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Embarrassing moments

EricinIkebukuro

Speeding Up
Jan 30, 2011
414
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Today, I fell off my bike because I couldn't unclip my foot from my pedals correctly. I have been riding with clipless pedals for over a year now. I haven't made this mistake since I first started using them. I hurt my pride and scuffed up my expensive Brooks saddle ψ(`∇´)ψ

Has anyone else had embarrassing moments like that before?
 
Not recently, but...

Don't be too hard on yourself.
Anyone who tells you they've never fallen over due to a "failure to un-clip" is a big fat liar!
The most common fall is when a rider un-clips the left foot, brakes at the wrong moment, loses balance, and starts falling to the right - With the right foot at the top of the stroke, sometimes you don't have the leverage to get your foot out, if your cleats are locked in too tight.
Just sayin'...
 
n00b!

i've been stopped with my right foot unclipped and on the ground and still somehow managed to loose my balance and fall to the left. i've also gone down at while braking very slow speed in the rain when my front wheel locked and slipped on a manhole cover.
 
Waiting to cross the road at a set of lights on a narrow path, meaning I have to do a sharp right angle turn to get on the road, foot in way of wheel, hit the wheel lose balance and end up in the middle of the road on the ground in front of lots of traffic.

I just picked up the bike and rode away without looking around as quick as I could.:eek:
 
Don't be too hard on yourself.
Anyone who tells you they've never fallen over due to a "failure to un-clip" is a big fat liar!

That never ever happen to me :angel:
Once I tried to take off my rain jacket very stylish while rolling freehand the last meter to the start line and lost balance :eek:
 
Unclipped on the left foot and put it down on a patch of super slippery ice, full splits, I am not that flexible normally, unable to unclip right foot due to strange angle of legs and searing groin pain. Finally claw my way to the sidewalk out of the gutter and unclip. :eek:
 
Yeah, everyone falls over with clipless pedals once. Rite of Passage and all that.

Wouldn't worry about it.
 
Ahem....

Waiting at a red light, decided to give it some welly as soon as the light turned green. Clipped in, went for it, pulled my right foot out of the pedal and the momentum of my right leg flying upwards dumped me over the bars.

Onlookers gaped in astonishment. I slunk away.

AW.
 
It has happened to me, but only off road on very steep sections when getting stuck. It's hard to unclip sometimes sufficiently fast.

On the road - never! But I have been riding with clips since I have been six or so. So it's just a reflex.
 
The most common fall is when a rider un-clips the left foot, brakes at the wrong moment, loses balance, and starts falling to the right - With the right foot at the top of the stroke, sometimes you don't have the leverage to get your foot out, if your cleats are locked in too tight.
Just sayin'...

I fell exactly as you described it. The searing pain from the stares and giggles of all the bystanders was so unbearable.
 
I have done it a few times...usually the same as what Y-Giant said...
One foot unclipped but the one that is being a bit stubborn is the side you're falling to. My shoulders have been good and handled the impacts. One friend in my team who is about 190cm tall put his arm out and it snapped in 2 places.
He never came to training ever again. And that was a standing fall at 0kph.

:warau:

Always happens when people are watching too! :eek:
 
Don't be too hard on yourself.
Anyone who tells you they've never fallen over due to a "failure to un-clip" is a big fat liar!
The most common fall is when a rider un-clips the left foot, brakes at the wrong moment, loses balance, and starts falling to the right - With the right foot at the top of the stroke, sometimes you don't have the leverage to get your foot out, if your cleats are locked in too tight.
Just sayin'...

Travis you forgot this one, Heh Heh.
https://tokyocycle.com/bbs/showpost.php?p=20382&postcount=10
 
And what about the opposite...?

You know, after a successful un-clip at the inconvenient red light, you try to getting again and you miss the clip-in two or three times, run out of push-off steam, and stumble and fumble your way through the intersection to rave reviews from the drivers. :eek:

Or, trying for a quick get-away, you miss the clip with a furious down-shove, and spin the front wheel 90 degrees, thereby catapulting yourself over the bars in a cacophony of cursed embarrassment...:eek:

And why the hell do they call them "clipless" peddles...:confused:
 
I've had pretty much the same experience: unclip left foot, fall to the right.
I broke my fall with my hand, and luckily didn't hurt myself.

Then I had to unclip my right foot while trapped underneath my bicycle, stand up, and wait another minute for the light to change!:rolleyes:
 
Today, stopped at a traffic light, I kinda leaned wrong, and started to fall right, with my right foot clipped in, and my left on the ground. My cat-like reflexes caught me, and I didn't fall. Instead I pulled up on the handlebars, and smashed my important bits with the top tube. Not my most smooth moment.
 
Hauling a heavy load on the trailer, I had pushed hard up a big hill, I had made the hill using one gear higher than I usually do, totally pleased with myself, heart pumping wildly, sweating profusely, I come to a stop, and put my left hand out to steady myself on a pole, I do not unclip..... outstretched hand misses pole, and I go down like a ton of bricks, both feet clipped in, with a trailer full of beer in tow..... not much more than my pride hurt, but sure thankful that I wear gloves, as they took the brunt of the damage.
 
I occasionally miss a clip-in on blast-off from a light.

Right foot is already clipped-in and has just given maximum effort quarter stroke, so I'm out of the saddle. Left foot misses the clip, slips across and off the front of the pedal. Free fall. :eek:

Result: traumatic prostate exam by pointy Fizik saddle. Brings tears to my eyes, and not good at all for 'Emma Freud' the hemorrhoid. :rescue:
 
Speaking of getting the second shoe clipped in from a red light, I recently got a pair of PD-540's and although they look more or less the same as the PD-520's I moved to my commuter, I noticed they are, somehow, much easier to clip into. If I think about what I am doing, I can pretty much nail it every time. Must be something about the pedals.
 
Just got my new bike yesterday and it is my first road bike:D.
Wiggle was so nice that they include one pair of normal pedels and one pair of clip paddle.

I was being too smart:cool: put on the clip paddle pretending to be a pro. It was totally fine when the bike is running full speed on the road. Until I get to a empty road and trying to do a U-turn to the left, at the end of the turn there was a light pole next to a gate (someone's house). My right leg was clipped to the pedel and when I realize that it was too late. I lost balance and run in to the gate. (one O'click in the morning....):warau:

Lucky the bike come out with out a single scratch:D I was so happy and quietly drag it away and without looking back. After a few minute I realize my finger and knee was bleeding.....

Thinking about getting a clipless pedals, it seem easier than clip pedals.

http://f.cl.ly/items/2h1Q3E432v3S0T1N0E42/DSC_0011.jpeg
 
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