Just a bad day all around

Yesterday afternoon will go down in the annals of [my personal] history as one of the worst. Imagine a 10 mph headwind - just enough to slow you down significantly. Next, add 95º heat (oh, but a dry heat), two bottles of warm Accelerade, and last of all but not least, a new pair of top-end cycling shoes.

I know what you're thinking - the shoes sound like a good thing, right? Right. Problem was that I was unable to clip into my pedals with these shoes. I had installed the cleats tightly and evenly, so what the heck is going on? I hadn't gone a mile before I had to unpack my old shoes and reinstall the cleats. It was hot, I was frustrated.

And the cleats were installed backward and on the wrong shoes/feet.

This results in the cleat fitting too close to the center of the shoe and further away from the ball of the foot. Halfway home I had the cold sweats as I had also forgotten my lunch and was too stubborn to borrow someone's car to feed myself. I had one cent on me, so delivery was out. Just stick it out, dude. You can do it.

I made it home, realized my error(s) in judgement, and quickly resolved them. Read the instructions for the pedals, drank a gallon of ice water, and took off to pick up my newest bike (bike #3, the Raleigh). They had left the 8-speed chain on with the 9-speed cassette on the rear hub. This resulted in much skipping while standing on the gears going up hills. The ride in this morning was flawless, and I'm now looking forward to converting my favorite bike, the Giant, to the bigger chainring.

Whee.