My first clipless experience...
 

So I just got my pedals and shoes. Shimano Ultegra 6620 pedals and Sidi Genius 5 shoes. I put the pedals on and put the tension at almost full soft (this is my first time with clipless). I mount the shoes, and set up the cleats. Go for a quick spin around my block to get a feel for them. I can get in and out no problem everything works smooth. I put the bike away.

The next day I go out for a quick ride. 15 miles and to make any minor adjustments to my cleats. As im pedaling from my house I say to myself, "These are so easy to get in and out of I cant believe idiots on bikeforums have fell." Still I was worried because they say everyone falls and I just wanted to get it out of my system.

I continue on the road and continue practicing with them. About 2.5 miles from my house I turn into a park and run through a big patch of broken glass. I look down and see a little piece stuck in my front tire. I'll just stop and take it out before it digs in and gives me a flat. Not wanting to waste any time I jam on my front and rear brakes to stop instantly and jump down to get the piece out.

As I stop I go to take my foot off the pedal. Guess who forgot to unclip? I am stopped and already lost my balance so I try to jump off the side of my bike so I don't damage anything. I fling myself as hard as I can to the side. Both of my feet managed to unclip themselves when I jumped out so I wasn't still connected.

The first thing I did was get up and look around. Did anyone just see that? I didn't think so. I hop back on and clip in. I go a little further and see tons of people. ( I am in a park you know). Not sure if they saw me but I made sure to keep riding like nothing happened. Got a little scrape on my knee and arm.

I guess I got the fall out of my system and hopefully it doesn't happen again.

To those that will try clipless...

You will fall. It will happen to you.

I though it wouldn't and it did. It didn't take long either.

That is all

Had a couple of close calls but haven't fallen yet, the pedals are a lot tighter on my new bike though...

Welcome to the club, OP.

I fell once, still clipped onto the bike, in front of a red light at a busy intersection and . It took me a long long 20 twenty seconds of struggle to unclip. Fortunately the helmet and shades readily masked my shame.

I fell at an almost empty intersection. The crazy thing was, I'd had the clips for days, and had already felt confident enough to go clipless son singletrack :eek: .

Basically, I just sort of stopped, realized I was still clipped in, tried in vain to get out, and tipped over. It felt like it took forever falling to the ground.

I haven't fallen since, knock on wood.

If nobody saw you then it does not count.
Kenal0:D

I put my first set on yesterday. I bought Shimano PD-M520 & Lake MX85 shoes because I'll be riding my MTB on the street till I get my road bike next spring. I put the bike in the trainer to practice clipping in & unclipping a few times & then road around the block once.

Later in the evening I rode my hilly 32 mile loop. It seemed to make a difference climbing, I just felt more effecient, probable because of the new shoes as well. At the 16 mile mark I noticed one of my knees was starting to bother me & realized that I needed to raise my saddle to compensate for the added pedal & shoe height. When I got home, I was 6 minutes faster than the previous loop.

Today I rode 52 flat miles, about 35 miles in, I noticed something lose when I walked into a store for some Gatorade. My cleat had come really lose, so I tightened both of them & rode on without a problem. My main concern was that my feet would get too hot, I've been riding with mesh Puma driving style shoes, but my feet felt fine. They went numb a few times, but repostioning them helped. I've still got them set to the loose factory tension they came with, but will start tightening them soon. If I fall, it will be because I've become to comfortable & forget, but hopefully unclipping will become ingrained before that happens.

It was a well spent $100, considering it will be at least three times as much for my road shoes & pedals.

First day I had my shoes/pedals, I rode around the back of my building for a few minutes to make sure I could unclip when and how I wanted to. Everything seems fine, so I hit the streets. A few blocks away I decide to see how much faster I can pedal with the new setup and SNAP, broke the chain. I grabbed the brake to keep the chain from tangling with the wheel, came to a safe stop, and tipped over. :)

Just at that moment a truck drives by going the opposite direction and I hear laughs and an unintelligable comment. The humiliation of that wasn't near as bad as the experience of walking back 5 blocks or so in cleats that I'd never used before.

Now ride clipless on a fixie. I fell twice in one day. I have not since fallen.

Tried clipless for the first time in Manhattan a few years back. I was nervous enough about the feral nyc traffic anyway, let alone with clipless for first time. The guy in the shop made me sit on a trainer for 30 mins clipping in and out. I felt really dumb at the time but when i was out on the city roads I was very grateful.

I've fallen many times, especially on my mountain bike. Yesterday I wrecked and was glad my foot stayed in the pedal, since it kept my bike from tumbling down the hill :). Everyone is nervous the first time with clipless.

Congratulations. Now that you got that out of your system enjoy the rest of your rides. And it does happen to all of us.