Ha- I had my clipless fall

[littlegrasshopp]

I did the same thing on my very first road bike ride. i wasn't even 1 mile from home. I'd been practicing clipping in and out on a trainer and it all seemed so easy....I took my brand new bike on the road..took a few peddle strokes and then tried to stop and unclip. I beat myself up with the bike seat!! I also tore the seat on the ground and ripped up my bar tape. I didn't get rash, just big black bruises from the bike seat all over my rear end!!

Hope you heal quickly!

[mimitabby]

yikes! loosen up those things! your feet should be able to come out with a lot more ease than that!

[Zen]

Mine don't have a tension adjustment, I needed super big shims put in.

[spotlightmama]

lol - yeah, as least DH thinks I'm pretty tough now. I was all covered with dirt and gravel. I must have laughed for the next two miles thinking about the fact that someone had to ride up at the exact wrong moment. Of course it couldn't have been just us!

I was pulling up, not to the side. When I sort of flick my foot out, they come off pretty easy. I just couldn't communicate to my foot to pull to the side in time. I kept just trying to pull my foot up. Do you still think that means they are too tight? I don't even know if I can adjust the tension - I guess I should figure that out.

[littlegrasshopp]

some pedals have tension adjustment, but some don't. What kind do you have? I ride Spd's from my mountain bike. I like them so much, I decided to just stick wit those for my road bike too. I use to have speed plays but I had a lot of learning curve issues with those. The SPD's were a hit for me though! I was able to make them really loose while I got my instincts use to the movement (like you mentioned) - then tightened them once I was comfortable.

[Jallora]

Yep! I had my first fall too. It was also on a nice 30 mile ride. At about the halfway point, we were coming to a stop. I unclipped my left foot before we completely got there, but I didn't pull my toe all the way out. When I actually came to a complete stop, my brain also seemed to come to a complete stop. I tried to put my foot down, but the front part of the clip wasn't quite all the way out. My brain came out of it's freeze enough for me to slide my clip all the way out as I was hitting the ground. And yes, there had to be someone else there to witness it besides me and DH. And that person wasn't a bike person, so they just seemed to think some idiot didn't think to put their foot down. Luckily I hit the ground pretty easily. My pride was the only thing that took any serious damage. My DH has now nicknamed me Crash though.

[malkin]

As the 50+ folks over on bike forums would say,
"Welcome to Club Tombay!"

[ttaylor508]

Until you are totally comfortable with the pedals, unclip both feet when you anticipate a stop. Eventually you will be able to just unclip one and not loose your balance.