Clipless moment...Almost!

hopper1

I've been using a clipless system since Shimano first introduced their SPD's.
Today, on a club run, I came to a sharp stop at a junction, to wait on the rest of the group to catch up...
:shock: Fcuk, started to fall... Quickly put pressure on the pedal and managed to regain balance as I rolled forward, and unclipped my foot, then stopped again...
I had completely forgotten that I was using a brand new pair of pedals... :oops:

sungod

whilst stationary, with one foot on the ground, no wind, no distraction. i managed to fall over and only saved myself from hitting the ground by grabbing a fortuitously located armco barrier

not a clue how i managed it, but luckily no witnesses

carl_p

I had one yesterday! Inside the last 5 miles of my 72 miler. I was already shattered due to the distance and heat and had to endure a fairly long hill for Norfolk. I've done the hill loads of times, but this was the first time there was a car park on the side of the road and another coming in the opposite direction. No space for me to get through and not going fast enough to unclip whilst free wheeling, so I decided to fall off rather than run into the back of the parked car, or hit the other head on. 3 cars stopped to see if I was ok and a bloke in his garden asked if I wanted some water. I was so embarrassed. :oops:

Moral of the story? Look ahead, not down at your feet.

wasi1984

I also had 1 on my 1st ride out the other day.

Wasnt totally my fault either as my chain dropped off whilst down shifting up a steep incline.

Needless to say a 0.1 mph tumble onto the grass verge followed! :oops:

Dave-M

Funny this thread was here.

I was 30 miles in to a 50 miler yesterday and as I approached a junction I unclipped as normal. However I still had a few meters to roll before I came to a complete halt. Just at that moment my foot clipped back in and I started to fall......as if by magic, my foot came free and saved my embarassment :oops:

d4evr

I had one of these today on my way home from work, I was approaching a junction which has a fairly steep rise to it which I normally am able to stand on the pedals and time my exit.

Not today!! I was just about to make my way forward onto the main road when a boy racer appeared from nowhere travelling at MACH 5 causing me to hesitate/panic a bit/stall and leaving me no time to get my foot out of the pedal, causing me to tumble on to my left side, as he accelerated up to MACH 6 and disappeared into the distance!

First thought was" this is going to hurt", it didn't!
Second thought was " my paintwork" it survived!
Third thought was " get up quick, before anyone spots me" thank god it was in the countryside
Fourth thought was " LITTLE B@ST@RD "

I got going again and took my anger and frustration out on the four miles or so left of my route home!

Once home gave myself and the bike another going over, everything was fine and I cant wait for tomorrow morning to do it all over again!! The commute that is not the falling over!!

Mike67

To the poor guy in front of me waiting to turn right ( I was in a car) at the weekend who did the slow motion tumble whilst clipped in....I feel your pain

I think you were OK though as you rapidly set off again.

I did have to explain to the wife though how it IS possible to fall over whilst nearly stationary...and yes, I have done it myself....off road though when no-one was looking

Tazman46

I must be the number 1 numpty at this, twice in 2 days. On the canal path when GF unexpectedly stops dead in front of me cos she doesn't fancy cycling under the bridge.....sooo close!! Big rant, don't f*****n do that again etc, I'LL RIDE IN FRONT!! Arrive at destination, stop dead, keel over and break 2 ribs! Next day forget about the ride in front rule, approaching 2 dog walkers and 2 riders coming the other way, GF stops dead.....

d4evr

Tazman46 wrote:

I must be the number 1 numpty at this, twice in 2 days. On the canal path when GF unexpectedly stops dead in front of me cos she doesn't fancy cycling under the bridge.....sooo close!! Big rant, don't f*****n do that again etc, I'LL RIDE IN FRONT!! Arrive at destination, stop dead, keel over and break 2 ribs! Next day forget about the ride in front rule, approaching 2 dog walkers and 2 riders coming the other way, GF stops dead.....

I shouldn't laugh Tazman, but that did tickle me

Hals1967

Clipless moments on the road - just the one. Approaching a junction, 4x4 approaching from the right, I slowed down to a crawl thinking "I'll just make it - he'll go by before I have to stop" - well he didn't... and I did the clipless tumble onto my left side and scraped my knee on the kerb. Bled all the way through my ride too.

Clipless moment in the garden - just the one. Trying out clipless for the first time on the path in the garden, clipped out a few times at very low speed thinking "this is easy - what's all the fuss". Then did it again, going very slowly tried to clip out on the left side, couldn't then tried the right foot as I stopped. Couldn't clip out, panic set in and I stupidly tried to pull my right foot off the pedal and ended up tipping sideways onto a stone water feature. Stone edge in the ribs, that bloody well hurt, and as I hit it the force of the impact dislodged the top of the water feature and it fell on me covering me in water. :oops:

irturner

May have been rolling up to a pedestrian crossing on the taxi/buses/bicycles only section of the Nottingham city centre ring road and a fresh herd of browsing bargain foragers made a break for it across the road (like a herd of Gnu or Wildebeast without the circling predators). Stopped. Wobbled precariously from side to side thinking here we go !!! Then by a miracle my right and weaker foot unclipped. So yet to fall off clipless pedals (managed it on a hybrid with unexpected adverse camber a couple of times)

Zachariah

By the powers of the mighty clipless demons, I command this thread to rise again! Rise!

