Going Clipless

I've made a change to Bryn's set-up. This week I switched my pedals to new clipless pedals. They're made up of a metal cleat screwed to the bottom of my shoes (there was actually more gum on the bottom of the other shoe...where have I been?) and a receptacle on the pedals. I used to have toe clips or cages on my pedals that I'd slide my foot into and out of. The clipless pedals work a bit differently. Like a ski binding you press your toes in first and then lean back until you hear a 'click'. To release your feet you swing your heel out. Clipless pedals are apparently more efficient than cages. They're certainly much more efficient than nothing because you can pull up on the pedals as well as push down on them. Efficiency can only be a good thing when riding an average of 100 km a day.Apparently there is a bit of a learning curve with clipless pedals. I confess that I've been afraid of them for years. If you don't release your feet (or at least one foot) quickly enough, over you go! I practiced clipping in and out in my living room with my non-clipped foot resting on a dictionary (a very large dictionary). Today I decided that while standing on a dictionary was good fun, it wasn't going to get me anywhere. I puttered around my neighbourhood stopping at all the stop signs and didn't fall over once (although I hear that the falling tends to happen when you stop concentrating on your feet). I am finding that its harder to clip into the pedal than it is to get out of it.

Buoyed by my success I ventured out onto Danforth in search of a birthday present for my nephew's fourth birthday (awww he's so cute). Unfortunately the drizzle I thought was subsiding turned into a major downpour. Back at home, I spent a good long while cleaning and lubricating Bryn.