new to clipless - what not to do! (long)

[HoosierGiant]

I don't know how much help this might be, but I've got a little trick for as I'm starting back up or for some other reason have one foot unclipped. I don't know how this would work for road shoes, but with the mountain shoes, I'm going to guess that it doesn't matter what kind -- that tread stuff on the bottom is handy!

I put the ARCH area of the unclipped foot on the pedal for those few moments of starting up, or otherwise needing the pedal for a wee bit when you don't want that foot clipped in. It means it's free, and also, the starting moments are usually more tense, so I can postpone making sure my foot's in the right place and the clip and cleat catch properly until, oh, say, I'm through the intersection and rolling smoothly...

I used to ride in MTB shoes and did the same thing -- plenty of leverage, and your foot stays firmly planted on the pedal. Switched to road shoes, and OH MY what a difference! Slicker than snot! Definitely took some getting used to.

[Zen]

I've ridden for miles using that method

[Hub]

Psyclepath bought my Mountain bike shoes & gave me my first clipless lesson Saturday- not too bad having a brother that is an LCI instructor! I mad sveral loops before my first fall- unclipped on the right then leaned left & rolled over- a little road rash & a couple bruises but not too bad!

It's still pretty scary though!

[IGGY]

Clipless! I fell the FIRST RIDE on my FIRST BIKE and now it sits, in my rec room, on a trainer because I am afraid to ride it outside. I keep telling myself that I"m going to just "do it", but I haven't.
After reading this thread, I realized that I am being so stupid. I am taking off the clipless and putting regular old pedals back on and I am getting back on the real road.
I would rather ride than sit inside, I would rather ride and emerged relatively unscathed, and not killed!
I'd rather ride than worry about not riding.
Are the pedals I use really going to make THAT much difference?

[tctrek]

Whenever I see these clipless threads I think about my first time. I had been riding with toe clips for about a year and really wanted to ride clipless. I did what most folks do and went with MTB shoes and SPD pedals. We went out to do an easy ride on the Silver Comet Trail. We rode for 25 miles and I was clipping, unclipping like I had been doing it all my life. I was pumped!! There's a lot of street crossings on the trail, so there were a lot of stops/starts.

We are about 10 miles from where we parked and wanted to stop at a cool little creek to rest a moment. This rest area was LOADED with cyclists because it's so cool and shady. Unclipped left foot, put it down on the ground and leaned to the RIGHT... the bike started rolling and went straight into the creek with me still clipped to it. My left foot went into the creek bed up to my ankles in mud. On the way down into the creek my legs scraped down these jagged rocks until they were raw hamburger. I am totally p*ssed... cursing and yelling all the way down. I look up and there are no less than 10 cyclists standing up on the trail looking down at me. They pulled me out. I cleaned up my wounds as best as I could and rode my bike the 10 miles back to the car.

For the next 2 months, I went back to wearing my tennis shoes riding. Then one day, I decided I was going back to clipless. Unbelievably, I haven't fallen since ...

If you want to ride clipless, just don't be a quitter. You may fall sometimes, but practice makes perfect!

[irrealised]

Clipless! I fell the FIRST RIDE on my FIRST BIKE and now it sits, in my rec room, on a trainer because I am afraid to ride it outside. I keep telling myself that I"m going to just "do it", but I haven't.
After reading this thread, I realized that I am being so stupid. I am taking off the clipless and putting regular old pedals back on and I am getting back on the real road.

Put your regular pedals on and ride!!! Once you get used to your bike you might want to give the clipless another shot, but it doesn't matter if you never even try them again. It's no fun being afraid to ride your bike, so do what you need to to get comfortable and gain some confidence!

I'll admit that I've been going back and forth - wearing my MTB shoes and clipping in when I'm on bike paths, and regular sneakers when I hit the trails. Last weekend I tried downhill MTBing for the first time and even switched my pedals back to real platforms (my other ones are clips on one side and platform on the other, but the platform is small and slippery). I'm not giving up on clipless, but I'm pretty new to MTBing and clipping in (and out!) is just one thing too many to worry about when everything else is so new too.

Maybe some people would just go for it, but I don't like being scared when I'm riding. Biking is supposed to be fun, and things like clipless pedals are supposed to be an asset, not something to stress out over. So keep it fun!

[Pip]

[QUOTE=irrealised;435518]Put your regular pedals on and ride!!! Once you get used to your bike you might want to give the clipless another shot, but it doesn't matter if you never even try them again. It's no fun being afraid to ride your bike, so do what you need to to get comfortable and gain some confidence!

I agree! My LBS talked me into buying SPDs to go with my new road bike, even though I hadn't ridden on the road in years and wanted to start with ordinary pedals. Of course I fell off a few times trying to use them, got too afraid to try again, and left the bike sitting unused in our spare room for a year and a half. Eventually, thanks to the encouragement of friends, I put some regular pedals on and off I went. It only took a few weeks of riding and I had enough confidence to try out the SPDs again (after practicing using them in a few spin classes). Once I was used to the bike they were fine!

I've just swapped to some Look Keo's and am going through a little learning curve again, but nowhere near as steep as the initial switch to clipless. Get used to the bike, then see how you feel!

[papaver]

I only fell once with my clipless, and that was because someone else fell on me. Never had any problems with my clipless pedals. I just anticipate and unclick whenever I see danger.

[wildeny]

I use this pair of SPD pedals on my road bike, which also has the platform on one side:


I first rode on these pedals with regular sneakers and learned how to get on the platform side. When I was confident enough, I started to try cycling shoes.
Just need to practice what to do when you don't want to clip in.


If I put my unclipped shoe on the wrong side (depending on the situation, either not to clip or to clip), I just continue to pedal slowly meanwhile maneuver to get my unclipped shoe on the right side.

I only have one emergency so far. But that's because I didn't know what the car in front of me would do -- ahead or back (he actually wanted to make a u-turn). I was very close to the back of the car and then I realized that he didn't continue to drive (nor he put up some signal). I was lucky to get off my left foot quick enough or I would fell. This is a lesson I learned: If not sure, unclip one foot first.