Had mine for five days now and thought I had them all sussed. On the way out of the carpark at work, I came to a stop where it meets the road and looked left and right as usual. Completely forgot I was wearing them and fell hard on my left side.

Few witnesses mercifully, one building contractor who asked if I was OK. I made my excuses and left, suffering a lightly grazed knee. "Well, that's my clipless moment over and done with!" I thought.

Nearly home and I reach the top of my training hill, which I always go up before turning round and heading back. At the top I stop at a traffic island to do my usual U-turn. Safely unclipped the left foot to stand still. But when I tried to do a very tight right turn at low speed (and remember I only had my right foot clipped in), I manage to fall over on my right side, scraping my elbow a good one on the tarmac! Thankfully no cars were coming.

Twice in one quick ride home. That must be my quota for this year.

1_reaper

I had one many years ago. Around 96 i think. I had my brand new made to measure tri bike. Was a lovely beast. Anyway had been out on it a few times but without the shoes just trainers. So came the day i got my shoes. Never practised as i had spd's on my MTb at the time so thought how hard can it be with road pedals. At the time i lived on a hill so i clipped in and gently rolled down the hill. Got to the bottom and then panicked as i had forgotten to slacken off the tension in the pedals and could not release in time and what seemed like slow motion just fell to the side. i Must have looked a tit as i was laying on my side with both feet still clipped in thrashing my feet and legs around trying to release. :oops:
Hence from that day forward i ride with slack tension in my pedals and to add insult to injury i had lovely scratches on my shiny new pedal and rear mech. Gutted i was had a few moments since but managed to stay upright. now i have said that you know what's going to happen :oops:

stevee_p

I had my first (and im sure it won't be the last) fall on my first ride on clipless pedals.

It was also my first big ride on my road bike, and i felt invincible. I was heading up a long incline (that I'd previously bombed down and that still holds my downhill speed record at 44mph!). Anyway, I got to that point where I couldn't pedal any further, and aware of the common horror stories like this thread, I unclipped early.

Then, after catching my breath, I figured I'd hop back on and try and get going again...left foot clipped in, went to pedal off and pretty much had one chance to clip in. My foot missed, slipped off the pedal and i fell in a heap on the road. One car was coming up behind me and just drove by. Luckily they weren't very close as I would've been hit by them.

I pushed the bike up the hill and got back on at the top!!

Haven't had any other falls (yet) but its only a matter of time. I have had a couple of near misses, one involving leaning on a car stopped at a junction.

bompington

I've only ever had 2.
The first was... the first. I'd fitted SPDs, read the instructions, seen demonstrations, mentally rehearsed several times. Rode around the garden, stopped, toppled slowly to the ground: my feet just didn't obey the signal from my brain, or something like that.
The next came after several uneventful months: on my normal commute home, at the only junction where you usually have to stop - I was just daydreaming, I think, and I came to a halt and fell over pretty much before I woke up. Gave me an important lesson on never letting your concentration slack on the road.

Actually it does get better as you get used to it: I have SPD-SLs on the road & SPDs on the MTB, I regularly need to dab off road and I don't think I've failed to get a foot out for years. On the road I make a habit of unclipping as late as possible, I'm hopeless at trackstands but I find that this is helping me improve (sometimes manage 3 or 4 seconds now), and makes it second nature to unclip quickly with the foot going directly to the ground rather than waving it around.o.

Another hint - make sure you reguarly unclip with both feet, if you always do the same one first you will be in real trouble if you find yourself toppling the other way.

dmch2

I very nearly had one last night on only my second ride with SPD-SLs.

I shifted down to the granny ring instead of up to the big one, realised my mistake and immediately double shifted up. Clunk. Pedals won't turn!

It was dark so I couldn't see but I guessed the chain was tangled up so I was stuck there coasting down a hill at 20mph, in the dark, feet stuck at quarter to and 9, thinking 'this is going to hurt'.

Since it was darker than I expected, I only had tiny lights on and was on a wooded section of road I couldn't see the drains etc so couldn't see where to stop. (I've been to the ayup site to look for lights and got a website with sunset times now!)

Fortunately I managed to unclip (I normally do it from the 6 o o'clock) without coming off, slow down and stop without hitting a drain.

Too close!

datpat64

So here's me doing 100 mile a week for the past year and have an unreal clipless moment.

As I stop at an island because of dithering old lady on the right I realise "shit not clipped out" but can't get foot out !

Result is I'm on the floor with both feet still clipped in and there's a rather good looking lady in the car behind me. It took what seemed liek five minutes before I managed to get one of my feet outo fthe pedals and thus stand up and regain any dignity (which was already well gone due to the crowd of shppers leaving the Tesco which is on the island).

Good looking girl in car is asking if I'm OK as I've been squirming around the road in the front of her car for ages and the folk at tesco are p*****g themselves laughing. How red is it possible to get and how far do I now have to ride to avoind Tesco s

Your embarassingly

Peddle Up!

