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

[Maye]

Indigoiis, that is a good, simple way to think of it. I've been following this thread closely because i am just learning to clip in too.
Question...when taking off from a stop, you pedal forward with the clipped in foot, raise yourself, stand...are you trying to clip in the left foot before you sit down?
In my mind, that is how i see it working, but in reality, I keep missing the pedal. Then I sit down and just keep fumbling for the pedal. I know it is fine to pedal a bit not clipped, and I am doing that at busy intersections until I get more confident. But I guess I am not really sure of the true motion that I should be shooting for....

Welcome to my struggles in the clip-less world!! I'm VERY stubborn so I'll learn this no matter what :-).

[CyclChyk]

I agree with GRITS post about not riding clip-less. I have been away from riding for the past 5 years or so and only recently returned, but I have serious balance issues(<~click on this thread link and you will see ) and riding clip-less turned out to leave me with a hematoma and lots of scars....

I ended up with the Shimano pedals that you can clip in on one side, and ride platform on the other. I ending up always riding platform and to this day, do not ride clip-less. I for one do not regret this, nor do I find I am a weaker rider, as I thought I would be.

Good luck to you - no matter how you end up riding, at least you ride!

[indigoiis]

Maye,

Forget about clipping out with the other foot completely. The other foot will always be clipped in until you are off the bike. So whether you do right or left is up to you (I recommend left, then you can use your dominant foot - the right - to be your standing-on-pedal balance and kick off leg). While you practice this, do NOT think of clipping or unclipping at all. Think of the motion

Slow,

Stand (on right)

Step out (on left.)

Practice with a flat pedal until you get the hang of slowing, standing, stepping.

Slow, Stand, Step out.

Repeat.

Once you graduate from flat pedal to clipless, you can clip back in after you sit back down on your saddle. That motion will be

Push off / Pedal, standing on downstroke.

Sit, resting unclipped foot on pedal.

Pedal one or three revolutions with the one foot still unclipped, to get you going...

Clip in.

p.s. I learned this method here. I'm not sure who taught it to me... Oak?

[missjean]

no matter how you end up riding, at least you ride!:d

+1 :-)

[Maye]

Ladies,
Today I practiced what Indigoiis suggested (THANKS!!) but both pedals with platforms after a while of practicing I decided to go for a short ride of 6 miles. Wow, OMG, I felt FREE!! The joy of riding a road bike for just pure fun and fitness was BACK!! That doesn't mean that I will give clip-less pedals up, oh no, but now I'm taking this easy and one step(pedal) at a time :-) I have to admit that the fluidness of using clip-less pedals wasn't there but for now is ok to do this in many different ways.

[indigoiis]

Yay! Small victories, big happiness.

[Maye]

Update:
I have been doing well with the double sided platforms pedals, of course But one thing for sure I have been doing is always keeping the left foot as it was clipped when stopping the bike and even doing the motion of unclipping them and also moving the handle bar to the right, in order to build muscle memory. And also doing this (recommended by Indigoiis above):


Stand (on right)

Step out (on left.)

Practice with a flat pedal until you get the hang of slowing, standing, stepping.

Slow, Stand, Step out.

Repeat.


Why? With this, I feel like I'm getting to know my road bike (Ramona) better until we are comfortable with each other :-)

[TigerMom]

I just want to thank everyone at Team Estrogen, especially the great advice of "Indigoiis" and "Crankin". I am a Newbie too. I have not ridden any bikes in 20+++ years and have now fallen in love with road biking. I am so clumsy, that I hurt myself in the trainer twice during my bike fitting.

Obviously, I have fallen 5 times in my clipless pedals, including next to a patch of grass (where I managed somehow to fall AWAY from the lawn and on to the concrete instead).

I have been practicing clipping and unclipping both sides of my feet, while leaning my bike towards the unclipped side, at least 50 times on both the clipless pedals and on platform pedals to try and build muscle memory.

So, thanks to Team Estrogen, I can easily unclip during controlled stops.

Now, my only worry is about sudden, unexpected stops for obstacles in the road or a stray dog running at me....I'm probably going to hurt myself badly on the clipless pedals. Sigh.


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2012 Specialized Amiral Elite, upgraded carbon handle bars, Jett saddle 143mm

2011 Specialized Ariel Sport,suspension post,Serfas Rx Women's Microfiber saddle