- An idiot's fix for a sticking cleat,
- And getting past a particularly annoying bump on my return to cycling.
I asked for advice. Everybody said the problem had to be a worn cleat that needed to be replaced. Possible. But I use metal SPD cleats. So I kinda doubted the worn out scenario. Frustrated, I decided just to put on the bike shoe and to do a wild stomp dance out on our concrete balcony. To my amusement, the cleat became loose and began sounding like one of my old tap shoes. When I started to remove the cleat, a very small sprinkling of fine sand dribbled out. (Where it was hiding, I have no clue!) I cleaned, reassembled, and lubed the cleat. On Sunday's ride, the cleat worked like new. (Happiness...) So an idiot can sometimes get lucky.
Second: the annoying bump. Al and I are bicycle tourists. We travel and use our bikes to see things. Our style of travel needs us to comfortably ride 50-75 miles a day, day after day. I'm getting back to being able to do that, but these things come in stages. Right now I'm not where I need to be with endurance. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is where I started and 10 is where I need to be, well, I'm about at a 5. In perfect conditions, I'm golden. But a puff of wind in my face or a rolling hill or two can mess with me.
My "training" combines long, slowish rides and high intensity intervals. I'm now at a curious place. A lot of the time I finish a week thinking, "Hey, I'm back!" Then, on the very next ride, I'll push a little harder than usual, the bottom drops out on me, and I'm frantically munching energy blocks in order to keep pedaling.
We've moved our standard rides back to metrics, and I'm looking at this stage as a great excuse for caffeine and pastry stops on rides. At least for the next month until my fitness level kicks up a bit. Until then, it's caffeine and pastries: the work-out food of a resourceful idiot.
