Fear, fear, fear, plain old fear to clip and unclip. Advice please!

[Maye]

I didn't quite understand what you said about tipping over to the left even after your right foot is on the ground, though. Are you trying to stay in the saddle while you're stopped? Most bikes aren't built to let you do that. Get in the habit of coming forward off the saddle as you bring your foot to the ground, and hoisting yourself back up as a part of powering up to take off.

Thanks for reading my thread. Mostly ego hurt plus my knee, elbow and a long scratch over the knee that I had no idea how that happened :-). And I will surely loosen the pedals to be sure that they aren't too tight.

You are right. I fell to the right side, was on the saddle and my left foot was unclipped. So I lost balance while my right food was still clipped. Jeez, why I can't remember these details? Now I have to add acrobat to my resume since I have no idea why I did that. The other day I fell to the left side so now I'm getting the events confused.

[Maye]

NY Biker! Love your mantra: "down and out". I will surely add that to my list in addition to "don't freak out". And thanks for the welcome to the club!!

[Crankin]

I am confused. You're trying to stay on the saddle while stopped, with one foot down? You would have to be an acrobat to accomplish that feat!

Hope I can be clear, but try to think of the sequence as unclip one foot as you approach a stop. Then, in one motion, lean your bike slightly in the direction of your unclipped foot, brake, and get off of the saddle. This should eventually happen quickly and smoothly. When you are stopped, you should be clipped in on one foot, with the unclipped foot supporting you on the ground. Probably, only your toe will be on the ground, and you will be straddling the top tube, out of the saddle. The clipped in foot needs to be ready to push off, so you can push yourself up, onto the saddle. It may take a bit or two to get your unclipped foot back into the pedal, but that happens with practice.
I know some new riders feel they need to unclip both feet before a stop, but this is not necessary. I agree with Oak. Practice with one foot, develop the muscle memory, and then start on the other foot.

[Maye]

I am confused. You're trying to stay on the saddle while stopped, with one foot down? You would have to be an acrobat to accomplish that feat!

Hope I can be clear, but try to think of the sequence as unclip one foot as you approach a stop. Then, in one motion, lean your bike slightly in the direction of your unclipped foot, brake, and get off of the saddle. This should eventually happen quickly and smoothly. When you are stopped, you should be clipped in on one foot, with the unclipped foot supporting you on the ground. Probably, only your toe will be on the ground, and you will be straddling the top tube, out of the saddle. The clipped in foot needs to be ready to push off, so you can push yourself up, onto the saddle. It may take a bit or two to get your unclipped foot back into the pedal, but that happens with practice.
I know some new riders feel they need to unclip both feet before a stop, but this is not necessary. I agree with Oak. Practice with one foot, develop the muscle memory, and then start on the other foot.

Thanks for taking the time to explain how to do the unclipping in detail :-) To be honest with you (embarrassed here), everything happened so fast that I can't remember the details like do I was in the saddle?, maybe over the top tube? I can't remember I should try to join Cirque Du Soleil next But I do remember falling to the right side since I have all the bruises in this side and almost cried like a little girl. The funny thing is that last Sunday I rode with two very experienced riders and I felt so confident about my clip/unclipping technique that I was probably careless or too confident today. I fell while riding with them but it was a minor fall, not like today which I even scratched really bad the bar tape, over my knee, the side of my leg and my elbow. Maybe I'm over thinking this. Since I'm so stubborn, I'll practice again tomorrow until I have this nailed down. One thing I'll do, I will check the pedals to see if they are too tight. And breathe...

[solobiker]

Practice practice practice. Do you have a bike trainer you can use which will hold your bike for you while you practice?

All this talk reminded me of this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X975EVV3Egg

[Maye]

Practice practice practice. Do you have a bike trainer you can use which will hold your bike for you while you practice?

All this talk reminded me of this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X975EVV3Egg

Ha ha!! This video is so funny!! It's always great to see the funny side of things. Yep, I have a trainer and tomorrow will practice in it.