Stopped. Balanced, perfectly. Posted a letter. Noticed how the reaction from pushing the letter into the post box had made me move very slightly away from the box...

ride_whenever

Peddle Up! wrote:

Stopped. Balanced, perfectly. Posted a letter. Noticed how the reaction from pushing the letter into the post box had made me move very slightly away from the box...

Priceless...

jame58rown

I was on a steep hill, and there was a car parked in a layby with two people in the front. I turned around to look for my riding partner who had fallen behind (obviously )
and suddenly lost all my power, couldn't get out in time and hit thye deck; one hood was bent inwards, rear mech and seat stay were chipped .

The people in the car were laughing :evil: and I was left with a beetroot coloured face and hurt elbow. :roll:

redvee

Had a near-misses recently. Tried to pull up when the crank was at BDC :oops:

jbrown1

First time out on my spd's. Pulled up to a roundabout with my mate in front of me, I crawled to the front of the junction thinking my mate was going to go. He hesitated, I panicked, started to topple and dropped to my right like a stone.

Impressive bruise though...

Road Red

No 1. Had Just started riding a couple of years ago. Stupidly passed a line of ladies on horseback at the bottom of a steep hill. Went for a dramatic gear change on hill, didnt work, slow collapse into ditch. Pedals too tight so couldnt escape immediately. Firmly lodged in the ditch as the ladies rode past.
'Are you alright there?' I was politely asked. 'Yes thank you.'

No. 2 A few weeks later, cyling past a friends house, I spot him in the garden. Bit of a quick stop, though with pedals now loosened, increased awareness of getting left foot out, all is going smoothly, left foot out dangling ready to touch the ground, except in the excitement I forgot to shift weight, hard crunch on my right side.
'Hello Peter'...... 'Oh hello, are you ok down there?' ....'Yes, thank you!'.

No. 3 On the Marie Blanque on this years Etape, going ok near the top, incline about 10%, things are starting to clog up but still moving, until kno*head in front of me decides to stop suddenly. Another embarrassing exit stage right!

Maybe I should go back to normal pedals!

wulfhound

Year or so ago, right after I got my Wellgo SPD-clones for my commuter bike.. knew they were going to be fiddly so found a side road to practice on. The instruction leaflet that came with the cleats warned me not to overtighten.. so I didn't.. stiff new pedals, not-tight-enough cleats and a numpty at the controls = instant 0.2mph spill.

Once I'd loosened the pedal tension a little and tightened the hell out of the cleats on the shoes, no further trouble :roll:

Dmak

Went clipless this week in prep for buying a road bike.

Fall 1, day 1, outside house, thought I was doing good, mind was elsewhere, minor bruise, no blood or witnesses.

Fall 2, outside busy hairdressers, clipped out left foot in prep for stopping and then proceeded to fall to the right, lots of blood, many witnesses. I had to laugh it off!

Fall 3, TBA

Fall 4, TBA

"Stopped. Balanced, perfectly. Posted a letter. Noticed how the reaction from pushing the letter into the post box had made me move very slightly away from the box... " Class

Peddle Up!

Road Red wrote:

...passed a line of ladies...

Er, yes. I've had a spud-fall related to that particular distraction.

bilirubin

Road Red wrote:

No. 3 On the Marie Blanque on this years Etape, going ok near the top, incline about 10%, things are starting to clog up but still moving, until kno*head in front of me decides to stop suddenly. Another embarrassing exit stage right!

Maybe I should go back to normal pedals!

Did you get started again OK?

I have added a couple of new hills into my training loop and to be honest I am struggling, I "bonked" one night half way up, my energy levels just evaporated and before I had the chance to think about unclipping I was on the floor.

No major damage but getting started was hell, no energy and trying to force enough effort through one pedal to enable me to clip the other foot on before I fell off again.

d87heaven

Just purchashed some clipless kit. I shall be going for a long ride tomo (sat). Expect another posting from upon my return.

Red Devil

Lol all very reassuring great read - newbie struggling with pedals how am I ever gonna get used to these ?
First time with brand spanking new bike practicing in layby
New to gears/shifers and pedals & shoes - one off so far with near miss in just getting left foot out as nearing tarmac.
Plus hill climb went into wrong gear came to a halt & grass verge helped out.
Think I need to get used to gears first before clipping in....

ooermissus

The official position seems to be that clips are dangerous, clipless much safer. Bike Radar:

Clipless pedals are a lot safer and easier to use than toe clips and straps. Beginners often worry about the perils of trying clipless pedals, but they really shouldn't. Your feet will naturally release from clipless pedals, something they won't do with toe clips and straps.

But then lots of people seem to fall off - as this thread shows. Are clipless really safer? (Genuine question.)

sundog

ooermissus wrote:

The official position seems to be that clips are dangerous, clipless much safer. Bike Radar:

Clipless pedals are a lot safer and easier to use than toe clips and straps. Beginners often worry about the perils of trying clipless pedals, but they really shouldn't. Your feet will naturally release from clipless pedals, something they won't do with toe clips and straps.

But then lots of people seem to fall off - as this thread shows. Are clipless really safer? (Genuine question.)

I'm not sure that the pedals are the problem here.