The next battle of the clipless - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

05-31-2004, 05:57 PM

I went out today with a friend for what I thought would be an easy day to
get used to the clipless. We rode in this strange area near our houses.
Right in the middle of a rural residential area is an old mining area known
as Logan Cut or "the cuts" of about 8000 acres.

It's an area everyone knows about but none of my friends or acquantances
have been in. As mentioned, it's an historic hydrolically mined area.

Well, it turned out to be the most tecnically difficult riding I've ever
done. We rode for six hours (with breaks) and only covered 25 miles! It
really got to me: going up steep (10 to 15%) hills, full of ruts, and
suddenly hitting deep mud or a patch of wet mining tailings (about the
consistency of talcum powder). No way I could clip out in time. I went down
five (yes five) times. None the worse for wear except a skinned elbow and
bruises, but I'm a little scared of my bike and pedals right now. I
DEFINITELY need to practice on the clipless on less technical roads
(pavement sounds real interesting about now - at least red lights don't
appear suddenly with no warning!)

--
Mark Rehmar
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