Floating shoes?!

So, it's now seven weeks to my first race (not that I'm counting) and I thought that it would be a good idea to give my new cycling shoes a spin seeing as it wasn't raining and I want to get used to them before I start racing in them.  I also seem to remember Fred spending about two hours one evening fixing the cleats to the shoes as the space is at a premium on the bottom of the shoe and they were quite tight to put on.

Anyway, they seemed okay as we set out, so I put my overshoes on and we set out along the main road.  I then heard a "ping" sound, which I thought seemed to come off Fred's mudguard in front.  As we rode along, I began to think, "hmm, there seems to be a LOT of float in the left pedal", but put it down to the cleat being brand new and not worn (although thinking about it later, that would probably make it stiffer).  We got to the traffic lights at the bottom of Church Road, Urmston and I had to practically twist my left foot 180 degrees to get it out of the pedal!  Hmm, interesting...

As we continued along, everything was going okay, apart from it being a headwind (never very good, unless you're given advice by a certain somebody who insists that "the wind's your friend") until I stood up on the pedals to sprint for the Warburton sign on the hill coming out of Partington and my left foot moved underneath me - not at all pleasant!  And yes, as a result, Fred beat me in that sprint.  I made sure I won all the others though!

I wanted to try and keep the pace a bit higher, bearing in mind my first race is now seven weeks' away, and from Partington all the way through to Flixton we kept up an average speed of around 18 mph at least - the fact that there was a couple trying (in vain) to catch us did spur me on somewhat (oh! what am I like?).  I was extremely proud of myself for keeping the speed up and for keeping up with Fred; that definitely deserved a pat on the back!

It wasn't until we were home and I had taken my shoes off that Fred noticed that I was missing a screw from my left shoe and that the cleat wasn't on properly - no wonder there seemed to be a lot of float!!!

For everybody who is interested, here is the link to the route (although I managed to stop the clock three miles from home - serves me right for putting the hammer down and making life difficult for that poor unsuspecting couple!):

http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/937555

I've now entered a 10 mile time trial too - the events are starting to add up...