Update

I hit a new personal best in mileage today, a 60 mile round-trip to Leavenworth, Kansas. I expected my legs to feel like warmed over jello tonight but that's really not the case. I've been getting in two long rides a week and it's starting to pay off. I managed today's ride in 2 1/2 hours each way. I probably would have been slower coming back but I took a three hour break to visit with a friend in Leavenworth. The only hitch in today's ride was a map reading mistake that lead me three miles down a dead-end road. Rather than running parallel to a set of train tracks, as I thought, the road simply stopped. Instead of back-tracking I chose to follow the tracks on foot to a point where the road re-connected with my path. Stumbling down a rail-bed in bicycle shoes for 1/2 a mile is no easy task but I did find a stray rail-road spike for my troubles. If you'd like to see how I made the mistake look at the northern border of Wyandotte Lake Park in Kansas City, Kansas on any online map service. I was on 77th street headed north and thought it would veer west and merge with Wolcott Dr. on the other side of the park. This will be an important lesson when I get into the nitty-gritty of my route planning, details of which will come in a future blog.

A new pair of shoes and a long ride...

My shoes came in the mail the other day. I did a few slow circles around the neighborhood to get used to the change. It's rather odd to be attached to the bike. I'm sure, with time, I'll get used to it. For now it gives me something else to focus on while I'm in the saddle.

I tried out the new foot-wear on a long ride today. I rode 52 miles through 4.5 hours with a half hour break at the folk's place. That's from Westport to 199th and Metcalf and back, if you're familiar with the K.C. area. Needless to say, I'm a bit tired this evening.

The shoes worked very well. I was able to engage and disengage the clipping mechanism with relative ease by the end of the ride. The actual sensation of powering through my upstroke will still take some getting used to but I'm sure it will come naturally by the end of the summer.