Adam had a very pleasant surprise after our ride with the youth team of the local youth cycling club today: they lent Adam the club youth racing bike! It is way more modern compared to my racing bike(but wait…). It is a very nice Giant, with a triple front crankset and a 9-speed(!) cassette in the rear, with fancy brake handle mounted shift levers, semi-aero rims, radially laced front spokes, and a carbon-fiber fork. The thing is made of aluminum, and weighs only about 22 lbs or less. The club president told me that Giant donated the bike to the club, and Adam will be the third junior to ride it. I’ll try to take pictures tomorrow.

   The ‘but wait’ part comes from me: I gave Adam my old racing pedals with clips. The bike’s previous riders no doubt upgraded it with their own modern clipless pedals and took them when they graduated to their own bike. So tonight, I was teaching Adam how to clip in and clip out, terms from old school cycling before there were clipless pedals. I made him ride around the block and clip and clip out every other house. He says he’s got it down. I suppose later this summer we may get proper shoes and then clipless pedals at the same time. The club we just joined is the Ann Arbor Velo Club .

   There’s a few things the kids learned from us ‘old school'(like how to mail real letters with pen and paper, what a record player is, etc), and I’m really glad that he’s learning this old school thing about the pedals before he graduates to clipless. I’m especially happy he’s keen on road cycling. Tomorrow is our first race!