Getting over fears

[linzq]

Oh, I'm so glad to see this thread.

I'm a bit nervous of riding in traffic - mainly it's the clipless thing and the thought of falling INTO traffic!

And I'm glad this is a safe place to admit it -- I've been feeling a bit "girly" about the whole thing! Thanks for the tips. I'm hoping that soon I'll be able to advise others too!

[Catrin]

Oh, I'm so glad to see this thread.

I'm a bit nervous of riding in traffic - mainly it's the clipless thing and the thought of falling INTO traffic!

And I'm glad this is a safe place to admit it -- I've been feeling a bit "girly" about the whole thing! Thanks for the tips. I'm hoping that soon I'll be able to advise others too!

You could hold off on the clipless thing until you are more comfortable riding in traffic. There is no shame in platform or BMX pedals - just a thought. That way you only have to adjust to one thing at a time, not two

[Ruby]

Slowly working through my fear of clipless pedals also. First ride in my clipless yesterday through town traffic-I was very nervous!! Rattled myself a few times- first set of lights I had to stop at, I clipped out fine, but I had trouble pushing off again and couldn't get my foot back on the pedal, let alone clipped in! tried twice, wobbled around and looked silly, then got off the bike in the middle of the intersection and walked it off to the sidewalk to collect myself. Was very proud of myself for not falling off. Felt really nervous at roundabouts and intersections after this however, and mostly pulled off to the side and waited until there was no traffic before I pushed off again. Will be getting up nice and early tomorrow when there is no traffic to practice these same roundabouts and intersections.