I swore I wouldn't do it!

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Today I did something I swore I would never do... and I'm so excited about it!

Eight years ago, I watched Derick mount his bike, wearing a type of shoe that I had never seen before.  I remember looking at his bike and asking, "What shoes are you wearing to ride your bike?"  He, very matter-of-fact-ly, replied with, "My bike shoes." 

Duh...

Oh... Well, of course.  My bad...

And then he straddled the bike and took off, and his feet were actually ATTACHED to the pedals.  As in, stuck.  As in, when he lifts his foot, the pedal comes too! 

Wwwhhhaaaaa!?

I laughed and laughed and laughed.  

I told him I would surely break my knees with pedals like that!  

Well, today I took my bike to Russell's Cycling & Fitness and prepared to do just that.  

These are my pedals:

And these are the shoes that attach to my new pedals:

I rode one big mile today.  And so far my knees are still in tact!  Maybe I'll get someone to shoot some pictures of me clipping in and out of my pedals.

Hopefully, it won't be while I'm falling sideways... yikes!

Sunday is my first official ride with my new pedals and shoes.  The one mile that I did, really felt good.  But, it's kinda hard to gauge how they'll work after just one mile.  The idea behind the shoes is that you get more muscle power when you pedal.  You can actually pull up as well as push down.  So you can conserve energy, you use the backs of your legs as well as the front, blah, blah, blah...

So I keep hearing that everyone falls over at least once when they get shoes like this.  So, of course I have a funny story about that. 

I have never had an accident on the bike that I have.  Close, but never actually wrecked and came off my bike.  Derick bought it for me in 2006 and I've probably ridden at least 3,000 miles on it.  Really that's not that much in 8 years.  But I kept taking breaks to have babies.  So, at least I have a good excuse!

I did get hurt one time, however.  On a long ride, we were being chased by a storm so we were racing to hide out in a barn.  Upon entering the barn, Derick and I stopped our bikes.  But, Derick lost his balance (because, remember, his feet are STUCK to the pedals) and he fell over...

On me... 

And cut my leg with his chain ring...

In his defense, he felt terrible!  He has many battle scares from his accidents.  Some of which, I hear were pretty impressive at the time!  But he has also ridden many, many more miles than me!  

Maybe I'll get some battle scars too, now that my feet will be STUCK to the pedals!

Oh, gosh, I hope not...

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