Commuting - I've joined that elite club... horizontal trackstander!!!

I got my clipless shoes today! And yes, I fell on my side already. :D:D:D

I've had Performance Campus pedals for like six months now (SPD one side, platforms the other). I've just been riding them on the platforms because no one stocks shoes that fit my size 14 clompers. I finally got around to ordering some Cannondale Roams (fairly reasonable at Performance, $60 I think). Picked them up today. I clipped the shoe into the pedal once, unclipped it, put 'em on and went riding.

Practice? Who needs practice?

Clipping in took me a few tries (me hollering "Wait up!" at my son)... And then of course about 5 minutes later, the moment came. I'd unclipped at a couple stops, but as we're cruising down the bike path (he was behind me) he starts yelling "Dad, stop, you dropped something!" (a bungee cord off my rack)

I brake to a halt, forgetting to unclip. WHAM! Suddenly, I'm lying on my side. NOW both feet come off the pedals of course.

Luckily all I got was a minor scrape on my knee. One bar end has some scratches, luckily my mirror has a pivot so it just turned 90 degrees at the pivot rather than breaking.

It's amazing, I don't even know when the last time I fell on my bike was, but it's been years. This was the first time I'd fallen since I've owned this bike. It was so rediculous I just had to laugh at myself. I totally knew it was going to happen, too. It isn't like I don't waste hours and hours of my employer's precious time reading this forum ;).

BTW I love clipless already. It's awesome not having to think about keeping my foot on the pedal. Before going over hard bumps (like off curbs at high speed) or sometimes shifting hard (yeah yeah you're not supposed to shift under load) the jolt would cause my foot to shift on the pedal, then I have to be careful until I can get it back in place. Now all that is gone! My feet stay right where they belong.

I can do horizontal trackstands for a really long time. ;-)

I tried to see how long I could do a horizontal track-stand, once.

The wife got POed, something about a bicycle on her side of the bed. Woke me up, too.

Everybody falls when they first go clipless. I did it in the middle of the straight ahead lane of a muti-lane intersection controlled by a light, with cars behind me. How embarrassing. :o

Just make sure you try to fall on your left, so you don't mess up your drive-train.

Hehe I'll keep that in mind. My first fall was to the left so that's a good sign. I just have to reinforce that ;). If I get really good maybe I'll just wear a kneepad on my left knee.

I have never fallen since I made the switch to Look and then SPDs over the years.... but when I first went to a cleated shoe in the old toe cages I found myself laying on my side more than once.

sometimes shifting hard (yeah yeah you're not supposed to shift under load)

Depending on your shifters, and depening on your load, it can be perfectly OK to shift hard. I.E. the more spendy roadbike gruppos like ultegra are meant to shift while you're stomping on it in a sprint or up a hill.

Careful, horizontal trackstands can leave a nasty bruise on the ego........

I should know, I've gotten several.

Switched from spd's to crank brothers eggbeaters, only did one horizontal with the spd's when one of the bolts fell out when riding, went to clip out and the shoe rotated around the cleat, had to take my foot out of the shoe to get back up.
Now the switch to the eggbeaters has been rough I do not know why but I ahve laid it over three times in about 3 months, have had a "hard" time making the switch.

With toe - clips I made several Jerry Lewis impersonations.

Clipless snap out fairly easily, I am yet to do a horizontal track stand with them.

Just make sure you try to fall on your left, so you don't mess up your drive-train.

I fell twice (within 2 miles) on new-to-me clipless pedals and each time I fell to the left. I was unclipping the right side pedal both times. So, are you more apt to fall to the side you do not unclip? If this is true then I will try to unclip on the right so I can fall to the left if I have to fall in order to save my drive train.

I also went out and bought knee pads because that was the only part of my body that was slightly injured. My bike took it on the carbon fork, the seat and the handlebar. Nothing to fret about though. Haven't had the nerve to go out again to practice the clipless. But I will.....eventually.

