Please share your stories--tough first time in real bike shoes

[Seajay]

That was the trick I was taught, too.

Plus you stand the best chance of "saving it" if you never let go.

[Catrin]

Plus you stand the best chance of "saving it" if you never let go.

This has worked a time or two for me, and believe me, after having fallen learning how to mountain bike a gazillion + 1 times, the only time I've actually hurt myself was when I let go...lesson learned again!

Our natural instinct is to try and stop our fall, our hip/side is so much stronger than our hand...

[happysurfer]

This is a good way to hurt your hand/wrist/collar bone. Sometimes things happen very fast but I try to remember to keep hold of the bars when I fall - this allows our sides to take the brunt of the fall and that is a lot stronger than those little bones in the wrist/palm and so forth. That being said, hopefully this won't happen very often, especially for road riding

Never thought of holding onto the bars! Will try to remember that! but honestly, after that first fall, it's been very easy to clip in/ out and the pedals have helped me be a better rider. Now I know what people mean when they say different muscles engage when you're clipped in.

You're right about the injury...wrist bone fractures are very difficult to diagnose and can go untreated if there aren't any symptoms.

[Rebecca19804]

I'll bet Speedplays are what the guy at the shop was recommending. I stayed away from them after people I talked to said they have issues with sand and grit. Since the entire west side of our state is a big sand dune. I actually know no road riders with Speedplay and I suspect this is why.

That surprises me to hear. From the very design of them, dirt/sand/grit are pushed out of the cleat when you push to engage. That's true at least for the Speedplay Frogs - which I use and love! (Can't comment on any other Speedplay models.) The Frogs are highly recommended by lots of TE members, because the (easily adjustable) degree of float and passive nature of the engagement is really easy on the knees.


ETA: I've caught up on the thread now and see a lot of others have pitched in in favour of Frogs!