have no reason to own 2 pairs of shoes. I have mtn bike pedals on my road bike and they work just fine. One pair of shoes for both bikes, and I can walk around in my mtn bike shoes.
If you are going to splurge I would recommend a pair of Sidi mtn bike shoes and either Time or Egg Beater pedals.
My 2 cents
Whatever you buy must be installed and tested before Sundays’ ride. In fact, get the mechanic to show you how to adjust the cleats/pedals and bring the appropriate tool with you on the ride.
I wonder what you ate/drank/got bitten by that gave you such a reaction. Odd.
-FP
I’m too old to get into fights. I just shrug shit like that off these days.
I’ve been using the same pair of Diadora SPD mountain biking shoes for both bikes for probably eleven years. I’m thinking of getting some Shimano Ultegra pedals and some Shimano Road Shoes.
I admit that the timing of the change is far from ideal, but I definitely cannot ride Sunday with a broken pedal regardless of what I was able to do last night. I plan to have them installed today, if available and possible and tool around in them a bit tonight (read ride just enough to get their “feel”) before Saturday’s test ride.
Bob, I’ve never been a fan of the Egg Beaters and have never tried Time or Frogs pedals. I’m also looking to get a slightly bigger platform for my feet if possible.
My other option, if I so chose, is to purchase a pedal wrench and transfer my mountain biking pedals over to my road bike, assuming they are interchangeable.
Oh, and I have no idea to what I reacted. I hadn’t eaten anything nor drank anything except water since lunch time. I suppose that it could have been a reaction to the ibuprofen, although I’ve taken the same brand/bottle many times before with no ill affects. I introduced no new shower products last night. And I had not eaten dinner yet, so it wasn’t the food either.
I’m just broken I guess.
Time pedals will give you more platform than egg beaters. And yes, your pedals will switch over without a problem. That will give you some more time (ha! Time, I kill me!) to decide which way to go.
I’ve got Time pedals – they are the best (or so Allan says).
I just called Allan – he said don’t get Speedplays if you have bad knees.
he said he likes the Shimano pedals or the Look pedals if you feel the need to get road shoes.
I can’t believe it- REI is blocked. (our IT people block the strangest things)
I think what I’ll do is buy a pedal wrench today and do a swapover for this weekend. This will buy me some familiarity (although I couldn’t tell you the last time I rode the mountain bike).
I’ll consult the experts present this weekend to help me make my future decision.
Barb, I think the only reason that REI isn’t blocked for me is because my company is based in Colorado.
I blew off running last night as well, sort of…I bought new running shoes, tried on like 10 pairs so I did spend a bit of time on the treadmill. That probably doesn’t count. As of this mornings run, well worth the effort.
I got road shoes a couple of months ago for two reasons: 1) they were super cheap 2) I needed shoes without laces for the tri. Yes they are a PITA to walk in but I don’t mind, they make my feet look so tiny.
If you ride at 5:45 am there is almost no one out on the roads to yell at you, or so has been my experience.
From someone that got some nasty chaffing from wearing ‘new’ shorts on race day (I really do know better)…just switch out the pedals and try the new ones out, after Sunday.
I didn’t sleep great last night either…for a little pup, Nibbles can sure take up a lot of the bed. She was being pretty good about sleeping in her spot, even heads straight for her blanket when its time for bed but I think she is getting chilly I keep finding her trying to burrow underneath me. Maybe I need to get her some flannel pjs?
But – ebay, craigslist, etc. aren’t blocked. They used to block all the recipe sites as well…. but they aren’t anymore.
I bet your mtn bike pedals are SPD’s too – so I would think they are the same.
Go check out all the bikes & shoes of everyone, should be interesting to see everyone’s take on their stuff.
Martha, 5:45am is not going to happen for me any time soon.
Barb, they are SPD. I think they are Ritchey pedals with SPD cleats/clips.
Another reason for the consideration of new shoes is that my old Diadoras have a blowout on one side, so it’s only a matter of time before the bite the dust.
You could always use duct tape. Worked Saturday.
-FP
That thought did occur to me last night, but
a) I didn’t have any
b) Don’t want to rely on it for cycling, for hashing sure, cycling notsomuch
Martha, per our running shoes conversation on Monday: what shoes did you get?
I got the Nike Zoom Structure Triax 12, I tried on about 10 different shoes, my second choice was the Brooks Ravenna (which I may buy as my second pair). In third place was a pair of Muzimo (but I can’t remember the style), they felt good and were super light, which made me wonder if they (or my knees) would hold up on a long run. I think if I ran less than 20 miles a week I would try them as well.
I might need to try Nikes, a lot of runners I know wear them!
I was hesitant about getting Nikes…from what I was told yesterday you need to choose carefully. Nike makes a lot of shoes but only a few are actually good running shoes. The guy at Big Peach was great yesterday. He had me try on so many shoes and watched me run in each pair to help check the fit.
I’m seriously thinking about leaving work to go run some more today and still have time to meet Barb tonight.