BTW I love clipless already. It's awesome not having to think about keeping my foot on the pedal. Before going over hard bumps (like off curbs at high speed) or sometimes shifting hard (yeah yeah you're not supposed to shift under load) the jolt would cause my foot to shift on the pedal, then I have to be careful until I can get it back in place. Now all that is gone! My feet stay right where they belong.

Me too. My first time on clipless...I took to the streets like a bird in flight! :) No more aches in the calves for steep climbs. Hang in there EPJ :beer:

The first time I fell, I turned the handlebars accidentally on my hybrid as I fell, and I impaled my breast! It was ridiculous and totally embarrassing... nearly knocked the wind out of me and I had to lay there for a moment and just catch my breath. Of course, there were witnesses. Nothing like witnesses when you do your horizontal trackstand!

About a month ago, I simply couldn't unclip my right foot for anything. I still don't know what happened, but I thought I saw something jump in front of me and I was able to unclip the left foot but not the right. To make matters worse, I fell on my right and I was pinned beneath the bike, staring at blue sky, tugging at my foot. After a few secs, I figured I'd just lay there until someone showed up because I was totally immobilized. Lucky for me, a guy came along with his son, and they were able to extract me after several more minutes of struggling. I ended up having them lift my bike while I wriggled out of my shoe.

Weird.

Koffee

Well, tomorrow I get to see if I can duplicate it. Today I spent building my deck, so no riding. Tomorrow it's back to work ;). We'll see how it goes.

Koffee, sorry to hear that! Hope I don't get caught in that situation. It would take some pretty strong guys to pick me up :).

It was a really strong guy that picked me up. I was just too heavy for him. I felt like freakin' deadwood laying there. Sheesh, that's not a fun situation to be in. It was just lucky I remembered I was wearing my sandals and we were able to choreograph a means for him to lift the bike up long enough for me to slip my foot out of my shoe!

I hope you don't get caught in a situation like that either. ;)

Koffee

Ahh! Another one with @$*(# clipless sandals! I hate you all! ;)

Sorry... I'm just bitter that they stop at size 12. 13! What's wrong with making size 13??? :mad:

Heh heh, yesterday was Melbourne's annual Around the bay in a day ride. More than 10,000 registered riders were there, and then some unregistered ones. So plenty witnesses. There were the inevitable horizontal trackstands performed, with after making sure the fallen comrade was OK, everybody would break into taunts.

And then there was the guy who on the ferry jetty leaned his bike against a pole, only to have the bike fall almost into the briny! His helmet went over the side, he had to go barefoot to rescue it. Gazillion of humorous taunts, of course. Aussies are particularly cutting in those situations.

Ahh! Another one with @$*(# clipless sandals! I hate you all! ;)

Sorry... I'm just bitter that they stop at size 12. 13! What's wrong with making size 13??? :mad:


The Lake sandals on the nashbar.com has size 47/48, which is size 12/13. Does that help? http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=&subcategory=&brand=1170&sku=13969&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=

They're on sale too! :)

Koffee

Ahh! Another one with @$*(# clipless sandals! I hate you all! ;)

Sorry... I'm just bitter that they stop at size 12. 13! What's wrong with making size 13??? :mad:

I hear ya, brutha!

After experiencing several instances of horizontal trackstanding I found a solution that is working for me. Every Sunday afternoon while getting my bike ready for the weekly commute, I air up my tires, and spray my pedals with silicon lubricant. For the rest of the week my shoes slip easily out of my spd's. WD40 works as well.

The Lake sandals on the nashbar.com has size 47/48, which is size 12/13. Does that help?

Nope. I'm closer to a size 50. I could probably squeeze into an honest 13 (my feet are size 13 long and size 14 wide), but a 12/13 no way.

Well I managed to make it to work and only had to unclip once! And that time was where I lift my bike through an opening in a park gate, so I don't think I'll ever be able to stay clipped in there :rolleyes:. No more horizontal trackstands so far!

Going home is harder because instead of right turns I'm making lefts, so I'll almost certainly be stopping more often. But clipping in is becoming a lot easier already.

I am totally sold on clipless! My legs are sore from different muscles being used :). But I was really able to accelerate a lot quicker. You really can put a lot more power out when you're pulling as well as pushing!