Gixxerman
Guru
- Location
- Market Rasen
Well today was:-
My first ride after the winter break.
My first ride with a new chain.
My first ride in gloves.
My first ride in less than perfect weather.
My first ride going clipless.
and...
I'm sure you can guess, my first clipless moment.
So I looked at the weather and thought, "It looks good, the roads are dry, it is not too cold. Think I'll go for a ride". I set off being very conscious and cautious about the clipless thing.
At first I didn't really feel any benefit of clipless. I was more concerned that I was riding like an asthmatic granddad. I keep myself fit with gym and football, but you certainly notice the difference for having some time off (about 2 months in my case).
After about 2 miles my left calf started to hurt. This was a worry as I have done 100 milers in the past so 2 miles should be well in my limits! I started to think maybe the cleats were not setup properly. But in the end put it down to lack of cycling.
So on I soldiered. After a few more miles I started to feel a lot better. Then I got to my first hill and thought "This is gunna hurt". But to my surprise, I went up it better than I normally do. This is where the clipless pedals really come into their own.
After about another 5 miles or so I started to feel great and the pain in my calf has subsided. The route I have selected was one of my normal rounds of 21 miles and quite a few hills.
The gloves were great as the padding stopped my palms from hurting from the pressure on the bars. This has been an issue for me in the past and I was well pleased with the gloves.
Things were going well and as is normal when things are going well, something always happens to spoil it.
Some of the roads I use are very narrow and rural. These are used by farmers and they were covered and mud. This really ragged me off as I keep my bike spotless and this is just what I didn't need, especially with a new chain just fitted. More crap to clean off the chain.
The new chain incidentally was working fine, Except for one moment when shifting to a smaller chainring, it jammed completely. I bit of back peddling and gentle forward peddling did the trick and it shifted fine. After that it was never anymore bother. So it was maybe just one of those things.
A few miles later I was about 5 miles from home and was feeling so good that I decided to extend my route by another 15 miles or so. Almost immediately after I had decided this, the heavens opened and I thought bugger, that's spoilt it, and decided to stay on my original route home. Even though it was raining quite hard, it didn't spoil the ride that much to be honest.
The last 4 miles or so are on a main road (A46) but there is a pavement, which I use. I was cracking on well down this when I noticed in front that the pavement was covered in mud where a house drive crossed it. I am not riding through that I thought and decided to walk round it. So I slowed down to a stop and tried to put right foot down. WTF? My foot is stuck to the pedal. Oh shoot, that will be because I am still clipped in. Panic set in and I tried to get my right foot out, but it was all too late and down I went. I went down hard on the houses drive on my right knee, hip and elbow. I got up very quickly feeling very stupid and very annoyed with myself. I thought things were going too well. Luckily, there was no one around to see my "moment". The only witness was a white van driver coming the other way. He must have had a good laugh at me. I gave the bike a quick look over and all was well, no damage at all, so off I went again. I checked that I could get all the rear gears and there were no issues so no bent rear mech. There were no marks of the mech so it looks like it didn't hit the floor.
Then as I am going through the town towards home, a woman steps off the pavement right in front of me and a have to stop. This time I remember to unclip so no embarrassing moment. The woman sees me and looks at my right leg and I can see shock in her face. What is her problem I think and look down? Then I can see what her problem is. My right knee is streaming blood all down my shin and has started to turn my sock red. shoot! My knee hurt a bit, but I didn't realise I had done that.
Got home and the bike is in a right state. Clean up my knee (after taking the attached photo) and set about cleaning the bike.
It took me 2 hours to clean it and relube the chain. But know it is back to A1 condition.
So all in all and bit of an eventful day.
My first ride after the winter break.
My first ride with a new chain.
My first ride in gloves.
My first ride in less than perfect weather.
My first ride going clipless.
and...
I'm sure you can guess, my first clipless moment.
So I looked at the weather and thought, "It looks good, the roads are dry, it is not too cold. Think I'll go for a ride". I set off being very conscious and cautious about the clipless thing.
At first I didn't really feel any benefit of clipless. I was more concerned that I was riding like an asthmatic granddad. I keep myself fit with gym and football, but you certainly notice the difference for having some time off (about 2 months in my case).
After about 2 miles my left calf started to hurt. This was a worry as I have done 100 milers in the past so 2 miles should be well in my limits! I started to think maybe the cleats were not setup properly. But in the end put it down to lack of cycling.
So on I soldiered. After a few more miles I started to feel a lot better. Then I got to my first hill and thought "This is gunna hurt". But to my surprise, I went up it better than I normally do. This is where the clipless pedals really come into their own.
After about another 5 miles or so I started to feel great and the pain in my calf has subsided. The route I have selected was one of my normal rounds of 21 miles and quite a few hills.
The gloves were great as the padding stopped my palms from hurting from the pressure on the bars. This has been an issue for me in the past and I was well pleased with the gloves.
Things were going well and as is normal when things are going well, something always happens to spoil it.
Some of the roads I use are very narrow and rural. These are used by farmers and they were covered and mud. This really ragged me off as I keep my bike spotless and this is just what I didn't need, especially with a new chain just fitted. More crap to clean off the chain.
The new chain incidentally was working fine, Except for one moment when shifting to a smaller chainring, it jammed completely. I bit of back peddling and gentle forward peddling did the trick and it shifted fine. After that it was never anymore bother. So it was maybe just one of those things.
A few miles later I was about 5 miles from home and was feeling so good that I decided to extend my route by another 15 miles or so. Almost immediately after I had decided this, the heavens opened and I thought bugger, that's spoilt it, and decided to stay on my original route home. Even though it was raining quite hard, it didn't spoil the ride that much to be honest.
The last 4 miles or so are on a main road (A46) but there is a pavement, which I use. I was cracking on well down this when I noticed in front that the pavement was covered in mud where a house drive crossed it. I am not riding through that I thought and decided to walk round it. So I slowed down to a stop and tried to put right foot down. WTF? My foot is stuck to the pedal. Oh shoot, that will be because I am still clipped in. Panic set in and I tried to get my right foot out, but it was all too late and down I went. I went down hard on the houses drive on my right knee, hip and elbow. I got up very quickly feeling very stupid and very annoyed with myself. I thought things were going too well. Luckily, there was no one around to see my "moment". The only witness was a white van driver coming the other way. He must have had a good laugh at me. I gave the bike a quick look over and all was well, no damage at all, so off I went again. I checked that I could get all the rear gears and there were no issues so no bent rear mech. There were no marks of the mech so it looks like it didn't hit the floor.
Then as I am going through the town towards home, a woman steps off the pavement right in front of me and a have to stop. This time I remember to unclip so no embarrassing moment. The woman sees me and looks at my right leg and I can see shock in her face. What is her problem I think and look down? Then I can see what her problem is. My right knee is streaming blood all down my shin and has started to turn my sock red. shoot! My knee hurt a bit, but I didn't realise I had done that.
Got home and the bike is in a right state. Clean up my knee (after taking the attached photo) and set about cleaning the bike.
It took me 2 hours to clean it and relube the chain. But know it is back to A1 condition.
So all in all and bit of an eventful day.
try all the gears. I usually replace the chain and cassette at the same time as I'm 
