First ride with clipless pedals/shoes (Look delta style). 23 miles Sunday, pleasantly cool evening. I chose a route with little traffic to practice clipping/unclipping. Average speed was 15 mph, same as usual, but I was concentrating on spinning and remembering to unclip if I needed to stop, rather than trying to see if the pedals and shoes were magically faster. They do feel better on climbs.

The shoes are fine. The pedals feel like they might be a bit more efficient, although it'll take some practice to modify my pedaling style. But I'm not sure about the cleats. I went with the red delta cleats with float. Feels weird, like ice skating while pedaling. I may get accustomed to it. But I was used to old style toe clips and cleated shoes with no float. So I might eventually switch to the black zero float cleats or the gray cleats with less float.

Had to stop once to raise the seat post a bit to compensate for the thicker soles/cleats. And to adjust and snug down the cleats again. Those screws/bolts need to be really tight or the cleats will keep shifting.

Did my first century on my new flat-bar road bike Saturday. I have a two day-double century in 2 weeks so this weekends ride went a long way in building confidence for that event. Due to a surgery last October I have only had the month of January to train (I was actually only cleared to ride last week but that will be our secret).

Weather in Arizona has been amazing but a little scary-with temps predicted in the 80's next few weeks could be an early and hot summer. Gotta make hay!

21.1 miles (34.0k). The sun tried to come out but never did. Ugly, cold day.

2018: 271m (435k) ♂ Total: 21,254m (34,205k)

How was the ride comfort? Any problems with the limited hand position?

I plan to keep my road bike with conventional drop bars but I'm still experimenting with bars on the hybrid. There are days when neck pain makes the road bike impractical for rides longer than 30 miles. The hybrid is a little slower, and comfortable all day for the neck, but with some wrist pain on long rides due to the limited hand positions.

I've swapped the hybrid between the original flat bar (actually very slightly arced with no rise), and riser bars with 1-1/2" rise and slight back sweep... and back and forth again. Now I'm leaning toward trying a flat bar with more arc, maybe even an albatross bar with very slight rise flipped upside down.

I looked at other handlebar options but was not ready to concede on the current setup as it is a new bike and I really like the looks of it as is. So I added ~ 4" round/contoured style bar ends, but did not like the spacing. It was not that comfortable and opened my arms up for an even broader "wingspan" and subsequently, more drag. So at the suggestion of someone here on this site I moved the same bar ends to the inside of the brake/shifter levers just below the center-bar taper.

This actually works really well. It is almost looks like a short aerobar setup on a tribike. Steering is not quite as stable as on the bar but it leaves your hands close enough to the bar & brake/shifting controls where it is a quick movement back if needed. The best part is that forces your elbows in (actually tighter than on my drop bike). Bending forward you can really get aero-although not what I would consider to be comfortable for significant distances (but I feel the same way when on the drops anyway, which I seldom use). The main difference is that is serves as a dramatic departure from the normal grip of the flat bar allowing for enough hand position variation to remain comfortable on longer rides.

My original intent was to go back to my regular roadie (Canondale Six) for my ride to Mexico in 2 weeks. However, I feel comfortable and confident enough with this bike that I plan to ride it instead.

'bob

Sounds good. Must be reasonably comfortable if you managed a century. Interesting alternative position for the bar ends. Might be interesting to try an aero bar setup too. Some tri bikes and TT bikes have been set up with pretty much flat bars and aero bars, no conventional drops. I've wondered about trying that to see if it's easier on my neck over longer rides.

This is my current setup.

48 miles on the hardest ride of my life. It's winter, 2" of snow three days ago, temps have been 30° to 45°, today it was 70°, briefly, but cooled down to the 60°s. I've learned the hard way not to trust the weather man, so I started out with my thin tights, long sleeve jersey, 2 socks on each foot, arm, warmers and jacket. Quickly took them off, jacket is convertible so I took off the sleeves off and rode with the vest unzipped, I had nowhere to put the vest, every pocket was full of clothes. Everything was great until I turned around to head home. 30-40 mph head winds the whole way home, gusts were horrendous, knocking me around. When the wind was from the side I had to lean into it. Sometimes I was going less than 7 mph on flat surfaces. It was like a very steep climb home from mile 24 to mile 48. Now, 45 minutes later I'm still so dizzy I can hardly stand up. I won't forget this ride. The 70° temps were amazing, first time in just shorts in months, but I payed dearly for it on the ride home.

Kudos to you for that ride. I hate any wind over 6mph (wind wimp).

21.1 miles (34.0k). Started out really cold but warmed up quickly in the sunshine. Shoulder healing nicely.

2018: 292m (469k) ♂ Total: 21,275m (34,239k)

Took a new route from Security to Colorado Springs that didn't have any dirt! Mostly roads with bike lanes and a few city streets, plus a LOT more hills so I and the new trike got a good workout! 20.20 miles total, cloudy and a bit breezy!

