Interesting clippy shoe incident

lost_in_thought

Well now, I've been having a little trouble with my SPD shoes in the past, but this morning was a new one.

I was pulling away at shebu roundabout, trying to out-accelerate a roadie who was faster off the blocks but slower cruising. Which with my GI ain't easy. I know, MTFU...

Now my method for acceleration is not just to push down, but to pull the rear pedal up. As hard as I can. Not sure if this is right but whatever.

As I accelerated away up the slip to the roundabout, I pulled up and pulled my foot halfway out of my shoe.

Oh c0ck.

Not having prior experience to base my solution on, I lost my swan-like appearance and flapped around, managing in the process to pull the rest of my foot out of my shoe, which promptly inverted.

Oh c0ck.

With beeping traffic winding its way around me, I managed to plant my socked foot on the pedal and sole of the upturned shoe, and limp around the roundabout to the pavement.

It is really pretty hard to unclip a shoe that is clipped to a pedal but doesn't have your foot in it.

It is also pretty tricky to replace your foot in a shoe that is clipped to a bike.

Must do shoes up tighter.

Jen J

Is it wrong that I laughed at that. A lot?

graeme_s-2

I always do my shoes up nice and tightly and have Specialized road shoes with two velcro straps and a ratchet, so no chance of that happening even when pulling upwards very hard.

I once had to try to unclip a shoe from a pedal where two of the screws had come undone from the cleat, which meant the cleat could rotate freely on the bottom of the shoe. It wasn't an easy job!

Glad to hear you escaped with only minor dents to your pride.

linsen

Thanks for giving me my first chuckle of the day

The picture of sartorial elegance, I'm sure

Clever Pun

redvee

Tried to put my foot back in a shoe clipped to the pedal cause I was too lazy to stop and do it properly. It isn't an easy task. Word of advice LiT do your shoelaces/straps up a little tighter.

Crapaud

lost_in_thought wrote:

... As I accelerated away up the slip to the roundabout, I pulled up and pulled my foot halfway out of my shoe.

Oh c0ck.

Not having prior experience to base my solution on, I lost my swan-like appearance and flapped around, managing in the process to pull the rest of my foot out of my shoe, which promptly inverted.

Oh c0ck. ...

It's nature's way of telling you that panto season's begun.

Assuming that your shoe was done up OK, you'll probably have to adjust the tensioning on the pedal It'd probably be easier to have someone show you how rather than trying to describe it. It only takes a couple of seconds with an allen key.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Reminds me of the time I once failed to do my trousers up properly...

lost_in_thought

Jen J wrote:

Is it wrong that I laughed at that. A lot?

Not at all. While I was removing said shoe I was laughing at myself - to the untrained eye a lycra-clad girl kicking seven shades out of a bike whilst swearing under her breath.

And I do do them up pretty tight. Tighter from now on.

Oh and I know how to adjust the tension, thanks Crapaud. I tightened it up after I kept pulling the shoe out of the pedal. More fool me - now the shoe is the weak link.

Feltup

Sounds like you are half way to becoming a triathlete

Feltup

lost_in_thought wrote:

Oh and I know how to adjust the tension, thanks Crapaud. I tightened it up after I kept pulling the shoe out of the pedal. More fool me - now the shoe is the weak link.

Crank up the shoe and the pedal and now your ankle is the next week link! Where will it end?

ride_whenever

Aaaaaaaaaah, the rookie mistake of thinking cycling shoes are necessary...


just bolt the cleats into your foot, get some Ti threads put into the bones in your feet and you'll never have that problem again

Totalnewbie

Oh dear...

I've done the pulling shoe out of pedal thing, which was swiftly followed by me upping the tension.

I'm a bit obsessive about pulling the straps tight though so foot has never parted company with shoe while on the road, that must have been interesting indeed.

Jen J

ride_whenever wrote:

Aaaaaaaaaah, the rookie mistake of thinking cycling shoes are necessary...

I can't believe you just called LiT a rookie!

