Of Pedals, Shoes, Cars and Irony

Bleeding through a tourniquet smile

I spin on a whim slide to the right

Bush - "Machinehead"

Guess who got new pedals and shoes?! That's right, I'm legit. I picked up some Shimano 105 pedals and Bontrager shoes at the local bike(/ski/swim/run) shop. Who also is a sponsor of Team Triumph, of which I'm a member. It was long over due. Using toe clips sucked. Not only that, it was dangerous for me. I spent more time trying to get my right foot in the clip after starting on the road that I should have. Can you say recipe for disaster?

I did NOT cuddle them.. that you can prove.

I did not rush home and install the new pedals on the bike. I actually did something smart. While I was buying these wonderful little toys, I scheduled a Level II fitting. I needed to come back in for my 30 day adjustment anyway, so it seemed like a good idea. So the waiting game began. I got the goodies on a Friday, and had scheduled the fitting for a Tuesday. In hindsight, I would have just brought the bike with me that day, but I'm not always the brightest knife in the shed. So I waited....

And while I waited, I harkened back to a conversation I had with a friend of mine. George and his wife Angie (side note: Angie has a great cycling blog that one should check out: http://www.bikinator.com/ ) are both cyclists. Like hard core and have been for years. George was kind enough to give me a list of things I would need. On that list was getting a Road ID.

What's Road ID you ask? I'm so glad you did. Road ID is a bracelet, shoe tag or dog tag you wear. In it's simplest form, it has your name, an emergency contact name and number and some important medical information on it. The idea is that if you're out running, biking, or walking and something happens, first responders can get the important info right away.

It's a nifty box they send

This is my Road ID. Names of the guilty have been removed, but the rest is as you see it.

So Sunday night, I ordered mine. I've been riding/running with out one, and I thought it would be a good idea to get one. Tuesday comes, and off to get fitted I go. They guys at my LBS are awesome. They dialed in my fitting more with the pedals and gave me as much time as I wanted on the trainer to get used to the feel of the new gear before they unleashed me out into the world. 

Thankfully, it has stopped raining by the time I got back to Geek Central and was able to take Inara (yes I named my bike, what of it?) out for a nice long ride. 

Holy crap, what a difference! I felt so much more efficient when pedaling. They say you feel more connected with your bike with clipless shoes, and it's true. I felt like the crank was an extension of my legs. When I remember not to mash. It is taking me some time to learn how to spin correctly. I have to think about how I'm pedaling a LOT. But that's normal. And I often catch myself paying attention to other things on the bike instead of my pedaling. You know, things like cars, kids, people, other bikes, and was that a jackalope I just saw? Just the normal everyday things.

So I got through my first ride incident free. I was stoked. I had this down, this is great! I remember to unclip my down foot when I started breaking. What was the big deal.

Cue the Universe snickering at me.

Friday, I had a time trial from Coach. I couldn't wait for it. I wanted to see if I gained any speed from the pedals and shoes. I had been wondering about my bike race pace, and Coach Heather said to think about this on the TT. With the old pedals, I was averaging about 4 min/miles. I really wanted to get faster. I was wondering if 3:30 min/miles were realistic with out toasting my legs for that last run leg. 

So off I went! I decided to use my normal riding circuit. I wanted to be familiar with the roads, environment and traffic so I could focus more on the TT than a new circuit. So I headed off there, through the back streets to avoid the Friday afternoon traffic. At a stop sign it happened. The infamous 0 mph crash. I had my down leg down but felt myself tipping. I couldn't get my other foot unclipped in time. As I was going down, I heard myself say "Yup, here it is!" Then I remembered what my twitter buddy Carrie had posted just days before:

To which I replied: If you've not been down, you're going down...

And I went down. I laughed at myself, and counted myself lucky I got the first one out of the way on a non busy street. And I got a nifty battle scare to show for it:

Women still dig scars, right?

Still smiling to myself, I made it to the circuit and started my time trial. I felt really strong and was able to hit my goal of 3:30min/mile often, I even got a 3:20min/mile. To say I was happy with that is an understatement. On the second TT interval, I was coming to the end of it and riding in a nice wide bike lane, coming up to a stop light. I often do the left shoulder glance to see what's behind me. I did notice a car coming up behind me so I moved over to the right a bit more. 

My first clue should have been the horrible rap music that preceded the car. I guess my bright Red bike,  and jersey weren't visible in the day light. Or the kid behind the wheel was just not paying attention. For what ever reason, he drifted into the bike lane.

If you're not a cyclist, you might not know the following. But when on the bike, we can hear cars behind us and we listen for them. All the time. And this car just sounded way to close. I glanced back over my left shoulder again.

It looked like his fender was lined up on my back tire. I moved over even more with what little time I had. As he pulled up even with me, I saw how close he was, it looked like about a foot from me, and tried to get away. Long story short, I went down again on my right side. Thankfully where I went down was grass. The bike and I slid for a bit. After jumping up, I did the logical thing anyone else would do.

Made sure my bike was OK. I have insurance, the bike doesn't. 

The rims got a little scraped up so now there's a bit of rubbing on the brake pads. But other than that, she seems fine.

I pulled over into an empty parking lot, stopped my Garmin (again, that's what any normal person would do, right?) and gave myself the once over for a few minutes. Then it dawned on me. I really could have been smeared. Like in a really bad way. 

I was so VERY glad I had gotten my Road ID that same day. Nothing reenforced the importance of having it on like this incident. So now, I won't EVER take it off. 

If you don't have a Road ID, you should. Right now. Go over to their website and order one: http://www.roadid.com. I'll even give you a coupon code for a $1 off: ThanksChris26140589. Their product is NOT expensive, and it's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. 

I did get back on the bike and finish the time trial. I stayed on a street with less traffic, and was still fairly pleased with my times. 

This morning, I climbed back on the bike and did my hour ride, on the wet roads. Nothing like getting back in the saddle to get over the jitters. 

Today, not one wreck.