Going clipless, remember your first ride?
 

Well I had mine yesterday. I've heard all about stopping at a light and forgetting to disengage, not being able to. Well I bought a pair of Specialized Comp Shoes to go with the Ritchey SPD pedals that I had bought on Ebay a few months back. At first snapping in was a little tricky, but I had spent alittle while practicing in the garage the night before. Well I rode my 30 miler up to the last miler where I stopped to talk to a Fish and game Warden about a guy who was using a net to catch fish from the American River. Well as I stopped I disengaged my Right foot and as I was standing there talking I forgot my left foot was still snapped in to the pedal. And as I attempted to lift my left foot up I lost my balance and down I went. Didnt hurt anything, but my pride. But I love going clipless, just need to keep practicing. Anyway thats my story. Ok who else has a good story? Come on spill your guts. Later.

put on my wellgo (look style) pedals, practiced a bit getting in and out. This was a brand new bike mind you, that I had just put together, first ride (with pedals) within 5 min of riding I looked down to decide if the derailleurs needed adjusting (they did as it turned out) looked back up and I was really close to a curb, unfortunately for me, I tried to unclip, making the bike wobble and as they say 'I went down' I wasn't really hurt (just some scrapes) but I did scratch my brand new bike, and brand new parts (made me pretty mad in the end) but oh well (stuff gets scratched...) :)

When I bought my first set of clipless, my LBS showed me how to clip and un-clip and gave me a few tips. As a consequence, I knew what I was doing pretty much before I'd even taken a ride with them.

Hopefully I will be having my first ride on clipless tomorrow morning on my new bike, I can't wait. I am going to look at some more shoes after work and hopefully will get some today. I have a feeling that I will be a bit rusty, my last MTB had SPD on it but it has been a few years since.

I remember my first few days of my Look clips. I was paranoid so took it really easy. Unfortunately I still managed to unclip the wrong foot and lean the wrong way twice in the first week. That wouldn't have been too bad except for also breaking a chain when standing up on a big hill.

When the chain breaks you have nothing to push against to clip out, so over I went for the 3rd time. Very embarassing even if not that many people saw.

So I didn't do too bad, just don't daydream when you are slowing and you should be fine !

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bfb2003
[B]When the chain breaks you have nothing to push against.

Just wondering; I always unclip with the crank at six o'clock. Wondering if some other crank position works better for anyone else.
Took me three weeks to go down when I first went clipless. Just long enough to not be focused on unclipping.

LOL - three weeks was about my time. It wasn't not paying attention, it was pure male stupidity.

I got a big head about it - I figured that I was so good with the SPD pedals, that I could now tighten them (Tim Allen grunt noise), and since I was tightening them, why not make them good and tight.

No need to test it out while standing, I got this down pat. I'll just head out onto the street. Uh oh, car coming at the next intersection, better get a foot free to be ready to stop. Uh oh, its not coming out - I'll be real smart and stop pedaling AND stare down at the offending pedal.

DOH !!!!

Well, I got it down alright, right out in front of my house.

Thank God the wife wasnt watching, she would have razzed me forever.

Actually, rather than going clipless, I remember going "cleated," in the waning days of cleats and straps. Some of the joys included having to reach down and push the release to disengage your shoe, and cold or sleeping toes from having blood flow restricted by the strap. Then there were knee problems since float was out of the question. I do not miss them, but still have my thin leather Vittorias with all the little ventilation holes in them. They're an interesting novelty.

The effect of cleats was the same as clipless. I didn't have disengagement problems because you really had to sort of plan and prepare to get out, by checking the traffic situation and road conditions before reaching down and releasing the strap before pulling out. In emergency situations, my leg would act on reflex and, pop, the foot comes out, shoe still dangling on the pedal. :)

What I remember most was thinking "what's the big deal? I don't see that much difference." My legs had much to learn. ;)

I went clipless at the beginningof the summer, a friend showed me what to do so I wouldn't hurt myself. I managed not to fall over with them all that week. But over the following couple weeks, 5 times. I realised a couple things, by slow balance isn't as good as I'd though. The funniest, was when I was standing around with my right foot unclipped and on the ground, I look back over my left shoulder, and before I know it, I've hit the ground! Did save myself with a lamp post once though!

