DnvrFox

Have you been keeping up with your dues to Club Tombay?

Well, you better start paying up, or Club Tombay will GET you!!

Today, CT took revenge on me for not keeping up on my dues payment. For the first time in 12 years I had one of those "slow falls" to your right, where you think, Aw Sh**, this is really stupid. Why am I falling over like this?

I was crossing one of the 4 streets I get to cross on this particular 33 mile ride. There was a lot of repaving of the street and large trucks moving around. So, I unclipped while stopping, looked around, seemed safe, clipped in and started forward when I heard what I thought was a car going around the truck. Quick stop WITHOUT unclipping and, kerploom. (and, no car, making it even more sillier)

Well, I got some road rash on my knee and left forearm (I can't figure that one out because I fell to my right), but all will be fine in a day or two. Howver, I decided to not go swimming at the pool, as I doubt they would appreciate having a pretty blue pool turning red, so I just rode another 15 miles instead.

Now, for those of you who want to use this post for a diatribe against clipless - and I mean you, Nightshade - don't bother. Once every 12 years is not bad, and I so much prefer the feel of clipless that it is worth it to me.

And, to keep your dues current and avoid the wrath of Club Tombay, send your annual $100 membership fee to

DnvrFox
Parker, CO

and I will protect you like the Godfathers did those businesses under their "protection."

RonH

Glad you're ok. Too bad no one was with you to provide pics or video of the "slow fall" to the right. It would be a great youtube video.

DnvrFox

As far as I could tell, no one noticed my "experience." Whew!! I had my Ride the Rockies jersey on, and it would have been a double humiliation.

Louis

It's usually best to do a "tombay" to the right (in the US), which means you're falling away from motor vehicle traffic.

Glad there were no serious injuries.

MinnMan

Not sure it counts. Some purists would argue that all real entries to the Club have to be done in front of a young woman, who has to respond by laughing at you.

I've got two falls to my credit, both when I was first getting used to clipless, and both with appropriate witness responses.

DnvrFox

Technically,this was a "re-entry" and not an "entry.' However, I msut confess that my first entry 12 years ago had no nubile young females witnessing it - in fact, I was totally alone, also. Maybe I am not REALLY a member of Club Tombay, after all?

Kurt Erlenbach

Last weekend I pulled into the visitor center at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to refill my bottles, and I couldn't unclip. I rode around the parking lot twice, trying to figure out what to do. I was getting close to un-velcroing my shoe to get my foot out when I managed to free one foot. I use Speedplay Xs, which are great, but very sensitive to grit in the cleat. I have been walking a bit at the bike rack at the beach and I must have gotten some sand in the mechanism. I have seven stoplights to get through to get home, and was a bit worried getting through town, but made it without embassasing or hurting myself, and only ran two of them. So, no Club Tombay renewal for me, fortunately.

Retro Grouch 

Were you, by chance, riding a safety bicycle or your recumbent?

DnvrFox

No clipless on the bent, so it must have been the Safety Bicycle

Louis

Waitaminute...if it's a Safety Bicycle, how could you have had an accident?

Wogster

Maybe he wasn't wearing his magical foam hat, that protects riders from accidents and injuries of all kinds...

Doohickie

And THIS is why I don't ride clipless.

wobblyoldgeezer

Very glad the result was no worse, though road rash and embarrassment are not good. I wouldn't dream of prattling about clip or not - I'm just so relieved that a fellow clipped rider got away with a tumble

Sculptor7

I've gotten comfortable with my clipless pedals but that particular situation, a sudden, unexpected stop, is the thing that still concerns me. After riding clipless for the better part of a season I have gotten so dependent on them that when I recently switched to one of my regular pedal bikes I found myself inadvertently lifting my feet on the upstrokes.
My son-in-law bought a bike with reversible pedals, clipless on one side and plain on the other. Don't know how that might work out.

bigbadwullf

New record. Got to reply #12 before an anti-clipless reply! hooray.

rck

Knock on wood- the last time I fell was several years ago on a rail trail no less. I was chatting with a fellow rider and saw the gopher hole at the last minute. I instinctively jerked the bike to the right which would have been OK except to the right was a ditch. To his credit, my friend didn't start laughing until after I got back up on the trail.

DnvrFox

Yeah, but we all knew it was coming!!

Doohickie

I don't have anything against people who use clipless, they're just not for me.

creakyride

Sorry to hear about your fall, glad it was nothing serious. Since I have a bit of a balance issue (tend to fall to my left for no reason other than tilting my head) I have tried to develop a "muscle memory" response for any quick stop or emergency situation of a rapid unclip. Rather look a bit foolish than examine someone's undercarriage. It has saved me from meeting the road a couple of times in the last 6 months.

downtube42

I'm in the club in at least four categories

- The motorized category, since the late '70's when I learned bell-bottoms and motorcycles don't mix. IIRC there was quite an audience,
- The traditional toe-clip category, when I cramped up and stalled on a climb,
- The DF clipless category, when clipless was new and disengaging was hard,
- The recumbent clipless category, after which I decided hard-soled road shoes had to go.

Hopefully I'm done learning, but my track record suggests otherwise.

DnvrFox

It has been 12 years without a fall, I have excellent balance, but thanks for the thought!

gcottay

Funny thing, the rarity of clipless problems is what moved me away from toe clips.

I admire both those who still ride with toe clips and those who can pedal efficiently with platforms but am happy to wimp out with clipless.

P.S. I have a lifetime club membership based on only one event. Stopped on edge of a bike path atop a flood wall. Smoothly unclipped on left. Discovered left foot was hanging in midair. Went down over the edge of the levy bouncing over rip rap. Survived with just minor injuries.

BillK

I'm glad you're okay...although witnesses would have qualified you for Tombay status (IMHO).

My last Tombay move was several years ago at the start of a ~20 mile trail ride with my entire family, no less. We had taken a wrong turn and had to double-back up a steep dirt road. Everyone else had bailed out and walked up the hill. I, of course, had bragged about my new mountain bike and started up in hill in a low gear. I would have made it, but just as I was passing my wife (now walking), I made some smart alec comment and got my front wheel lodged into a rut caused by rain runoff. The bike started to pitch to the right and I tried -- unsuccessfully -- to unclip. The result was a very bruised right hip after landing on a large rock and a rather sharp come-up-ance. It wasn't until I finished the ride that I learned the cause. As I was coming up to my car I realized, like Kerlinbach, that I couldn't unclip. Luckily, after circling the car a few times I managed to disengage by turning out my heal almost 90 degrees. Looking at the bottom of my shoes I realized one of the screws holding the retaining clip had fallen completely out, allowing it to partially swivel. It made me feel a little better, but my ego (& hip) was still bruised.

rck

That's scary and funny at the same time.

bradtx

DnvrFox, I think you came off too lightly for a twelve year period!

Brad