A couple of days ago, Neil commented on “Attempting to Miss the Yankee Springs Time Trial” and asked, “How does one forget their pedals…I mean…aren’t they, like, attached to the bike?”

Ideally.

Last fall, I broke the rear dropout on my Jamis (see A Surefire Cause of Inappropriate Verbiage). I went for a ride at the Tree Farm with Marty and Nick, and borrowed Marty’s Vassago Bandersnatch (see Bike P0rn: Vassago Bandersnatch Custom Build). We put the clipless pedals from my Jamis on the Bandersnatch and I rode that with glee. After the ride, we took the pedals off of the Bandersnatch and I placed them in my bike box.

About two days before the Barry Roubaix, another friend, Chris, put the replacement frame part on the Jamis. I told him I would put the pedals on the bike “tomorrow.” Of course, I forgot. I didn’t realize my mistake until I arrived at the Barry Roubaix, about two hours from my home.

The problem was that my pedals were no longer in my bike box. I had put them on my Trek EX7 for a test ride on the trails I built at Mom and Dad’s. Fortunately for me, one of my “Jon” friends had some Shimano SPDs, so he put those on the Jamis for the day, and I raced a very painful Barry Roubaix.

Two days after the Barry Roubaix, I met Glen and Ali at Highland and realized that I still had not put my pedals on my bike. Fortunately, I had my platform pedals and used those. The next day, Glen put the clipless pedals on my Jamis and put an end to the hellish pedal debacle.