Gals,

I know this has been discussed before, but I need some advice on how to psych myself out of the whole clipless business and falling. In twenty years or so of cycling I have never fallen, until now. I just went to clipless last week (Speedplay frogs), and though I have no problem getting into them and pedaling, I have fallen several times upon stopping. The first few times were simply not knowing what I was doing and not getting proper instruction. I was spooked and bruised, with road rash on one knee and a somewhat sprained ankle. So I followed the advice on this forum and spent a few hours over several days on the trainer and in my driveway, using incremental steps to learn how to clip in/out. Then I ventured out of the drive for a couple miles- no problems. So today I thought- "OK, by George I think I've got it" and went to do an quick and easy 10 miler that I can probably do in my sleep I've done it so many times. Then I got spooked by the cars, lack of shoulder, and steep downhill at the bottom of which I have to make a sharp right. So I freaked, decided to bail before going down hill, but I didn't get my foot out of the clip fast enough, and I fell down, went boom (luckily this time was on grass, but somewhere along the line my knee connected with the only rock there- another cut!) Well, at this point I was totally psyched out, my pride out the window, my confidence shaken, plus I am getting sick of not being able to go out and do my usual rides. I told DH that maybe I should just stick to the neighbohood roads for a while, skip all the mean hills and trafficky roads with no shoulders. Is this stupid and self defeating on my part? Am I just not giving myself enough time to adjust to these new pedals? I pride myself on being good at whatever I do and now I feel like a total moron. I need some advice on how to overcome this ridiculous fear I have suddenly have of biking!

FYI- I wear a helmet, of course, and gloves and went to clipless for the obvious reasons, but mostly because my feet were slipping off the pedals and everyone, LBS owner/friend and DH and me included, felt it was time to go clipless. I DO NOT want to go back to platform pedals, but I am beginning to think I made a mistake in going clipless and should. Am I being silly or what? Or am I just a total spaz? Will I ever be able to get back in the game?

PS Thanks everyone who had suggestions about the UTI thread from a few weeks ago. I bought a Terry Butterfly and seems to be working very well!

Saxa82