Cleat Defeat

So I feel like everything is falling apart. Sometimes literally.

I've needed new cleats for my bike shoes for a really long time. These are the first cleats I bought 6 years ago, and they've spent a lot of time clipping in and clipping out and scuffling through parking lots. I knew 3 months ago I should replace my cleats. I knew 6 months ago. I knew a year ago. But I waited until 3 days before I ship my bike of to Hawaii to swap them out.

It's very important to fit the cleats to your shoes properly. So I was meticulous with marking the exact position of the screws on each shoe. I wrapped scotch tape around the shoes and carefully marked the center of each of screw from every angle. Then I removed the cleats.

That's when I realized that since the screws screw into the shoe, they never move. It's pointless to mark them; it's the cleat that slides and twists around the screws. So all of my measuring was for nothing and there was no way for me to match my previous settings. Tonight I went out for a short ride, stopping every now and then to tweak the cleats. And it was driving me crazy. Every little twitch I felt in my legs, I worried "is that just a regular twitch? Or is that something caused by my shoe being slightly twisted?" And it kind of feels like I'm pedaling on my toes, but again I don't know if that's just because the new cleats simply feel different or if they're in the wrong position. Even now, 2 hours after the ride I THINK I can feel...something... in my right leg. Did I actually subtly twist it? Or is it just psychosomatic? I'm second-guessing everything

And there's another strange thing: I brought my bike in for a complete strip-down/rebuild tune-up, and it felt great afterwards. Except for one little thing: I feel like I'm always leaning to the left. I can't explain it. If I look at the bike, everything looks normal and even and balanced but when I'm riding, I feel ever-so-slightly twisted. Maybe I'm physically asymmetrical and when I had my bike-fitting last year, the guy compensated for it and these new people didn't put the bike back in the exact same configuration.

I don't know, it's just weird. In 3 days I am shipping my bike to Hawaii and it doesn't feel like my bike. Great.