Help me cycle for longer!

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  • milemuncher1
    milemuncher1 Posts: 1,472
    ForumNewbie wrote:
    ben@31 wrote:
    Surely it cant do you any harm to eat one thing between 1 hour and 1.5 hrs in ?
    Milemuncher1 wrote:
    I've got a knackered left ankle, so riding the bike with SPD-SLs on, isn't a good idea, on a short, and / or start-stop route. I have most of my bikes set up with single sided SPD / trail pedals,

    Interestingly even after cycling for a few years I always unclip with my right foot only. At junctions I keep my left foot clipped in. The heel on right shoe is way more worn than my left shoe :D
    After a while stop-start routes though a city centre with SPD type pedals is second nature and sub concious, If I cant get my right foot back in after setting off, I give the crank another rotation or two with my left foot to keep moving and not falling over.
    Same here, my left foot remains clipped in until I get off the bike. I use normal double-sided SPDs. I don't see the point of single-sided SPDs unless you sometimes cycle in trainers or other non-cycle shoes.

    I've had a cleat remove itself from the shoe, and wedge itself in the mech before. If I hadn't had the flat side of the pedal available, it would have been a train / spousal evacuation. As it is, I managed to ride the 40 miles home, with only one functioning shoe. I've never forgotten that lesson.
  • rumbataz
    rumbataz Posts: 796
    Flat pedals fitted to the road bike and enjoyed a lovely ride yesterday with no worries about having to unclip in an emergency. Felt 100% confident and enjoyed the extra performance of the road bike and how much easier it was to ride uphill.

    I really should have stuck to flat pedals when I bought it 10 months ago and I would have ridden it a lot more.

    I only rode it a handful of times due to the worry of falling off because of the SPD-SL pedals and the awkwardness of the specialist shoes which meant I couldn't really walk anywhere in them.

    So I wore my gym trainers, got on the road bike and had a fantastic ride - a huge endorphins rush before the heavens opened! Just missed a colossal downpour as I arrived home so avoided my bike melting. Ha ha...

    Really happy now that I'm finally enjoying riding my 'proper' bike after so many months. The missing link was the wrong pedals for me. I've kept my Shimano Ultegra 6800 SPD-SL pedals for when I'm a lot more confident about unclipping.
  • dj58
    dj58 Posts: 2,223
    rumbataz wrote:
    Flat pedals fitted to the road bike and enjoyed a lovely ride yesterday with no worries about having to unclip in an emergency. Felt 100% confident and enjoyed the extra performance of the road bike and how much easier it was to ride uphill.

    I really should have stuck to flat pedals when I bought it 10 months ago and I would have ridden it a lot more.

    I only rode it a handful of times due to the worry of falling off because of the SPD-SL pedals and the awkwardness of the specialist shoes which meant I couldn't really walk anywhere in them.

    So I wore my gym trainers, got on the road bike and had a fantastic ride - a huge endorphins rush before the heavens opened! Just missed a colossal downpour as I arrived home so avoided my bike melting. Ha ha...

    Really happy now that I'm finally enjoying riding my 'proper' bike after so many months. The missing link was the wrong pedals for me. I've kept my Shimano Ultegra 6800 SPD-SL pedals for when I'm a lot more confident about unclipping.

    The thing is rumbatz, you won't gain confidence clipping in/out unless you use your SPD-SL's and shoes continually to take the newness out of them, you crack the technique and it becomes second nature to you. Why don't you fit the SPD-SL's to your hybrid and go and cycle somewhere quiet and just practice, practice, practice until you have nailed it. You won't be bothered so much it you hit the deck on your old bike will you?

    If you are still not confident after a prolonged period of using your SPD-SL/shoes, consider switching to SPD double sided pedals which you may find easier to use.
  • ForumNewbie
    ForumNewbie Posts: 1,664
    DJ58 wrote:
    rumbataz wrote:
    Flat pedals fitted to the road bike and enjoyed a lovely ride yesterday with no worries about having to unclip in an emergency. Felt 100% confident and enjoyed the extra performance of the road bike and how much easier it was to ride uphill.

    I really should have stuck to flat pedals when I bought it 10 months ago and I would have ridden it a lot more.

    I only rode it a handful of times due to the worry of falling off because of the SPD-SL pedals and the awkwardness of the specialist shoes which meant I couldn't really walk anywhere in them.

    So I wore my gym trainers, got on the road bike and had a fantastic ride - a huge endorphins rush before the heavens opened! Just missed a colossal downpour as I arrived home so avoided my bike melting. Ha ha...

    Really happy now that I'm finally enjoying riding my 'proper' bike after so many months. The missing link was the wrong pedals for me. I've kept my Shimano Ultegra 6800 SPD-SL pedals for when I'm a lot more confident about unclipping.

    The thing is rumbatz, you won't gain confidence clipping in/out unless you use your SPD-SL's and shoes continually to take the newness out of them, you crack the technique and it becomes second nature to you. Why don't you fit the SPD-SL's to your hybrid and go and cycle somewhere quiet and just practice, practice, practice until you have nailed it. You won't be bothered so much it you hit the deck on your old bike will you?

    If you are still not confident after a prolonged period of using your SPD-SL/shoes, consider switching to SPD double sided pedals which you may find easier to use.
    Rumbataz, I agree you won't gain confidence in clipping-in and out by using flat pedals, but if you want to go clipless, why not just go straight to double-sided SPDs, rather than SPD-SLs.

    If you are happy using flat pedals that is fine, but if you want to try to go clipless again, I would suggest just going to double-sided SPDs. I've been using them for 5 or 6 years now and never felt the need to move on to SPD-SLs.
  • sloppyschleckonds
    sloppyschleckonds Posts: 8,019
    Left foot unclipper here.
    I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles
  • rumbataz
    rumbataz Posts: 796
    I will definitely look at double-sided SPD pedals. The key for me is I'm riding my road bike now with confidence. I'm going to do a bit of research regarding SPD (or equivalent pedals). Essentially I'd need pedals that are a lot more forgiving than the SPD-SLs that I just took off the bike. I guess I wasn't really ready for them just yet and the roads around here don't help.

    I know there's a few alternatives to SPDs around at the moment too (Look, and a couple of other I believe).

    The flat pedals are just a stop-gap at the moment - an 'emergency' move by me to get me riding my bike! I want to try clipless in due course.

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