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Amusing Clipless Pedal Story

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Amusing Clipless Pedal Story

Old 05-30-06, 07:06 PM
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Wanna hear a messed up story?

Friday I bought home my new baby, brand new Fuji Roubaix Pro all set up for racing... Yesterday, im out with my friend, its his first time riding clipless...we come to a stop, I put my foot down, he comes up behind, im looking for cars, and I feel my bike jerk sideways between my legs, look back and he had tipped over and was on top of my back wheel... His luck, his bike didnt get scratched or anything an dhe didnt get hurt...but of course my brand new 2 days old fuji....back wheel- out of true...couldnt ride it home, I didnt want to damage it further...

Today I go to the shop, they true it the best they can, but confirm that the time is BENT and I need a new wheel...what the #$#@$ Hes going to have to pay for this, I dont have the cash to be forking out for someone elses clumsiness. I clearly told him to make sure he always unclips at first, say 20 feet before stopping...didnt listin.
All my excitement about my new baby, has gone down the drain due to this dillemma... im sad ;*(
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Old 05-30-06, 07:08 PM
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First time I fell in clipless was in my apartment. Balanced on the bike in my hall, clipped both feet in easily, then lost my grip on the wall somehow, fell over and banged my head into the wall. I had a nice lump, but the bike was fine.

Shoulda worn my helmet.
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Old 05-31-06, 01:10 AM
  #28  
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Here's my falling over story. I'm climbing up Griffith Park behind the Hollywood sign. I see a garbage can up ahead at the peak of the climb so I decide to pull out an energy gel. I eat the gel and decide to stop for a second. So in one motion I'm braking, unclicking and throwing the used up gel pouch in the trash Kareem Abdul Jabbar-sky hook style with my left hand over my right shoulder. Right as come to a stop (just finishing the follow trough of my shot), my left calf gets a charlie horse and because I'm leaning left for the sky hook, I have no where to go but straight into the ground. At least no people were around....two minutes later and the LA Triathalon club would've been laughing at me.
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Old 05-31-06, 03:02 AM
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I've never failed to clip out due to inexperience, but I think that may be due more to balancing skills than anything -- I learned how to track-stand on my mountain bike before going clipless. Additionally, I think core strength might help (at least, I notice myself moving shifting my weight from the pedals onto the bars when I unclip on my fixie, but that might be fixed-gear-specific).

The only time I've fallen due to being clipped in was a mechanical issue of some sort, I believe: I tried to clip out but my foot stayed attached to the pedal.

Last edited by xsdg; 05-31-06 at 04:36 AM.
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Old 05-31-06, 03:31 AM
  #30  
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unclipping is easy twist your foot *pop* but i don't understand how you fall over do you who have fallen wait till you come to a complete stop then try to unclip?
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Old 05-31-06, 03:36 AM
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New bike- $1800, new pedals- $100, new shoes- $90, zero experience- priceless. Doing a test ride around the neighborhood just checking the bike and brifters out- everything is going fine after a couple of laps around the cul-de-sac so off I go down the steep hill the house is on. The bike just flies down the hill and I have this big smile on my face as I continue on for a bit, then turn around to come back up the hill. Right before I get to the house I completely run out of steam. Flop! I'm scraped and skinned but the bike is fine except for a nice gouge on the side of one of the Ultegra pedals. While looking at the pedal I notice that there is an adjustment screw! *Tweak tweak tweak* No problems since.
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Old 05-31-06, 06:31 AM
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Originally Posted by dta95b7r
unclipping is easy twist your foot *pop* but i don't understand how you fall over do you who have fallen wait till you come to a complete stop then try to unclip?
Part of my problem is riding many years with toe clips. If the strap is not tight enough, you just pull your feet straight out. So when you are about to stop the foot just comes straight out. While riding with clipless its also remembering to unclip Before you need to stop not while you are stopping.
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Old 05-31-06, 07:42 AM
  #33  
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First thing you do when you fall is not checking out your bruises, but looking around to see if anybody seen you.
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Old 05-31-06, 09:44 AM
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I've been riding for a little over a year with clipless and I havent fallen yet. I just practiced unclipping in my livingroom for a few minutes before I went on a ride. Its really easy. Just anticipate(sp?) stopping at red lights and such.
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Old 05-31-06, 09:51 AM
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I had a stick caught between the cutout in the bottom of my shoe and the cleat the first time I fell. (I had been riding clipless for a few days so I "knew" what I was doing.)

I coasted past a line of stopped beach traffic and thought I had timed the light just right EXCEPT I forgot the turn arrow. So, I had to stop.

