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My first clipless experience...

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My first clipless experience...

Old 07-04-07 | 06:12 PM
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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
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Old 07-04-07 | 07:24 PM
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Had a couple of close calls but haven't fallen yet, the pedals are a lot tighter on my new bike though...
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Old 07-04-07 | 07:49 PM
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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.
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Old 07-04-07 | 08:08 PM
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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 .

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.
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Old 07-04-07 | 08:24 PM
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If nobody saw you then it does not count.
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Old 07-04-07 | 09:04 PM
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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.
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Old 07-04-07 | 10:49 PM
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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.
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Old 07-05-07 | 05:20 AM
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Now ride clipless on a fixie. I fell twice in one day. I have not since fallen.
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Old 07-05-07 | 06:23 AM
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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.
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Old 07-05-07 | 06:33 AM
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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.
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Old 07-05-07 | 06:36 AM
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Congratulations. Now that you got that out of your system enjoy the rest of your rides. And it does happen to all of us.
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