fall report

just reporting that I finally fell. At a 4 way stop talking to co-workers about lunch or return to office, I forgot I was clipped in to those damn clipless pedals. That was my 1st clipless ride. Made it the whole ride 1 1/2 hour, and forgot at the end. Oh only one of my feet can unclip easily. I ruptured my left achilles and am still building the fast twitch reflex, so I can only unclip with the right foot. I forgot about it all, the pedals, my bad foot, and started leaning, all I could do was tuck and roll.

Did the same thing my first real ride with the eggbeater pedal clips. Still have a scar vaguely resembling a gentle mauling by a bear on my left calf...

You still did better than me on my first clipless ride.

I thought I'd been doing great until yesterday. DH and my daughter came out to the driveway to see me off yesterday morning on my ride...and he said something....so I got distracted. I pulled my left shoe out and totally forgot about by right one, down I went into the curb. I slammed down right on my thigh and my wrist, which is KILLING me today. I think my pride was a little more hurt then my body which the bruises are lovely!;) Oh well, I knew it was going to happen eventually. I hope you get to feeling better!!
Jenn

I am new at this road biking thing and to hear the stories of being clipped in scare me. I'm so scared of falling. Any suggestions for ease of transistioning?

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Originally Posted by freelivez2

I am new at this road biking thing and to hear the stories of being clipped in scare me. I'm so scared of falling. Any suggestions for ease of transistioning?

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Practice practice practice. Sit on the bike in a doorway while watching tv or something and just .. click in, click out, click in, click out, click in, click out.. (you get the idea).

The idea is to build muscle memory. The more you do it, the better you'll get at it.

Oh - and fall at least once - it builds character ;)

Ride around with one bike shoe and one regular shoe. The regular shoe will always be free and you can focus on clipping in and out with the other foot. Then switch and practice with the other foot.

My suggestions are to always use the same foot to clip in and out--I use my right foot.

Also--make sure the tension on your clip and cleat are such that it is easier to clip in and out of at first. I'm not sure how to do this--but it can be done.

And stay close to home the first few times--on a flat surface. I've also heard that practicing at the park--with lots of grass around can break a fall.

GOOD LUCK! You can do this!! You'll love your clips--eventually!

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Originally Posted by k80k80

My suggestions are to always use the same foot to clip in and out--I use my right foot.

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That's a very good way to start. However I'd suggest progressively getting used to unclipping and falling on your other foot, because there might be situations in which it's unsafe or unpractical to fall on your "usual" leg.

Unclipping both feet can also help.

I've had my clipless pedals for about a month, and for the most part feel pretty used to them, BUT every once in a while, the brain just forget to signal the legs....

The first time, I just forgot about being clipped in, stopped, and gently fell over! Luckily my car in the drive way broke my fall (and didn't get scratched up -- I was more worried about that and my bike at the time). The second time, I actually had my right foot unclipped and prepared for the stop, but at the last second I somehow shifted my weight, and flopped over the other direction -- managed to get other foot free just before hitting the ground, but I had a lovely black and blue knot on the side of my knee where the bike wacked it! I feel like such a clutz! My husband is sympathetic, but I am just waiting for the first time he just falls over at a stop so that he knows how silly you feel when it happens! It's such a weird feeling as you slowly topple over!!!

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Originally Posted by freelivez2

I am new at this road biking thing and to hear the stories of being clipped in scare me. I'm so scared of falling. Any suggestions for ease of transistioning?

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This goes against what a lot of people recommend, but...
My suggestion is to simply get used to riding your road bike first, with regular shoes and flat pedals. Then get clipless pedals AFTER you are generally comfortable with riding your road bike.
Another suggestion for easing into the clipless world is to use regular pedals and attach "Power Grip" straps to them, which lie diagonally across your foot. The motion in getting your foot in and out of PowerGrip straps is quite similar to the motion of releasing your foot from clipless (twist heel outwards as you pull foot out), and should help you get used to the idea for a while first.

Yesterday I finally worked through the biggest issues of my "stopping problem" - my body wanted to lean left and put down the left foot, and I was trying to force it to lean right. (That, and wasn't 100% really stopped yet... oy...) Skinned both knees my first time out, and got a deep bruise approximately the size of Nebrasks on my bottom the second time... third time I stayed vertical, and fourth time - yesterday - I finally figured out I was fighting my body wanting to go left.

Problem solved! Seriously - you might want to try left foot vs right a few times, one may feel more 'natural'.

I know I need to be able to stop on both sides, but I'm actually thrilled to at least be able to stop on one side and remain vertical.... I must say, dreading The Stop sure takes some fun out of The Go!

Happy Monday everyone!

