Today's weather was unusual. The winds were a bit unpredictable. It definitely wasn't a tailwind on the way out or back. It was overcast, in the 80's or so. Today was a test of my cleat positioning. I tried widening the stance just a bit. Comparing the differences between the previous configuration and this one, I'm favoring the previous configuration. Balance was definitely not spot on today. I was constantly adjusting my heal-in / heal-out. I noticed that my right shoe was heal-in just a bit too much. Looking down as I'm out of the saddle, I noticed that my foot wasn't favorably aligned with the pedal. To me, that means that I'm losing efficiency and the sense of overall balance. I want to try my other SPD shoes and pedals to compare and see which shoe/pedal system I prefer. I really want to get the Speedplay gear dialed in, but it's proving to be real tedious. Once of the problems I was having was that I couldn't adjust the heal-in position on the right cleat. the screw is almost stripped, and I'm afraid of making it worse. As for the ride in general. I felt about average. But the unusual weather made it difficult to gauge. I added Banducci to the ride just to get some extra climbing and milage in. I felt good up the wall and the remainder of the climb. I was able to hold high tempo going up most of Banducci. Gear (aside from the pedals/shoe situation) is working great. Concentration was mostly on my pedal/shoe positioning and balance. Balance, as mentioned, still remains to be perfected. Ailments consisted of minor pains in the right calf muscle that lasted 10 to 15 seconds, almost not worth mentioning. The new shorts are well fitted. The second pair of shorts feels a bit loose on the lower grippers. I'll likely return them. I'm getting the 3rd pair soon. Other notes, I saw 3 deer, one female, and 2 youths. I saw a glider that was just off to my left as I was making my way back on Highline.