Kootenay Ride

Chain lubed. Tires aired up. Brake and shift cables adjusted. As I wheel the bike out the basement door, I notice it's a little cooler than I thought it would be. Oh well, I'm not going back to put another layer on. I'm already running an hour later than planned so I will just have to push a little harder to turn the furnace up. Before I swing a leg over the top tube, I enable the GPS function on my Smartphone and turn on the cool little app that records everything a bike nerd like myself would want. Finally! I quickly click in and push off only to find myself struggling to keep things up right. Of course I forgot to move the chain up the cassette after giving it a lube. The little rise up the street is enough to keep one from mashing through a few pedal strokes in that high a gear. I'm pretty quick at flicking a heel out to unclip my shoe from the unnervingly strong grip, to some people, of the clipless pedal. Twenty-four years of practice clicking in and out helps. It wasn't such an automatic move when I first started using clipless pedals. A friend and I on a loaded bicycle tour heading out of Vancouver for the Sunshine Coast had stopped just before crossing the Lion's Gate Bridge. My friend was waiting for me so I pulled up to his left and promptly fell over onto the roadway. While I was making my stop, I tried putting my left foot down the way I always have by sliding my foot back and out from under the leather toe strap. But my foot remained anchored to the pedal and I fell over like a two legged stool. As I lay on the road in a fetal potion expecting my head to be squished under the front wheel of a passing car, I twist my feet out of my new clipless pedals and stand my bike up checking for damage. Luckily for me there was no car or driver of a car to see me make the classic mistake of a cyclist toppling to the ground. My friend stood there and chuckled while he asked if I was OK.

Last time I made that mistake. Thought I was going to die.

This is just a test sample of an attempt to journal with my Smartphone and a Bluetooth folding keyboard. This will be how I post during my cross Canada bicycle tour this summer. I will be posting to Blogger and Facebook if you want to follow. I will also be using a micro usb reader to move my pictures from my camera, a Lumix DMC-TS4, to my Samsung Galaxy Nexus which has no card slot so software is involved. More on this later.