Amy

I can't tell you how many times I fell learning to ride with clipless pedals. I am not the least bit athletic, I just love to ride. The most embarrassing fall would be at our local trail- pro riders were riding to prepare for a race the following weekend and I had to stop suddenly and couldn't get a foot loose and fell right over in front of a large group of pros!

Keep practicing, I am forever thankful for my trainer. I just switched to a new pedal/cleet combo and now have to re-learn. I favor one foot over the other, but I have been practicing on the trainer for both directions. When I was first learning, if there was heavy traffic ahead and I was unsure if I would need to stop, I would unclip one foot just in case. It is much easier to unclip if you are not in panic mode! Plus, It is really easy to re-clip if you manuever through without stopping.

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Originally Posted by Lisa S.H.

This goes against what a lot of people recommend, but...
My suggestion is to simply get used to riding your road bike first, with regular shoes and flat pedals. Then get clipless pedals AFTER you are generally comfortable with riding your road bike.
Another suggestion for easing into the clipless world is to use regular pedals and attach "Power Grip" straps to them, which lie diagonally across your foot. The motion in getting your foot in and out of PowerGrip straps is quite similar to the motion of releasing your foot from clipless (twist heel outwards as you pull foot out), and should help you get used to the idea for a while first.

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Or get pedals that are clipless on one side and flat on the other. I like mine and feel better w/ flats if I need them. best of both worlds.

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Originally Posted by wannaduacentury

Or get pedals that are clipless on one side and flat on the other. I like mine and feel better w/ flats if I need them. best of both worlds.

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Yes that would work well too I think. :)

Some people get one foot unclipped but then fall over to the other side when coming to a halt... a little trick about this issue I learned when trying to get used to "extracting" my foot from my straps is this- as you approach a stop and get one foot out, it really helps to stand up and forward out of the saddle as you are stopping- it gives you much more "leaning control" than if you coast to a stop while still sitting in the saddle. As you start braking, rise up and forward, off the saddle, so you can come right down on your loose foot instead of waiting and trying to make the bike lean when it is actually almost stopped. Hope I've described this well enough...

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Originally Posted by Lisa S.H.

Yes that would work well too I think. :)

Some people get one foot unclipped but then fall over to the other side when coming to a halt...
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I have done that both times I have fallen (clipless for about a year now) I always unclip on the right side first - which works well until the tree limb attacks you from the wrong side.

My hubby's advice to me (and I've posted this numerous times) is to turn my front wheel away from the foot I'm unclipping. If you stand over your top tube with both feet on the ground and turn your wheel to the left, the weight of your bike will naturally fall to the right and vice versa. So, I always unclip with my right foot and turn my wheel a little to the left when I'm putting my foot down. I've never fallen since I started doing this manuver. :)

Wow, lookit all the new forum peeps! Welcome, welcome!

Yes, I went through many of these same things as a new rider last spring. I fell in the parking lot my first time out, bruised up my hand a bit but it was the ego that took time. Anyway, I do agree, figure out which way you want to stop before you try going clipless. Another hint/trick, make sure you loosen your tension on the pedals. My new SPDs were probably fine for some 6 ft tall muscular man, but I had to fight to get my feet in and out. Loosened them up quite a bit and now with lots more use it may actually be time to tighten them a touch.

Now, I'm kinda nervous because I've been on the trainer all winter, and that lovely bike's gonna have to come off soon for, well, outdoor riding. I hope I remember how it all goes myself!

Enjoy riding, and remember that others have been there (on the ground even) before you!

thanks to all of you for your advice. hope everyone has a beautiful ride tomorrow. I sure had one this evening.... :cool:

The first time I was ever on a road bike, I fell within the first 5 minutes or so, and I was wearing regular sneakers! It was my second date with my now ex-boyfriend, and we basically just hopped on and went off. We were riding down a sidewalk to get to the actual trail- we crossed a street and the part where you could ride back up onto the curb was on a curve and near a telephone pole. I just went way too fast around it (trying to impress the boy), hit a bush and though the bike stopped, I kept going! I wasn't seriously injured, and I got right back on (though later, my ex said he had thought I was just going to want to go home- jerk). It's pretty embarassing; I don't know what is going to happen when I start riding with clipless pedals.

Well, this is my first post, and I'm sort of happy to say, that I'm glad I'm not the only one, I've been doing triathlons for almost into my 2nd year, I just switched out my pedals last thursday, first day I'm in the driveway w/ my boyfriend, no clue what to do so start pedaling, and over I went...hmm another scraped knee and back. Frustrated I called the store and wanted to return them, but then practiced a little inside and went for a ride sunday and did okay, will try again today. Still very afraid of falling, doing a tri on sunday, just women, hopefully I'll be so fixated I won't forget

I practiced several saturdays in spin class before I hit the road.