After three days off the bike due to soccer travel with B, weather, and “stuff,” I was finally able to get out for a ride on a dank fall morning. The ride started off bad, got worse, then got mildly tolerable. There’s no one to blame but myself, for as you all know very well, I. AM. AN. IDIOT.
With ride time temps in the high 30s, I opted to just use my winter shoes rather than use wool socks and Stormshell socks. This was my first mistake.
I threw the shoes in my bike box, put the Boone in the car and headed to my launching pad just south-west of town1. I pedaled about 50 feet when I abruptly remembered that my winter shoes and the Boone don’t play well together; the clunky back heel tends to hit the left chainstay. Crap!
Since my regular shoes were in the garage back home there was no option but to continue on if I wanted to ride. This lasted about a mile before I knew I needed to do something. I pulled over, sat my ass on the edge of a recently harvested corn field, got out my multi-tool, removed the cleat, and hurriedly tried to make adjustments to the cleat so as to avoid hitting the stay.
With the cleat moved and back on the shoe I was up and ready to go, except now I couldn’t clip in. What the hell??
As much as I tried to force my way into the pedal it just wouldn’t happen and I was soon on the edge of the road again. I thought it was just the combination of soft sand clogging the cleat and an SPD pedal that hasn’t been cleaned in about a month. Twasn’t.
I tried to just ride unclipped and make the best of it but it just wasn’t happening. I figured I would try ONE more time to get things right, so I pulled over AGAIN, got out the multi-tool, sat my ass on the edge of yet another cornfield, took off my shoe, and Ohhhh….
Keep in mind, I know and you know I am an idiot, but this was idiocy beyond my normal level of jovial imbecile/crap bike mechanic skills. It seems in my rush to get the cleat moved and back on my way as quickly as possible I accidentally installed the cleat upside down. After 35 minutes I rode about 3 miles and was ready to chuck the whole bike into a field all because of not paying attention. (Insert the longest, deepest, saddest sigh ever to be sighed here).
With the cleat flipped properly and moved, I was FINALLY on my way.
Due to the 30+ minute delay, I was behind schedule and had to adapt the route as I rolled. Also, the cleat was engaged, but sooo nowhere near where it should be, so I knew I needed to cut things short to avoid any knee and/or back issues.
I somehow managed to at least break the 20-mile mark and get a few photos before I had to split for home. This will go down as one of the worst rides I’ve had in recent memory, and I take full credit for every crap second of it. Like the old saying goes: “There’s no cure for stupid.”
I guess all I can hope is that I learn from my mistakes. Yeah, right!
Later.