I've gone clipless!

On Wednesday, I drove up to the triathlon store and bought myself a present -- clipless pedals and cycling shoes (and cleats, of course). I was very excited to try out my new pedals, but much to my chagrin, I found every size spanner in my house except for the 15mm spanner that I needed, so I had to wait a day (DH went out and bought me a spanner). On Thursday, I got everything set up and tried out my new pedals on the trainer that I've borrowed from the team. Clipping in and out was easy enough, so I was ready to try out my bike on the road.

I took a short spin yesterday, to make sure everything was ok, because I was planning on a long ride today. I had no problems at all, apart from the fact that it takes me a few seconds to clip my left foot in and sometimes it slips off the pedal in the process.

Today, I went on a hilly 65 km ride with a few teammates. The pedals and shoes were great! Maybe it was just my imagination, but the hills seemed a bit easier. However, I did fall over once. I was stopping on the side of the road to wait for the teammates who were behind me. I was already clipped out on the left, but I wanted to put my right foot on the sidewalk and I was leaning right. I was trying to clip out, but it didn't happen in time and I just toppled right over. One teammate was standing right there watching me and much to my embarrassment, two more had just reached the traffic light and saw me fall, as well. However, they said that fall was so silly that it didn't even count. LOL.

I was very happy not to fall over while riding up some of the steeper hills, which is what one teammate told me happened to her when she first went clipless. I think this will become second nature to me in no time at all!