Clipped in - a dangerous moment

Peddle Up!

I thought I'd share an unexpectedly dangerous moment I had yesterday on a ride. I was riding along a fairly busy main route, planning to turn right in a few hundred yards. I took a good look behind - the traffic was some way off - indicated, and pulled out into the centre of the road. I had estimated that the oncoming traffic was a good distance away, but the leading car was travelling much faster than I thought, possibly speeding.

I decided to unclip and put a foot down and wait, but as I twisted my foot there was a slight delay in unclipping (down to a bit of gravel in the SpeedPlay cleat I think). Just for a moment it really scared me as I was faced with the possibility of a fall, almost certainly in the face of fast-moving traffic. :shock:

In the future, I'm minded to unclip before a turn in similar circumstances just in case. What do others do?

Mikey23

I tend to unclip well in advance as I'm still not confident that I can react in an emergency. Met the local bus unexpectedly on a back road yesterday. Wasn't concentrating 100 percent so dived into a sideroad. Fortunately there was one

nbuuifx

I was just trying to think of somewhere similar and to be honest I don't think I actually turn right anywhere like that on any of my usual journeys. Any right turns have there own central bit to pull into (so more space to fall over in!) or are at T junctions.

Where I have had awkward turns like that I have before looked behind then moved to the middle of the road with my arm out, sitting in the middle this then forces the cars behind to slow down rather than seeing a gap that they think they can squeeze up. This way I have slowed the cars down and given myself more room to fall over!

Not sure if that is the recommended way but it always works for me

ShutUpLegs

Sounds nasty

JoeCycle02

Ive had a few nasty moments like that, i tend now to unclip a little bit early just to be on the safe side.

andyeb

Unclipping early is probably a good plan - there isn't much benefit in not doing so if there is a reasonable chance of having to stop completely. It also has the side benefit of showing drivers that you intend to stop - otherwise they might assume not.