Ha- I had my clipless fall

[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.

[bluebug32]

I learned to ride clipless on a mtb. I'll rather fall in the woods than on the road any day! Not that I didn't have lots of bruises...

[queenridingbee]

I second ttaylor's advice. Through many falls, I started clipping out 1 foot in case I needed to stop. My problem was that I'd always then try to set down the clipped *in* foot instead of the clipped out foot and fell anyway. Two weeks ago it dawned on me to clip out *both* feet until I'm more skilled.

Q

[coyote]

yup, been there and done that. I've been using spd's for about a year now. For some unknown reason, I just fall over sometimes. I probably should just unclip both feet but I guess I like living on the edge

Welcome to the club

[Miranda]

Everyone has done it at some point. I would compare it to a Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny cartoon that had the coyote in it... slow motion, hanging mid air off the cliff edge, then falls.

My worst crash I was looking mighty fine wearing a brand new jersey and shoes on the road. That fineness went into a gravel drainage ditch. Luckily not into traffic. The car that pulled up next to me at the stop sign called out the window, "Hey! Are you ok? Is something hurt?" Nice motorist. I replied, "the thing that hurts the worst is my pride... thx for your concern".

The crash was fueled by new cleats. I was an indoor spinner first, and had been used to clipping in with mtb shoes and *multiple* release spd (SM SH-55). Bought some SIDI road shoes at lbs. They put on spd cleats, but I knew something was different. They were *single* release (SM-SH51). My road bike came with mtb pedals, dual sided spd M505s. Things fit "in" the same, but NOT "out". I traded them back out for multiple release and all is well.

My pedals do have a tension adjustment. They are set soft. That, plus the cleat multiple function, very easy to get in and out. Just be weary of hard hill climbs. If you twist your foot too much certain directions, they might unclip. Knock on wood, never had that happen to date.

[Dog]

Ha! My first fall (from not clipping out) was at the first rest stop of the STP (Seattle to Portland ride). I fell right as I pulled in - more embarrassed then hurt. The next time I fell was at the Clinton ferry waiting area - in front of about 50 motorcyles riders - good entertainment for them. I've never gotten to fall without an audience!