Advocacy & Safety - The Most embarrassing crash

Last night I was riding a few miles to rite-aid. I was riding great and cut right up the handicaped sidewalk ramp in front of the store going really slow. As I came to a stop, I forgot to twist my foot out of my pedals and fell right over, slammed my head against the front fender of a parked car and then slammed into the ground making a huge crashing noise as either my backpack, bike, or helmet hit something.

I didn't get hurt except for a quarter sized scrape down to the blood on my knee and my pride. My head didn't feel a thing thanks to the helmet and my hands were fine thanks to gloves. Since I hit the car, I quickly got up (disconnecting my shoes from the pedals first) and stood there in shock for a few seconds. Luckily I didn't leave any marks or dents in the car because the owner was sitting in the car and watched the entire thing. He quickly came to help me out. I was so embarresed, I desperately tried to come up with a good story for what happened. Unfortunately, all I could come up with was:
"My shoe got stuck to my pedal".:rolleyes:
He just ignored my weak attempt at avoiding emabarrasment. What great people. Him and his wife did everything they could to help me, although I didn't need anything.

Anyway, I rode home and all is fine now, except for my scrape, but that is no big deal. I can guarantee I will never forget to unhook my shoes again.

Ouch. I know the feeling.

About two weeks ago, I came to a stop sign, stopped in a quasi track stand, then prepared to go again, when I saw a car approaching, so I had to hit the brakes again....Just long enough for me to lose balance and lean to my left. No problem, I'd just put a foot down. Inconvenient, but doable. Only thing is, I had just installed toe clips on the bike, and the clip caught the top of my shoe and wouldn't release it, so down i went, crashing on my side in the crosswalk.

Of course, there were witnesses.

Totally wounded pride.

Similar here... was on my first ride with my clipless pedals, and came around a corner into a parking lot to see a large number of Giant's being pulled from a trailer and assembled by a group of young men... went by slowly, trying to figure-out what they were up to, then as I passed thought it was a good time for a water break, so about 10 meters in front of them I coast to a stop, and promptly crash because I'd forgotten to unclip. So, I took my first clip-noob fall in front of a bunch of pro or semipro riders - NICE!

I was biking at night with all of my lights on-campus and I was tearing down the road and all of a sudden three extremely hot ladies hopped out into the crosswalk unexpectedly right in front of me. So I did a badass 20 foot skid and stop right before I got to them. They were like "Ooops I am so sorry" and I was like "Nah it's cool", and then I put on my shades even though it was midnight, and rode off.

I started across a major intersection at a hard clip, pushing a big gear. The chain broke and I went flying over the bars and was lucky not to get run over by the cars behind me.

On the moron/embarrassment scale I felt like a 10 as I'd been procrastinating cleaning up a severely rusted, filthy, and poorly shifting chain for at least a month.



While in a car rental place the folks kept saying something smells like it's burning. I dismissed their commentary until I got home and found my niterider classic had clicked on in my courier bag and melted a nice hole in the lining.

I started across a major intersection at a hard clip, pushing a big gear. The chain broke and I went flying over the bars and was lucky not to get run over by the cars behind me.

On the moron/embarrassment scale I felt like a 10 as I'd been procrastinating cleaning up a severely rusted, filthy, and poorly shifting chain for at least a month.

I did the exact same thing. After neglecting a chain that needed replacing I was moving at a good clip through a tight spot in traffic. I'm out of the saddle pushing it and my chain popped. I ended up over the bars with my rear wheel in the air. Somehow I didn't crash and coasted to a stop. Went back, picked up my chain, and acted like it was just some sweet stunt I did on purpose. :) I had the joy of walking about 1.5 miles in cleats to a bike shop who helped get me back on the road. Lesson learned.

Last night I was riding a few miles to rite-aid. I was riding great and cut right up the handicaped sidewalk ramp in front of the store going really slow. As I came to a stop, I forgot to twist my foot out of my pedals and fell right over, slammed my head against the front fender of a parked car and then slammed into the ground making a huge crashing noise as either my backpack, bike, or helmet hit something.

