Finds from the Grind - Descents and River Trail Traffic

Rolling around Griffith Park and the LA River Trail on April 14th.

This was my first long ride on some new equipment. I had changed my pedals from the Speedplay X Series that I used for 14 years to the newest version of their Zero pedals with the walkable cleats. The week prior, I had taken two days "break in" the cleats and pedals, because Zero's are notorious for having a rough learning curve. For two days, I could not clip in. At all. And then, seemingly by magic, both feet just "found themselves" clipped in. I've been on them for 7 months now, and it still feels like I clip in by accident, compared to the control I had with the original X's. Here's what I discovered - Speedplay is very serious about how tightly you screw the cleat plates together. If it's too tight, guess what? You won't be able to clip in! So, for people trying out Zero's for the first time, make sure the locking ring moves easily and don't just keep tightening the screws until they stop. Speedplay is finicky.

Anyway, I sorted that all out the week prior, so I was finally able to enjoy a ride without being stressed that I wouldn't be able to mash my pedals up a hill, or take descending turns with confidence.

This day, it was really a Spring day, because all sorts of people were out on their bikes on the LA River Trail. That Bicycle Spoke coffee shop is looking more and more attractive to stop in, but still not enough to interrupt my hours long aerobic session. Maybe when I'm older... like next year!

Here's some bonus video from that ride of cutting through the Caltech campus going east.