half a decade since my last clipless tumble
 

Wow... it's been half a decade since I've tipped over while being clipped in. Such a good run :-(

Went to drop mail off at the mailbox, unclipped before I arrived at thte box. Dropped the mail off... clipped right foot in, made a u-turn, clipped left foot in, didn't pedal for some reason, and fell.

I thought I was over falling like that! I guess not :o

I fell like a champ though! Didn't reach my hand(s) out like I've done in the past... only damage was on my knee, and my ego... no damage to the bike.

My scars are still healing from my first time out using clipless a few weeks ago. But the important thing is that you protected your bike. Flesh will heal, carbon will not.

I just began using clipless pedals yesterday. Have to say it worries me at low speeds and near traffic. I usually unclip the left foot but leave the right foot cliped when coming to a stop. Totally forgot about it and kind shifted balance to the wrong side while my foot was clipped. Thank god I just balanced for like 2 seconds until I managed to put it back on my good foot. It was scary. Somehow I feel like falling from that height can really hurt.

I find it weird that some people unclip the left foot. My co-worker does that too. I prefer to lean away from traffic. Plus the sidewalk is on the right, sometimes you don't even have to get out of saddle this way.

I typically unclip the right foot as that is the curbside when coming to a stop. I also try to unclip at every intersection whether I plan to stop or not, unless I'm just bombing through. If you think you may stop it's worth it, just keep your shoe in the clip so you can just push down to clip in if you can keep riding. The biggest risk for me is when I'm doing something unusual, like a U-turn on a busy highway where I think I can keep going, realize I can't & I'm not prepared to unclip. That happened to me last week & suddenly I was clipped in, not moving and had to trackstand while I unclipped. Thankfully I didn't stop, nor did I push down on the pedals to maintain balance as that would have pushed me into oncoming traffic.

For me it relates to motorcycle riding. The rear brake is on the right foot. I take my hands of the handlebars and lean left while keeping the bike stopped with my right foot.

When I first started using clipless my friend told me that there two kinds of clipless riders: those who fell and those who will fall again.

If you unclip your right foot and accidentally lean left, you need a big save to avoid falling into traffic (in right side of the road driving countries). If you unclip your left foot, you just put your left foot down to keep from falling into traffic, and if you accidentally lean right, then you fall away from traffic.

Also, if you unclip your left and keep your right clipped in, you never get a greasy chain tattoo on your right leg because you are always leaning the bike and chain away from that leg...

I... don't understand the difficulty... I don't unclip until I am basically stationary, and I only fell the first or second time I was out 4 years ago. Maybe its because I use eggbeaters?

For me, it was mainly a lack of sleep, and doing something I do every day without turning my brain back on. No real difficulty, just not paying attention to what I was doing... being careless. Kinda like if you walk enough, eventually you'll stub your toe on something... not that walking is difficult... like mentioned above, there are those that have fallen, haven't fallen but will, have fallen and will fall again. I can track stand for a handful of seconds, but when you're caught off gaurd, it's difficult to regain balance! Or it is for me at least.