Thanks for sharing about all your great rides I love to read them.

Thursday I took the plunge and went clipless, All day Friday I fretted and stewed "What if I hate them and they take all the fun out of spontaneous riding" (Duh that I would think I could put my old pedals back on and sell the shoes I bought on clearance)

Friday evening was spent first on the trainer to figure out how those darn things work then graduating to the park clipping in, clipping out, riding in endless circles, at last taking the final test of going out of the park on the bike path, climbing a short hill, stopping at a stop sign AND waiting for the train. I graduated!

Now being full of confidence I heard of a couple of guys doing a "heart monitor ride" - keeping a steady pace and keeping their heart at a certain level - That interpreted to no faster than a 13-15 mph average.
I thought "I am going to give it the old college try" my furthest ride to date has been 35 miles (last weekend and prior to that 30 miles 3 summers ago) Usually I do 15-20 miles.

So armed with my new shoes and pedals I met them for the ride. They volunteered to ride on either side of me at the stop signs ) All told by the end of the ride I logged 48 miles, I was able to clip out with no problem even when almost running off the road and almost falling - (However clipping in is another story.)

Climbed a relatively short but 10% gradient hill 30 miles into the ride and lived to talk at the top.

Enjoyed the geese, chokecherry blossoms, apple blossoms, lilacs, open fields, light traffic - basically reconfirmed why North Dakota is a great place to ride! (ignore the naysayers on cross country trips that say the plains are boring and have to be gotten through to get to the other side, They just haven't learned how to see)

We won't talk about the wind )

Eclectic