Today was a welcome reprieve from the searing sun. It was hot, but cloudy. The winds were from the South. My legs felt good out the door, but half of that has to do with the fact that I had an immediate tail-wind. In my quest to determine the mystery clicks on my bike, I swapped out the existing pedals with some pedals I had from way back when. They have less surface area than the current ones. I wore my mountain bike shoes and I must say that it felt very comfortable, especially when walking. I'm not sure if it was the pedal, cleats, or the shoes, but I felt more comfortable and better balanced. As for the ride. I was able to make it to the top of the descent in about 8 minutes or so. A fast time to be expected from a tail-wind. The descent was a pleasure. I soft pedaled the entire downhill and out of the saddle on the risers. I made it to the bottom in under 23 minutes. The uphill was pretty much what I anticipated. Extra difficult in the open areas with headwinds, hot, humid and exhausting. Despite the fact, I did good time. I had only slight soreness in the lower back, a bit of numbness in the right hand and that's pretty much it for ailments. Concentration was spot on. I was able to focus on really getting my legs squared on the pedals and staying on top. Gear is working well. I had no mystery clicks today. Whether to give credit to the swapped out pedals remains to be a certainty, but highly likely. I'll be using them for the next 2 rides at minimum. I'm considering purchasing different pedals as I felt much more comfortable on these. Balance was much better today as I mentioned. I was really on top and squared for the most part. Other notes, I have to update my checklist, as I left out about 3 details.