Don't tell me, you were going to Rite-Aid to get Thrifty ice cream. Right? That's the only reason I ever go there. :)

Everyone has at least one crash when they switch to clipless pedals. Just look on the bright side, you've got your crash out of the way now. :)

I was biking at night with all of my lights on-campus and I was tearing down the road and all of a sudden three extremely hot ladies hopped out into the crosswalk unexpectedly right in front of me. So I did a badass 20 foot skid and stop right before I got to them. They were like "Ooops I am so sorry" and I was like "Nah it's cool", and then I put on my shades even though it was midnight, and rode off.

I lolled.

I've only had one embarrassing crash (which I won't mention here), but this morning, I was pulling up to a building so I could lock the bike to a sign, and as luck would have it, I came in too fast and had to brake hard on the grass. I turned around and this cute girl smiled at me. I smiled back, unclipped my helmet, sat it on the saddle and leaned the bike against the sign. Rushed in without locking it to look all messenger-like.

A friend and I were flying through rush hour traffic when we came to an intersection with the light turning red. I was following him through the 6-lane crossing. We made it through the first three lanes but my bud decided to stop rather than accelerate through the next 3. I did the opposite. I slammed on my brakes hard enuf to stop behind him without doing any damage - my front wheel touched the back of his right calf. But the bikes got tangled. He just stepped off of the falling mass of bikes while I rode them both to the ground still clipped into mine.

The bikes were so tangled that we had to pick them both up and move out of the road to the sidewalk to untangle them which seemed at the time to take a week.

This intersection is a huge hub for public transportation so hundreds of bus riders were on hand - including school kids - to heckle us the whole time. I took a couple of bows. The crowd went wild.

Ah...memories.

Everyone has at least one crash when they switch to clipless pedals. Just look on the bright side, you've got your crash out of the way now. :)Man, I wish it was just one crash ...

I've got hundreds of miles, nearly a thousand, in my clipless pedals now, and I still fall over from time to time, even though they're loosened up as far as they go. And it always seems to be in front of an audience, who either thinks I'm drunk (if they don't ride), or thinks I'm a `n00b' (if they do ride. And I guess they might be right ...)

Embarrassing, ey?

I'm brand new to my clipless pedals and I've had two accidents in the last day.

1: I was trying them for the very first time. I had my wheel resting against a doorjamb in my apartment as I practiced clipping in and out. My bike started to roll forward, away from a wall. I turned the wheel to steer closer to a wall, instead I went into my TV stand. I knocked over the TV (a cheapie 15" LCD), my right side hit the stand, and I pulled my roommate's music stand down on top of myself. My right shoe came off, but my left foot was stuck to the pedal. I had to take off the shoe to get myself free. I have huge welts on my right side now. Two in the shape of the edge of the stand and one in the shape of the underwire in my bra. Oy. I'm glad no one was home to see it; I would've been so embarrassed. I've told a few friends and they giggled at me.

2: I loosened up the clips on the pedals so I can actually clip in and out now. I was biking from my boyfriend's house to my apartment. There were construction vehicles blocking half the road, so a car stopped in front of me. She'd been stopped for a good 15 seconds, I WATCHED her stop. I was going slowly enough that I could've stopped if I'd unclipped, but I tried to brake instead. I'm still not quite used to clipping out and my brakes wouldn't work for some reason. I biked right into her bumper. I flew over my handlebars and my glove got caught on the back of her trunk and I kinda flopped down on her bumper, hitting my right shoulder and turning my elbow the wrong way. I snuck up to her window, tapped on it, and told her "hey! your bumper is ok!!" and rode off. She was laughing at me.

So two of this in <24 hours. I'm on a roll!

I can guarantee I will never forget to unhook my shoes again.

Yes, you will.

Everyone has at least one crash when they switch to clipless pedals.

I was informed on the Road Cyling forum, in not a very nice way I might add, that not everyone has a crash due to clipless pedals. :)

even if I think it might be true.


My most embarassing crash was the first one. Happened in front of about ten people

I was informed on the Road Cyling forum, in not a very nice way I might add, that not everyone has a crash due to clipless pedals. :)

One of the things often heard in firearms safety classes, when emphasizing the importance of always keeping the firearm pointed in a safe direction, is, "There are two kinds of shooters; those who already have had an accidental discharge, and those who haven't -- yet." I think an analogous idea applies to bicycle crashes.