decidedlyodd

A skeleton crew (Jeff, Ben and I) of our STP team met up for the Different Spokes ride from Gasworks Park to Seward Park. Ken also went on the ride, but he’s fairly active with DS already. We rode straight down there, stopped in Seward Park to rest in the sun for a bit, rode some more back, stopped for lunch in Leschi then continued on back to Gasworks.

Seward Park was amazing today with the sunny (albeit still a bit chilly) weather. Here’s Jeff, Ben and I kicking it at the park:

And here’s my bike resting in the daisies, which I just thought looked kind of cool:

I showed up about 40 minutes early so that I’d have time to adjust my new clipless pedals and do some practice riding on them around the parking lot. Just like the guy at the bike shop yesterday said, I did fall once but after that I was pretty motivated not to again. I was in the parking lot practicing when I came to a stop without disconnecting, then tipped over. Ya, ya–classic newbie mistake I’m sure.

The ride was mostly on city streets (except for part of the Burke-Gilman trail and trails inside Seward Park) and about 25 miles round trip. It was definitely shorter than last week’s ride, but it was a good length for a first ride on the new bike. I think the cleats on the bottom of my shoes need to be adjusted some more since the placement directly over the pedals differs between my two feet. One foot got numb a few times, which I’m sure isn’t good. The seat definitely needs to be changed out, but I expected that. My butt isn’t actually very sore right now, but when I’m sitting on the bike it’s rather uncomfortable. I also need to invest in a pair of riding gloves. On my hybrid, the posture is upright enough that little weight was resting on my hands and wrists, but on this one it’s a totally different story.

Overall though, it was much, much better riding the road bike than my hybrid. For one thing, I was actually coasting for significant portions of the ride! The hybrid only coasts if I’m really going downhill. For a lot of the ride, I was going at a fairly relaxed pace and just felt like my legs could go forever. With some more adjustments and some more riding accessories, I should have a really great setup.