Took my New-To-Me 80s Miyata Ninety for a 10 mile test spin today. Got it at the local bike Co-op, and it rode like a dream. $35 plus tax....

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29 miles Tuesday afternoon. Second ride with clipless pedals/shoes. More interesting than I'd planned:

• First successful fall (soft grass, no injuries). As I fell I hollered "I knew this would happennnn..."
• First failed fall (really tried to fall at intersection but managed to snatch my feet free, although I was sliding comically and finally waved the car waiting behind me around).
• First successful bunny hops. Nothing exciting, just little hops over minor potholes and cracks in the pavement. Just curious about the technique. Even with a relatively heavy older steel road bike it wasn't too difficult.

I need more clipping/unclipping practice. Sometimes I get clipped in the first try. Sometimes I fumble for several tries.

And the floating cleats are misleading. A couple of times when I thought I'd twisted my feet far enough to unclip, nope... still clipped in. I would have thought the tactile feedback would be enough, but on some really rough roads it's hard to be sure whether I've unclipped. But clipping in is so loud it's easy to be sure.

20.4 miles (32.8k). I've been alternating between the three bikes everyday. Funny how the identical route netted me .7 less miles on the Roubaix Pro. Identical SunDing wireless speedos, less than $10 ea. from China. Close enough.

2018: 312m (502k) ♂ Total: 21,296m (34,272k)

Yesterday we had the A/C on, this morning it was 43º when I got out of bed. Wife wanted to ride but not at that temp so we waited until 11:00 when the temp was 57º. Did a nice 16 mile ride with her and some pretty nasty crosswinds. Temp at the end of the ride was 73º. Should be warmer tomorrow morning. :)

Yes, we have the yo-yo weather going on too. Barely over 40F yesterday and 60F today. I got out later than I wanted for today's ride. But got in 93 minutes before the school buses started delivering the rotten little monsters.

With a gusty 20 mph southerly wind I first went to my favorite long east-west road for a few laps. I then headed south to the neighborhood with all long north-south roads for a little more workout. On the way there I traveled through the city park where I was nearly left crossed by someone exiting the Senior Citizen Center. That was a wake-up call.

Yes. With an unseasonable 52 degree sunny day, I couldn't resist putting my bike in the back of the van for a day's end spin of 12 miles or so. Still getting to know this bike.

[IMG]http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/z...psukwo53c1.jpg[/IMG]

Weather permitted an 11 mile ride after work today. Very nice.

Wind, wind and more wind. :( In spite of the wind, I had one of my rest rides of 2018 today. Did 25 with my buddy and 15 solo miles. Except for the 10 mile, subdivision part of our route, we managed to keep a pretty decent pace during the rest of the ride. There seemed to be more than usual traffic in the subdivision today.

21.1 miles (32.8k). Except for a few weeks of intense cold it's been a mild winter (very little rain/snow). Another sunny day. I put a new (slightly used) Shimano 105 Hollowtech compact (50/34t) on the '06 Tarmac. Lightened the bike by a few ounces and it's better gearing for an oldster like me, especially climbing hills (34t vs 39t chain ring). Looks pretty sharp too (all black).

2018: 333m (536k) ♂ Total: 21,317m (34,306k)

30 miles Thursday afternoon to take advantage of 16 mph wind with 30 mph gusts. The north wind coincided with a goal to work on my climbing. I picked a route with the climbs assisted by tailwinds and downhill segments into head wind, so there was no way to loaf or coast. Even the downhill segments felt like climbing, and while the uphills had a tail wind it's still a climb.

Legs are dead and sore. I think I'm pulling up too much with the new clipless pedals, straining the top of the knee. Gonna need a couple of days to rest. Good workout though.

Wow, that is really purple!:D

19.0 miles (30.6k). Had to return home for a battery replacement on the wireless speedo, 3rd battery worked. Fortunately the coin batteries are inexpensive and plentiful. So that cut my time a little short. Another cold-to-start sunny day.
Heard a report that on the California side of the Sierra-Nevada mountain range they are only at 13% of their normal snowfall. Looks like another drought for them.

2018: 352m (567k) ♂ Total: 21,336m (34,336k)

Chilly today here (teens) and I'm sick of the trainer and the gym so I went to one of our local parks that has a Disc Golf course in the woods that is hilly. I walked it and got 3 miles of up and down paths and stairways. I really enjoyed it.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4703/...3801a6b3_c.jpg020218-2 by trsnrtr, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4719/...1325c44f_c.jpg020218-1 by trsnrtr, on Flickr

13 miles in mid-20s temps in Peoria, IL, today.

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Did the usual 'Le Tour de You-Know-Where', just longer and more random. . .