Monday, February 9, 2009

56 stoplights.. and one ankle that won't unclip.

Duda and his supporters - only Eduardo, the Mr. of Mr. & Mrs. Brazil there on the left, raced the crit. But the rest of us yelled GO UNCLE DUDA! every time he went around.
Ui, Duda, Jack, Ryan, Kimberly, Glenn, and me on the runway.
Me: I'm bored (and kind of smirky), let's go.
Ryan: Shut up or I'll slap you.

My foot looks like Rainbow Fish, that whiner from the kids' books - it's black underneath my ankle, kind of green above and in front of it, and red from all the icing. SO pretty. My left ankle does not have the strength/flexibility to unclip from the speedplays on my road bike. My tri bike has look pedals that are a little less squirrely, but it's having a sleepover with the dirt bikes at Erik's house, and I don't feel like going to Kailua to get it.

Similar to my inability to breathe to my left side is my inability to unclip with my right foot at a stoplight. I tried, I just fell over to the left with my right leg out. It's an uncontrollable sequence.. unclip, lean left. So unclipping to the right is out.

I'm bike commuting anyway. Today's goal was to get from my front door to the Y without unclipping. I almost fell over at Punchbowl and Beretenia, the very last light. I can't do that dead-stop balance thing that Pretty Billy does. I counted along the way - there are 56 stoplights on my lovely little urban commute. I didn't run any reds, and I made it, but just barely.

Also, I have a silver lining to share about getting really, really out of swim shape. If you swim 6k in a week after three months of 0k/week, your 100 m splits will fall about 5 seconds in a span of 7 days. They're still 5 seconds too slow.. but they're inching back down.

12 comments:

  1. I'm totally laughing at your unclipping with the other foot and falling over issue. I have the same problem! Hope the ankle feels better. Awesome job balancing too, I'm always jealous of those nifty roadies that can do that! :)

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  2. Same here, although I unclip my right - no way can I unclip the left one first. Tried and fell right in front of my house to which my husband couldn't stop laughing.

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  3. See - there is always a bright side to everything! :) You'll get those 5 sec/100 in no time. I hope your ankle feels better soon!

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  4. Your ankle sounds purty! Hope it recovers soon. 56 lights is a lot of lights...I thought you were on a island? Sounds more like Manhattan.

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  5. I had to deal with the not being able to clip out last month when I rolled my ankle. It sucks to have to think about clipping out and stepping down with the other leg. I bet if you go around through Waimanalo and over the Pali there are less lights. Just trying to make it easier for ya :-)

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  6. Everybody needs a good stoplight, clip-stuck fall every now and then right? At least you have an excuse, I do it with good ankles!

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  7. We just read the Rainbow Fish last night. I don't understand why that stupid fish has to give away what makes it pretty just to have friends. Seems lame to me.

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  8. be careful out there with you and your unclippable self.
    and heal fast.

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  9. Seeing pictures of you guys outside, in shorts, in the evening, makes me so jealous! I had to drive all the way across our state to do a friggin' duathlon in order to ride my bike outside. Now it's back on the trainer...where it will sit for another month. Enjoy that fact that you 'get to' unclip from your pedal at lights. The only time I get to unclip is when I have to change the DVD.

    Hope all is well...and getting better,
    Roger

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  10. 56 lights - yikes!

    I also can only unclip on one side. I have tried (and suffered the consequenses) with the other!

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  11. Oh Rach - this clipping and unclipping talk is NOT doing any good for my motivation! I read in fear for you!!! Am I a wussy or what???

    Hope you heal fast!

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  12. Have you tried unclipping by turning your ankle inwards towards the bike instead of outwards? Due to many ankle sprains I have used this method of unclipping for years. Works with Look and Shimano pedals.

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