unixpro

Yesterday's rides to and from work were some of the worst I've had in months. After a long while with no mechanical problems to speak of, I had a light wire break, one of the screws holding the disk brake mechanism fall out (that makes the brakes pretty much worthless and is very noisy), and had the seat come loose from the frame attachment. All of these were dealt with when they happened (except the brake thing -- I had to get a new bolt for that), but there was one other thing that just put the icing on the cake.

I was starting up a hilly section of my ride. As I was ascending the first hill, my right shoelace apparently came untied and was caught up by the front chainring. I didn't know this until the lace had made a few revolutions, wrapping itself around the crank a few times. My first realization that this had happened was when the lace tried to pull my shoe (and foot) off the pedal. Now remember that I was going uphill. I couldn't pedal forward any more, as the lace was wrapped pretty tightly around the crank. I was able to get a few back revolutions, loosening the lace a bit, but I couldn't get it all the way loose before I lost my momentum entirely. The result was that I pretty much coasted to a stop and fell over on my right.

I imagine this looked pretty comical from any point of view but mine. Kind of like the guy on Laugh-In that rode a tricycle and tipped it over. My point of view was far less amusing.

It's probably a good thing that the area is pretty much condos under construction. After untangling myself (and my shoelace) and getting the bike back up, I felt free to loose a rather colorful and unrestrained string of invectives. I felt a little better after that. Sometimes you've just gotta yell it out of your system.

gnome

Sorry.
I have done the uphill prat-fall once. I had replaced the cleats on my shoes and put them the wrong way around. I was riding with a friend and he pulled over to stop for his asthma so I followed him. I stopped fine but couldn't unclip my pedals and fell over, ever so ungracefully, to my left. I didn't hurt myself but I did do it in front of other cyclists and witnesses.

zaphoda

Oh man! You had a bad ride, for sure. I laugh, but mainly because I've been there. A couple of weeks after getting my first recumbent, I rode in my first organized metric century. I was still getting used to my bike, but I figured things would be ok. And they were, until we came to a short hill. I shifted into my small chainring too early, so my pedals started spinning freely. I shifted up a couple of gears to correct for this, but by then I had started up the hill, and I found myself in too high a gear. I shifted down, but by then I had lost momentum and begun wobbling. I was clipped in, and didn't manage to get my foot loose in time, so I toppled over. Naturally, since it was an organized ride, I had *many* witnesses -- D'oh! That's the only time I've fallen on my recumbent, but I picked a good time to do it

Ah, yes... that was Artie Johnson. In fact, trike riders refer to this type of low-speed rollover as an "Artie Johnson."

By the way, after catching my shoelaces in my chainring a couple of times, I started tucking the loose ends and loops under the criss-crossed parts of the laces

adrienne

Floyd

Things happen and we accept them and go on or go crazy thinking about it ....glad you can go on.

Doohickie

Meh. I see roadies in my club tip over all the time. That's why I use clips with no straps. Maybe clipless is more efficient and all that, and maybe I'll try them at some point, but I'm pretty happy with my current setup- platforms and toe clips, hold the straps.

Racer46

I've gotten my laces caught in the chainring a couple of tmes, I've switshed to shoes with velcro straps.

brewster49

Oh well...you're still the guy who enjoyed the ride the most and got to see the scenery. No bike set up is perfect, but recumbents come the closest. I love my Bacchetta 26. Ride on, bro.