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05-26-12, 07:11 PM
25+ years I've been using clipless pedals without a fall, and felt pretty smug about it. Then, on this morning's 56 mile TT training ride, I made a stupid mistake and fell over.
I had foolishly taken my cell phone with me, and got a call from a client about 10 miles into the ride. I got off the road to stop and take it, at a short, steep rise between the highway I was on, and an adjacent elevated railbed MUP. As I talked her through her problem (she couldn't get the lockbox to work on the front door of her not-quite-finished new house and couldn't get in because of it), I was standing over the bike, my right foot on the ground and my left foot still clipped in. When done, I tried to turn around to go back down to the highway. This is where the stupid part came in. I had to turn left to go back where I was, and that became the downhill side of the bike. By the time I realized the significance of this, I was past the tipping point, with nothing to do but try to roll into it. It was relatively painless, until I saw that I'd traded some skin for road debris on my knee and elbow. No idea how the knee managed to get scraped right on the front, below the kneecap, but it did.
The worst part about it was after I was back on the road, watching a little blood trickle down my shin, and feeling the sweat stinging the wound, she texted back to say she did finally get the lockbox to work, but skinned her finger in the process. :notamused:
I had foolishly taken my cell phone with me, and got a call from a client about 10 miles into the ride. I got off the road to stop and take it, at a short, steep rise between the highway I was on, and an adjacent elevated railbed MUP. As I talked her through her problem (she couldn't get the lockbox to work on the front door of her not-quite-finished new house and couldn't get in because of it), I was standing over the bike, my right foot on the ground and my left foot still clipped in. When done, I tried to turn around to go back down to the highway. This is where the stupid part came in. I had to turn left to go back where I was, and that became the downhill side of the bike. By the time I realized the significance of this, I was past the tipping point, with nothing to do but try to roll into it. It was relatively painless, until I saw that I'd traded some skin for road debris on my knee and elbow. No idea how the knee managed to get scraped right on the front, below the kneecap, but it did.
The worst part about it was after I was back on the road, watching a little blood trickle down my shin, and feeling the sweat stinging the wound, she texted back to say she did finally get the lockbox to work, but skinned her finger in the process. :notamused: