Buoyed by my very successful club ride on Saturday (in my opinion) and having met some inspiring (and funny) people at the Skyline Information Day in the afternoon. I decided that Sunday would be the day to try out the cleats and the spd pedals. They increase your speed, make the cycling more efficient & by the sounds of it when you're wearing them the bike practically rides itself - happy days if I'm to ride it 500kms! Our leader Kenny at the info day said that you shouldn't really be considering going to Paris without them, Everyone told me, keep the settings loose, have a go in the park, there's nothing to it. So having first tried in the garden and nearly knocking myself out on the side of the house, I decided that the confined space of our backyard was not the place and I ventured to the park. Proper shoes in my backpack, my strategy was to try with one normal shoe and one shoe clipped in. I had a go and happy days, it seemed relatively easy, so I ventured to two shoes....and the fun commenced. I was practicing alongside a small boy on a skateboard, let's just say I made him look very very cool. In the space of an hour, I must have fallen off at least 10 times. My faith in my bike riding skills waning at every scrape. On the flipside, my faith the human race however as been restored as everyone was very helpful and sympathetic - as they tried to unleash me from the bike which I was clumsily attached to every time a scraped the floor! But I persevered and in the end it started to get easier, so I decided I could make the 5 minute journey home. All I needed to do, was anticipate when I needed to stop, take my time and keep calm. Easy! Apparently not, when faced with a car drawing up on my left side, I saw it, I put on the brakes to slow down, ground to a halt, did a comedy wobble and totalled across the pavement - oh dear, this still needs more practice. The driver looked totally bemused and a little bit terrified - luckily I was nowhere near him. God only knows what might happen if I have to react quickly.
I took photos of my wounds which I had planned to share with you....but frankly it wasn't pleasant & no one wants to see gratuitous gore for the sake of sympathy, plus you may all think I'll never make it and as a result not bother hitting the donate button. I'm told I'm overthinking things and if I'm more confident, it'll become second nature, I seem to remember being told the same about skiing and I never really mastered that if I'm honest. So I'm afraid Kenny, I know you're my leader, and I know you know so much more than me, but honestly if I'm going to get to Paris in one piece, we may need a radical re-think!
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