*sits back and waits for fight to start*

GyatsoLa

Similar, but even more embarrassing, a few years ago when I proudly picked up my brand new bike, i hopped onto it at the door of the shop, then within about 50 metres realised that the pedals were ultra tight... there was no way I could unclip! I cycled vainly for a little while, trying to work out how I could elegantly get out of this situation. A red light made my mind up for me. I stopped, and elegantly fell sideways onto the pavement, still attached. Needless to say, a small group of schoolgirls was at the crossing point, so at least I gave them some amusement on the way to school. I had to walk back to the shop in my socks, shoes flapping off the pedals.

Crapaud

Feltup wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Oh and I know how to adjust the tension, thanks Crapaud. I tightened it up after I kept pulling the shoe out of the pedal. More fool me - now the shoe is the weak link.

Crank up the shoe and the pedal and now your ankle is the next week link! Where will it end?

Let's hope that LiTs doesn't have a false leg.

lost_in_thought

redvee wrote:

Tried to put my foot back in a shoe clipped to the pedal cause I was too lazy to stop and do it properly. It isn't an easy task.

It's even less easy on a fixed-gear when coasting with the pedals stationary is not an option...

dirk_van_gently

Jen J wrote:

Is it wrong that I laughed at that. A lot?

Well if it is, then that's 2 of us :?
Glad you're safe, shoes tighter, SPDs a little looser, perhaps :?:

chuckcork

Did similar, came crashing down when I'd changed the non-Shimano SPD's for Shimano's (the non ones were just always popping out) and found that I'd left the SPD's overtightened!

Came crashing down next to a guy controlling traffic at a construction site, full cycle gear on, felt like a right idiot.

I think you only do it once and then never again?

Headhuunter

I've never really had probs with clipless pedals apart from once, years ago, I twisted and turned my way to the front of a queue of traffic waiting at a red lights and decided I would try to balance/track stand until the lights switched to green and then accelerate away from the cars, leaving them in my dust.

All good in theory til, just before the lights changed to green, my track stand catastrophically failed and I collapsed on the road across both lanes of traffic. I had managed to collapse in such a way that I just couldn't get my foot unclipped and lay squirming on the road in front of all the cars, frantically trying to get out. In the end I had to take my shoe off and limp barefoot to the side of the road by which time the lights had gone red again.

To their credit, the motorists I blocked were incredibly patient and no one beeped, however I was mortally embarrassed...

biondino

a lycra-clad girl kicking seven shades out of a bike whilst swearing under her breath

Gotta love niche erotica

lost_in_thought

biondino wrote:

a lycra-clad girl kicking seven shades out of a bike whilst swearing under her breath

Gotta love niche erotica

Yep, there's probably a website out there somewhere dedicated to just that!

markshaw77

@HH -
I haven't laughed that hard in quite some time!!
Anyone got anything to mop up the coffee from my keyboard?!?

Feltup

http://www.filthybikebeaters.com

ride_whenever

pbt150

LOL!

Get back to work!

Rich158

I've had many an SPD moment. Probably the best was when I first started riding off road in them. Cycling through some sweet singletrack in my local woods I saw a woman with about 6 dogs coming towards me. Slowing up I realised that I would have to stop and move out of her way, at which point I forgot I was clipped in and very slowly toppled sideways into the undergrowth.

The look of complete bewilderment as to why this complete idiot had just cycled up to her an fallen over for no apparent reason will stay with me for ever.

Others include ending up upside down in a Rhodedendrun bush about 6 feet off the ground after overcooking a corner, still clipped in with the bike on top of me. Once the kids had stopped laughing they pulled me out, eventually.

simple_salmon

My first experience was when I was a PE teacher. Rode out of school onto the main road, came to the first junction and in front of all the kids...well you know the rest :oops:

flattythehurdler

Well try having one with 4l of milk in each bag on the handle bars. The more gravitous cartons both exploded and I had just cycled up to the front of a traffic jam at temporary lights.

Clever Pun

Might I also suggest pushing down as your initial pedal movement, that's where the power is

lost_in_thought

Clever Pun wrote:

Might I also suggest pushing down as your initial pedal movement, that's where the power is

I think the problem is that when I'm pulling up I'm doing so with my foot pretty much completely relaxed. Clearly I wouldn't get anywhere very fast if I was only pulling up and not pushing down...