DG...........Every time you push back your cycling boundaries I'm reminded of your observation long ago that you were perfectly happy to be a low mileage, low zoot rider. You are a cycling Everyman doing all the things that everyone else here has done or gone through at some point in time. Many smiles of self-recognition for lots of us I'll bet.

My bit of advice: Make sure your left foot goes in the left clip, and your right goes in the right-- not reversed. It's more efficient pedaling that way.