Gorge-ous

I took my new bike out for its first proper spin today - 98.7 miles from Bath, the Bristol, Clevedon, Yatton, Cheddar, Wedmore, Glastonbury, Wells, Cheddar, Chew Lake, Saltford and back to Bath.

The 98 miles bit is mildly frustrating because I've been trying to do a 100+ mile ride for a while now and this is the closest I've got - if I'd known, I'd have added a little bit somewhere. Unfortunately, I didn't realise until I'd got back home and plugged the route into RunKeeper.

Oh well... there's always another day.

The second time that I passed thru Cheddar I left by climbing the Cheddar Gorge (hence the photo), a route that I've been meaning to do for a while. It's a great climb actually. I was worried about hill climbing on the new bike because it doesn't have a granny-gear, but actually it was fine. I rode the whole route without having to walk any of the hills. It wasn't often I could say that on the old bike.

The cleats continue to bug me - I now feel very apprehensive about having my feet effectively tied to the bike. Still, they are much better from an efficiency point of view because you can exert effort for the whole of the pedal rotation if you need to. Hill-climbing in cleats is interesting. On steep climbs, once you have started, you are pretty much committed to completing the climb... because you don't have time to take off the pressure and get your feet out of the cleat before you fall over. It's definitely taking some getting used to.

Other than getting used to the cleats, the bike is a joy to ride - much more responsive than the old bike. All in all, it was a great day.