embarressing moment
 

I only ride with my clipless shoes on about half the time since Im usually wearing my work shoes during my commute. I have the pedals with the clipless on one side and flat on the other.

So there I was pulling into the local convience store, I came to a stop completly forgetting I was clipped in and WAM, I fall right over. Worst part about it there was about 15 people standing around, and another 5 or so waiting in line at the gas pump. Not a very good example for promoting bike commuting =(

Clipless falls are known to only happen with witnesses.

Full tank of gas for Hummer H3: $130
Watching a cyclist fall on his face: priceless

It wouldn't be embarassing if there weren't witnesses.

Owning a Hummer and then running over said biker...worth every penny.

This should be considered a right of passage.

Went down with the ship eh? How courageous! :)

You became one with the bike

I have my clipless pedals and matching shoes, but i'm too scared to put 'em on the bike. :(

Bike, pavement, and rider came together as one. How existential!
(and painful)

Welcome to the club!

My equivalent moment was when I decided to ride up the handicapped ramps to the train platform and wiped out against the handrails as a train went by. Mostly what I remember were lots of faces with big round expressions looking at me as they whizzed past.

On the bright side, they were gone soon.

glad im not the only one this happened too =). I need to ride more with the clipless pedals so I get used to it.

When I get on my road bike, which has Eggbeaters on it, after a long stretch of only riding my commuter, which has platforms, I make a point of repeating "Twist... twist... twist..." like a little mantra and doing a few clipouts at the beginning of the ride. Just to get that muscle memory jump-started again.

Yes, I instituted this habit after the train station wipeout.

Been there done that. I can hear the little kids commenting to mom "hey mommy that old man just fell off his bike and he wasn't even moving, do you think he is drunk?"

With every set of clips comes three free falls!!!

Classic! I know that same little brat!

Same thing happened to me while making a U-turn on the bike path. Luckily, I was along. I think it happens once to everybody after they get their first clipless pedals ;)

help, I've fallen and I can't get up
 

This is precisely why I abandoned the clipless system entirely. I can't afford to break my hip or arm and I don't like picking gravel out of my hip either. A good pair of BMX pin pedals and regular shoes are perfect for a commuter. There is too much b.s. surrounding the use of clip in pedals IMHO. :innocent:

Alternating between clipless and platform pedals would not work for me. That would be a fall waiting to happen. I wonder if anyone makes "dress shoes" with spd cleats. That would be great for folks who work in offices and want to commute to work...

Except their shoes would look beat by the time they get to work, so it wouldn't be that great of a solution for people who need to look professional.

i love my platform pedals, i dont think i could imagine clipless.

I've fallen twice because of my clipless pedals. Neither time because I forgot to clip out. First time was because I unclipped the wrong foot and unconsciously tried to put my right foot down. Scrape on the right knee. Second time I unclipped my right foot but somehow (and the how still remains a mystery to me) managed to fall to the left. Scrape on the left knee.

I'm a klutz. Stories like these make me very scared of clipless. Luckily for me, it's a moot point anyway because i can't afford to convert :p

(I am at the moment sporting a good dozen bruises from a fairly spectacular failure of stair skills last week. One of those "feet go out from under, moment of Wile E. Coyote-esque hang time, then WHAM thump crash thud clunk "I'm OK!!" .... ow" sequences. It's a good thing all my friends know I'm prone to such events, otherwise they'd have had The Boy's head...)

I'm just getting started with clipless, after 15+ years of platforms. I have platforms on my road bike, and Crank Bros. Smarty pedals on my mountain bike. This past Sunday was my first mountain ride with the clipless, and I was treated to 3 falls directly related to the clipless learning curve, and yes, the second one had an audience.

I've got a second set of Smarties on order for the road bike, I'm hoping having to clip in for my commute every day will help with the muscle memory.

When it happened to me me, someone said I looked like the guy in the bicycle skit on the "Benny Hill" Show.
So now that particular maneuver is called... the "Benny Hill".