New shoes

Funny how something minor like new shoes can cause consternation and disruption. I went to get a bad squeak checked and ended up not only getting that taken care of (it was an inner seal inside something or other) but checked on my cleats too and lo and behold, the suggestion was for me to get new shoes. Of course all this came from the bike store folks, but the shoes I have been wearing were given to me about 6 years ago, so I HAVE gotten my money's worth. The new shoes are different but I will get used to them. The great thing about them is that they don't clack when I walk (the others' cleat guards were worn down to their nubs, exposing the metal cleats and making a bad noise and causing me to slip around when I walked.) But the other, even better part, is that the new ones clip into my pedals very easily. With the other shoes, I was having to jam my feet in , hoping they'd catch. Lately it was taking four or five attempts to get the shoes seated in the pedals' cleats, and those attempts were often made while I was out on the road. Not good.

Today I rode a fairly easy 20 miles. Last weekend I rode 40 miles on Sunday and 40 on Monday. It still is amazing to think that soon I will be riding 60 miles every day. But, to be fair, that will be my only responsibility during that time. No work, no obligations other than to ride. That will be good. These days a ride is still a big event. And it is often only a part of my whole day. I try to convince myself that I will be fine during the actual ride, but aches rear their head and fear of failing takes its place. It's a hard one to squash. I'm being fairly public about this whole ride. I want to be successful on this ride and with this venture.

One more thing: I did get my vein checked out and it seems to be fine. It swells a bit sometimes and a tiny capillary pops but it does not hurt and my doctor is not concerned. So I am not either.
Good news for me.