Banzai

Well, I finally did it today. In preparation for the Salt Lake Century, I went clipless. Crank Bros Eggbeaters with my new Specialized Taho shoe. (wanted shoes I could walk around in.)

Took a little while in grassy field to practice before actually motivating somewhere. No falls, believe it or not! So after my brief practice, I'm itching to take off.

Okay, here we go. Breathe through the nose...right foot first...dang, why won't that-ah, there it goes!

Starting to move now, left foot, don't fail me...hey, that one went right in.

Okay, this is kinda neat! Up down forward around...pretty cool! I'm really liking this!

First stop coming up. Unclip right foot, slow to a stop, put right foot down. Unclip left foot. Wow, this isn't hard at all! I don't know what those clowns were talking about when they said I'd fall a few times. Uh oh, green light, no time to gloat now! Right foot...*click*, motivate...left foot *click*, pedal pedal. I'm really digging this!

35 miles later, it's time to wrap it up, got some errands to do before things close. What a great ride.

Here's my stopping point now. Time to coast to a stop...let's see, what things do I still have to do this afternoon...(thoughts wander elsewhere as I'm coming to a stop.)

Alright, stopping, foot down...foot down...

Oh crap, I'm attached to these pedals, aren't I?

Oh...no...

ouch.

Still, I can't wait to go again!

the beef

Awesome! The first ride's always fun, and that's pretty much how mine went. I used to unclip about 100 ft before any intersection or stopping point - I was pretty paranoid of falling. Now it's second nature.

blonduathlongrl

congrats!!!! my middle name has been crash since the day Ive gone clipless! I have more bruises and cuts then I have ever wanted to have but still I wouldnt ride any other way!

Eggplant Jeff

Hahahaha! That's almost exactly how my first ride went. You don't fall while practicing, it's the first time you try to stop while distracted. In my case something (a bungee cord) fell off my bike and my son (on his bike behind me) yelled "Dad you dropped something!"

Grab the brakes, stop, yank on foot, it won't move... uh oh...

RonH

Congrats.

I love my Eggbeaters. They came standard on my commuter bike. I'd never tried them (just SPD and Look) but after a few days I decided they were on the bike for good.

SemperFi

Good goin Banzai...almost as easy as flyin an F16, right?

Banzai

Almost! They tell me that crashes in a Viper are less forgiving than crashes on a bike. I'm not going to test that theory though... I've flown SARCAP for an ejected pilot before, and the whole time I was helping out a little voice was saying; "damn, I'm glad that's not me!"

In a weird way it was kinda cool getting a scraped up knee, too. Like being a kid again! I was far more upset about my chewed up handlebar wrap than I was about the knee, or even about the fact that I fell, which was more comical to me than anything else.

I'll say one thing though...I've hurt myself in far worse ways flying a Viper in air-to-air training than on my little crash. Far worse ways... 9 G can do bad things to you if you're not careful.

Does this count as hijacking my own thread?

SemperFi

As the duty Sargeant used to say on Hill Street Blues, "Be careful out there"!

1ply

I had the same thing happen... of course I was cutting in between cars and a bus at a red light... avoiding those mirrors first with my handlebars then my head (bus mirror) got to the intersection and OOPS. Glad the light was red and the bus wasn't moving.... laughed it off since I'm a big boy and don't really care if I look cool or not to others and go on my way Eggbeaters rule.

Itsjustb

How about a sticky thread: "The first time I rode clipless..." I'm sure we'd have some pretty funny stories, and new people might learn a thing or two.

My $0.02. If you take your bike out riding in nice muddy clay trails (lots of clay here in NC), remember to clean out your shoes' clips as well as the pedals. For weeks I couldn't understand why it was so hard to get my shoes unclipped. Then I looked at the bottoms and saw I had clay packed into them. D'oh! Could have saved myself a lot of bruised shoulders.

jeff-o

I also suggest adding some lithium grease to the cleats or pedals. Makes 'em slide in and out like butter.

When I stop, I usually only unclip one foot, and it's always the left foot. For some reason, I simply cannot unclip the right foot and stand on it - it always feels very unstable. Weird.

bike4life

That's because you're left-footed! BTW, what is lithium grease? Is it readily available at my LBS?

Bikewer

Lithium is standard automotive grease, pick up more than you'll ever need at any auto-parts shop.

I used to spray down my cleats and pedals with a silicon-based lube before any muddy ride; it seemed to help the goo shed.

bluebottle1

This is good advice. You should also put some grease on the screws that hold your cleats to your shoes. Without it, road salts and crap can cause the screws to fuse to the plate in the shoe. Then, if you need to change out cleats for any reason, you're potentially looking at needing new shoes (or at least spending a lot of time and energy trying to remove the old cleats).

Lithium grease costs about a buck or two for a twenty ounce can. I've had the same can of the stuff for about five years now and it's not even close to empty.

Eggplant Jeff

I wouldn't grease the screws, I had problems with mine coming out. However, blue locktite ("medium" strength) works great. It keeps them from backing out, but the locktite itself seals the threads so other junk doesn't get in there, so the screws don't get permanently rusted in place or anything.

eubi

Congrats on your first horizontal track stand.

This happened to me while riding to work in Orange County two days after going clipless. Before then, I used those Zefal toe clips. Came up to a stop, went to put my foot down. Uh oh...

CRASH!

A teen riding in the car next to me rolled down the window and stuck out his head.

"Oh great, here it comes..." I thought.

"Dude, new pedals? You OK?"

I gave him a thumbs up. "Yeah, thanks."

Nermal

Horizontal track stand!. I love it.

huhenio

I used to ride with straps all the time .. even for a few miles. The transition to clipless was easy, since I had to twist my left heel out so to free myself from the cage. Clipless just made it easier.

Boudicca

I recommend going back to that grassy field and practicing with the right foot. There are times when one pedal is faulty, or a shoelace gets caught in it, or a shoe cover, and you simply cannot unclip the foot you usually unclip. It happened to me once, and I was so close to falling that it was scary.

Having said that I have still never fallen when riding clipless, although I do twist my heels to clip out even when riding on platform pedals.

Writing this is presumably a certain recipe for an instant fall.

Kragg

Congrats !!! I went clipless last year, had my share of stupid falls and paranoia at busy intersections. But as "the beef" said, second nature now !!! Enjoy !!!