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

[Maye]

The platform side however...I strongly disliked. They are metal, of course, and I found that my feet just wouldn't stay on the bear claw design - and that was with regular shoes. If I tried to go back and forth between sides on the same ride with my bike shoes with clips it was even worse as there was nothing there for the harder soles of my bike shoes to get a good purchase on. I moved from these pedals back to a good quality BMX pedal and my feet stay on those.

Hi Catrin! Thanks for always sharing your experiences with us in this thread. I had a little bit of problems with the platform side when I used regular tennis shoes. Once I changed to the Mavic Scorpio MTB shoes, I had more grip on the platform. As you, I'm planning to change pedals once I have more experience with my road bike.

[Catrin]

Hi Catrin! Thanks for always sharing your experiences with us in this thread. I had a little bit of problems with the platform side when I used regular tennis shoes. Once I changed to the Mavic Scorpio MTB shoes, I had more grip on the platform. As you, I'm planning to change pedals once I have more experience with my road bike.

I just learned how to ride a bike 2 years ago for my 50th birthday and learned most things the hard way If my experiences can possibly help someone then I am happy to share them - even the more embarrassing incidents. I will be kind and won't share my initial failed attempt to start clipping in

[prinessbeca]

Well I've loosened my pedals so they're a LOT easier to get in and out of now, but it's definitely still a challenge. I'm still pretty scared to go anywhere near traffic, but I'm getting to be more confident when it's just me in an open area/parking lot trying to unclip. Still takes me a good 20 rolling feet to get BOTH feet out and actually come to a stop, so I have to plan ahead. I guess I just need to practice practice practice until I can someday do it instantly and stop right away?

Anyone else get their foot unclipped and then accidentally reclip it right away again? That's the trouble I'm having with my right foot. I get all excited that I got it unclipped, and then bam! It's attached again. Silly pedals.

[indysteel]

I'd say a lot of us--although this isn't universal--only unclip one foot, and the same foot at that, when we come to a stop. In time, it will become second nature.

[ny biker]

Yes, I unclip my right foot when I need to stop and put that foot down on the ground, while leaving the left foot clipped in. I only unclip the left foot if I'm getting off the bike completely.

To start out, I always clip in with the left foot and start to pedal with that foot, sit down on the saddle, then clip in right after I'm moving. Being seated makes you more stable while you're clipping in with the second foot.

[suzgilzen]

Hi all, I am a new road biker (just got my bike April 13 - had ridden a hybrid on trails and some quiet roads for 5 years) and just got the clips and pedals a week ago - I got the Shimano's that have the clips on one side and really like them - I don't actually see any reason to "graduate" to something else - I have the clips on one side, and that's fine.

I'd gotten the advice about developing a routine, and have done that, so I am fine at routine stops (like at an intersection) but have fallen twice, at non-routine stops. The first one was so funny actually. I am working on building mileage for a 500-mile ride I have in 2 months. So this week I was going out on Monday for a 40-mile ride. I was heading out of the driveway and heard the dog barking at me from inside the house (not being happy that I was leaving - the dog is "my" dog and very loyal to me). I remembered something, turned around, started to get off the bike - forgetting the clips, and down I went, scraping one knee.

The dog's barking ratcheted up considerably ("Oh noooooo, Mommy's doooowwwwwwwnn! Mommmmmmmyyyyyyyyy!"). Eventually my husband came out, helped me dust myself off and encouraged me to go on and do the 40 miles. Several hours later, when I returned, the dog gave my legs a thorough licking - liking the salty sweat. But when he came to my knee, he slowly, gently, and indeed tenderly licked my scrape. What a sweetie. Then I went, showered and cleaned it myself.

I'm getting better, and have only fallen twice. I'm learning that if I clip in my shoes, I should engage my brain, too.

I'm so glad to have found this forum. Thanks, all, for the encouraging and informative posts (been reading a lot about saddles as well).

[Owlie]

Well I've loosened my pedals so they're a LOT easier to get in and out of now, but it's definitely still a challenge. I'm still pretty scared to go anywhere near traffic, but I'm getting to be more confident when it's just me in an open area/parking lot trying to unclip. Still takes me a good 20 rolling feet to get BOTH feet out and actually come to a stop, so I have to plan ahead. I guess I just need to practice practice practice until I can someday do it instantly and stop right away?

Anyone else get their foot unclipped and then accidentally reclip it right away again? That's the trouble I'm having with my right foot. I get all excited that I got it unclipped, and then bam! It's attached again. Silly pedals.

You really only need to pick one foot to plant consistently, and unclip that one foot. It will become second nature. I used to have to unclip well in advance, but now I can nearly come to a stop before unclipping.
As for the accidentally clipping in:
What pedals are you using? I use SPDs with the single-release cleats (black) that came with the pedals. The way I avoid accidentally clipping back in is to rotate my foot slightly on the pedal so that the cleat and pedal can't "mesh". I can still push the pedal a bit if I need to, and I can clip back in quickly, but not if I don't want to.

[Catrin]

It DOES get better with practice and time. My first attempt to learn how to clip in (SPD) failed miserably and I moved to BMX pedals for a year or so. Last spring I moved to Speedplay Frogs. I liked them much better but I still had to clip out well in advance, etc. So far I've only fallen twice with these pedals and both were due to user silliness.

These days I still like to anticipate clipping out if I can - I don't like to wait for the last second but I can as my recent experiments riding in our downtown area have proved. Yesterday I realized that my foot hadn't unclipped for some reason, probably distraction on my behalf, but I was somewhere that I could turn the wheel away from the road and go a couple of more feet which gave me time to unclip and stop without falling over. Whewww!

[Maye]

It DOES get better with practice and time. My first attempt to learn how to clip in (SPD) failed miserably and I moved to BMX pedals for a year or so. Last spring I moved to Speedplay Frogs. I liked them much better but I still had to clip out well in advance, etc. So far I've only fallen twice with these pedals and both were due to user silliness.

These days I still like to anticipate clipping out if I can - I don't like to wait for the last second but I can as my recent experiments riding in our downtown area have proved. Yesterday I realized that my foot hadn't unclipped for some reason, probably distraction on my behalf, but I was somewhere that I could turn the wheel away from the road and go a couple of more feet which gave me time to unclip and stop without falling over. Whewww!

I'm still in the learning process. Like you, I anticipate when I have to clip out by remembering: "hey you are clipped, remember to clip out the right foot".

[Catrin]

I'm still in the learning process. Like you, I anticipate when I have to clip out by remembering: "hey you are clipped, remember to clip out the right foot".

It isn't so much that, but it is simply part of my stopping process. I don't generally slow down enough if I don't unclip a little early. Don't ask me why, but there you go. I can still stop, it just isn't very graceful & I then get tire marks on my leg