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.