I went clipless just a few weeks ago (after using clips and straps for 20 odd years)SPD's

I panicked a bit about getting out, but so far no falls. Tension set at lowest and most times I get my right foot in (I don't unclip the left) first time when moving off.

Thing that took me longest to get used to is the amount of float, particularly when out of the saddle.

Do like the fact that the shoes (Specialized Body dynamic??) are very comfortable if a bit rigid to walk in.

I'll give it a try fairly soon. I'm gonna put (or have installed) the pedals on my current bike, that way at least I'll think I know what I'm doing when I purchase a new bike and hopefully delay the first dent/scratch. Thinking ahead, gonna get plenty of looks/comments with the shoes/pedals costing upwards of 3x or more what my current bike's worth.

Giv'em somethin to talk about :-)

I never actually fell, but I did break a pedal. My first clipless were those awful Wellgo Look-style pedals. they didn't adjust much, and were always too tight. Once I had to unclip quickly, and the d@mn thing broke! Well, I went out and bought real, actual Look-brand pedals and black cleats. What a difference!

I really thought the same thing, even on the lowest tension they were way too tight... but then I put a little oil on the springs and they are real smooth now... not sure about the pedal breaking though :(

Not even close to my first ride going clipless but here it is. I was riding a fire road in the Santa Cruz Mtns. This was toward the end of the ride and I was pretty tired. I had to walk a couple of hills 'cause I was cramping up. Anyway, according to the ride description there was a gate across the road just before coming onto a paved road. The road was well shaded at this point so I couldn't see too well. I could see the posts on either side of the fire road so it looked like the road was open. I got to within a few feet of the gate and saw to my horror that a cable was stretched between the posts. I had just enough time to hit the brakes to avoid crashing over the barrier but not enough time to disengage feet from pedals. So over I went! The upside was that I wasn't hurt and no one actually saw me.

mine was quite humorous. i had gotten a pair of onzas for my mtb (remember those? the ones with the elastomers instead of springs?). i practiced a few times clipping in and out, thought i was fine. my first fall was your typical first clipless fall- i came to a stop and simply couldn't clip out. over i went. in front of quite a crowd. my second was less a product of inexperience, but still avoidable. i was hammering up a steep ascent and hit a rock, tried to dab, but couldn't clip out and went over. the third of the day was the worst. huge endo, tail over teakettle, with my bike somehow landing on my back with both feet still clipped in. took me a while to untangle myself after that one. undaunted, however, i've since become better at getting out, and have been riding clipless incident free for years.

In the 2001 Ride for the Roses the entire group
was moved up about 50ft. I was fine with that but
then clipped one pedal waiting for start, overbalanced
and over I went (we weren't even moving).
The really embarrasing thing was
Lance Armstrong was about 15 ft away, as much
as I tried I simply couldn't fit into the crack in the
pavement. I'd been riding clipless about 2 or 3 weeks.

Marty

I was commuting home from work and I stopped at a red light about three cars back. I couldn't get my foot out and I just fell right over. I didn't notice anyone pointing and laughing, but I was pretty mortified. :( I think it was my first time out with the pedals.

My first time clipless is uneventful. Although my first time with a new set of pedals last year was quite amusing. I had bought some new pedals and installed them. I then went out for a ride, since I had been riding clipless for8 years, I knew I could ride with them. I can up the the only stop light on my way to ride the trail, so I am getting near the light and decide to unclip. Just one little problem, I could not do it. I tried and tried and still could not move my foot. I tried the other foot and it still did not work. I rode over the light post and held on. The light turned green and I went on down to the trail. I got up to another pole were there was nothing around to hurt myself. I had to physically use both arm on my legs to get my foot out of the one pedal. The other foot I got out by laying the bike on the ground and stepping on it and grabbing my foot with my hands to twist my foot off. I then was greatful for carrying all my allen wrenches in my saddlebag. I adjusted the pedals to be full loose and was semi satisfied with that. Although that was still to tight.

Quite amusing I think.