Tried to unclip to no avail and gravity got the better of me. The worst part of it (other than the fifty cars seeing it happen in super slo-mo) is that laying on the ground along side the road, my bike was still attached. I had to take my shoe off to get unstuck from my bike. (see earlier part about stick.)

I swore that day to never wear that t-shirt while on my bike again.
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Old 05-31-06, 11:06 AM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by mollusk
OK, I'm going to thumb my nose at the cycling Gods. After riding since the 1970's with toeclips (and never falling) I finally went clipless in mid-December 2005 on one of my bikes. After 2500 miles on that bike I still have not fallen. I'm calling BS on the notion that you must fall if riding clipless. (If I fall tomorrow I will be back to post about it and offer my humble apologies to the cycling Gods.)
Too freakin' late, my friend. You done messed up now! The cycling immortals are, at this very moment, plotting an incredibly heinous and shaming tumble for you. Oh, you may 'escape' for a few days/weeks/months/years, etc. But rest assured: they're just jacking with you, lulling you into the falsest of senses of security. Could happen ANY time . . . just imagine -- in your dotage, being wheeled about in a chair, and up jumps a nasty curb or something and WHAMMO! Or you've kicked it, and you figure you're home free. I mean, what can possibly happen to you when you're actually gone? Au contraire, mon frere! Six of your most faithful pals are solemnly toting your casket out the church door when WOOPSY DAISY -- WHAMMO! They dump you on your dearly departed a$$ . . .

It's gonna happen.
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Old 05-31-06, 11:08 AM
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Originally Posted by craigery
I've been riding for a little over a year with clipless and I havent fallen yet. I just practiced unclipping in my livingroom for a few minutes before I went on a ride. Its really easy. Just anticipate(sp?) stopping at red lights and such.
Another unsuspecting innocent who thinks that time is on his side (heh-heh-heh . . .)
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Old 05-31-06, 11:32 AM
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I've done it twice:

I exclusively clip out with my right foot. The one time I decided to give my right foot a break and unclip with the left I lost my balance and fell. I think you intuitively get accustomed to shifting body weight to the side you typically unclip, so be cautious if you want to be an ambidexterous dismounter! The other was while learning a very important lesson about riding with a flat... flat tires don't roll as easily at inflated ones. With a puncture, ALWAYS unclip prior to applying breaks, as the bike will stop quicker than you think!

On a humeruos note, I really enjoy the little jig people do on their pedals when they lose their speed and realize they're going down. I was riding with a friend once who was showing off in front of a convertable loaded with women. While he was showing off his balancing act waiting for a light to turn, he lost his balance, did the jig and went down. Too funny.

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Old 05-31-06, 11:40 AM
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I fell the first time in the LBS parking lot just after buying the bike two days ago. My problem is clipping in, not out. I have to remember to keep pedalling with my left leg while trying to clip in my right foot.
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Old 05-31-06, 03:15 PM
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Originally Posted by thunder_jj
...he looks at me, and without smiling he asks me if I'm ok....
funny. possible reason for little/no reaction by cop: he's seen it happen 1000 times!
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Old 05-31-06, 04:05 PM
  #41  
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I've used clipless pedals a few times on test rides and on my friends bike, and I've never had a problem with them... then again, I have problems with things that most people can do without a problem...
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Old 05-31-06, 04:18 PM
  #42  
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I've never fallen in my clipless pedals. Knock on carbon.
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Old 05-31-06, 04:56 PM
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I have never fallen on my clipless pedals in 3 years of use. However, the ones I am using now are the second set I've owned.
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Old 05-31-06, 07:48 PM
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i went 6 months with clipless without falling.. then i did it right in front of my apartment. stupid.
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Old 05-31-06, 08:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Reynolds
First thing you do when you fall is not checking out your bruises, but looking around to see if anybody seen you.
No, first thing I do is see if the bike is damaged
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Old 05-31-06, 10:47 PM
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My fall came when I put clipless pedals on my 2nd bike. They were a much tighter fit than my first set & as I coasted uphill to a stoplight, I couldn't get unclipped, teetered a bit then did a slow motion fall to the curb where a couple of homeless(per their sign) guys were sitting. One says "I hate it when that happens". I should have thanked them for not laughing!
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Old 06-08-06, 12:19 PM
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Have you seen anyone falling wearing clipless? It is weird. When I got my clipless last year I had them on too tight. I was at a stop and my wife was in a car coming to the same stop driving to the store. I could not unclip and basically fell over in slow motion. It looked to my wife that I was just sitting there and purposely fell over to be funny. She just drove by shaking her head.
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