Crash tallies - going clipless!

[sgtiger]

When l went clipless 6 yrs. ago, I somehow(I'm kind of a klutz! ) managed not to fall the first day. I was definitely unsteady, though. And clipping out was at the forefront of my thoughts any time I slowed. It wasn't until 2 mo. into it and I was feeling more confident that I fell over. I was on a casual ride with DH and we were talking when we came to a red light and slowed down. I went to put my right foot down only to find that it was GLUED to the pedal. And over I went in front of DH, peds and people in their cars stopped at the red light with us. Every one asked if I was okay and I was more embarrassed about all the attention then the actual fall itself. DH asked me what had happened and I sheepishly answered that I had totally forgotten about clipping out.

Fast forward through a few years of off and on riding to two Saturdays ago. I did a 42 mile ride to Alki Beach and back where I bonked with 10 miles to go. Thanks to my riding group's encouragement I decided to finish the ride. The last miles were incredibly s-l-o-w. At the end we have (I think) a mile climb to my friends' home and I was already exhausted! At one of the stop signs on the way to her home, I fell over trying to clip out while slowing down. I was too tired to clip out in time and I let out a yelp as I went over. I got a few bruises,too. Two days after that, I fell when I was riding on the trail towing DD. There's a short but steep uphill part that I was trying to shift gears for halfway up, but I had a case of the brain farts. I shifted the wrong direction and I couldn't pedal anymore. Oops! Sometimes you just gotta laugh at yourself!

[run it, ride it]

Oh boy. Make sense of this: started riding clipless in July. Not a single fall. Fast-forward to April: I fall right over at stop signs a good five times in group road rides, and don't even get me STARTED on the number of 'clipless incidents' incurred on the mountain bike since I took that up.

I'm still young and bouncy, so the worst I get are some bruises and limps for a few days.

I find what helps in a situation where you're stopped with one foot unclipped and falling the opposite direction is to plant your already freed foot on the other side of the bike through the space between the frame and front tire.