clipless horror stories

In article <[email hidden]>,

Gary said:

I had been researching peoples comments on the use and
techniques of clipless pedals as I was trying to decide if
I was going to make the switch.

I made the switch and tried to take all the advice I
read in this group and on various websites to prevent
any big falls.

I lasted 3 miles.

I ride to work every day and there is one spot where I
take a shortcut from a parking lot onto a bike trail. It's
steep, 30feet long, then I have to do a 180 degree turn in
a space about the length of my bike. Completely impossible
to do without putting at least one foot down.

Quoted message said:

The next 2 seconds are definitely not my most glamous. I
fell and started a mini cartwheel, the bike rolled over
the top of me and dragged me back to the bottom of the
hill. Thankfully, the hill was grass and the only damage
was to my pride.

This got me thinking that there has to be a tonne of great
clipless horror stories out there.

Sorry, nothing impressive. Clipless have been a lot less
trouble for me than toe clips, and much more comfy. But
early on, I did the classic "fall down clipped in at a
stoplight in front of cars" trick. Which I do not recommend.

Oh yeah, and there was one or two truly spectacular
mountain bike crashes last year, but those had nothing to
do with my pedals.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden]
sfu.cawiredcolaOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club

"Gary" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Do you have a horror story?? I'd love to here it..

I used to ride Onza pedals. These have a nasty habit of not
releasing at the top of the pedal stroke. They seem to snag
up becauseof the design of the cleat mechanism. They release
best with weight on the pedal at the bottom of the pedal
stroke with perfect horizontal-only rotation, which is
somewhat counter-intuitive in an emergency. I was riding a
sidehill trail, fairly steep, but not that high, maybe 50 or
75' to the bottom. Now keep in mind, I RARELY crash..in that
last 10 years, maybe 2 or 3 spills, all fairly minor. I'm
trailing a weaker rider (mistake #1..) and that person had
to stop on the trail because it was getting too technical
and steep. So I look up to see this person stopped in the
middle of the trail, no warning and I had my head down
(fatal in hockey!). I veer off to the open side, which also
happened to be the open side...didn't quite make it and
desperately started trying to get my foot out. I swear, I
nearly tore every frickin' ligament in my knee and ankle
trying to get that god-damned pedal out!! Anyway, didn't
happen, fell perfectly sideways down the ravine, did two
perfect loops, fscking bike still clipped to my bloody feet.
Gave upon the Onzas after that ride, after 2 years with
them. None the worse for wear really, but rather
embarassing. Nothing quite like that feeling when you're
going past the balance point on the steep side, next stop,
12' down...

Cheers,

Scott..

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ryan Cousineau said:

Sorry, nothing impressive.

Same here. It bodes no good to talk so disparagingly of
clipless pedals. When properly adjusted, there should simply
be no problem.

Quoted message said:

Oh yeah, and there was one or two truly spectacular
mountain bike crashes last year, but those had nothing to
do with my pedals.

I had one last year, w/ my Zfal MTN toe clips -- I was going
back home from the Jiffy laundromat with a sackful of wet
laundry sticking up outa my milk crate. I forgot it was
there, went to cowboy-mount, my leg bounced back off the sticky-
uppy bag o' laundry, and I toppled over at such an angle, I
couldn't easily free my foot from the pedal and its
infrastucture. I experienced having my own bike sorta
jumping my bones. A little embarrassing, but no big whoop.

Those cheap-assed Zefal plastic "MTB" clips & cordura straps
are great, 'cuz they don't lock one in so hard as the old
fashioned stuff. Yet they provide lotsa retension. And when
ya pull yer foot out, they're easy to re-enter. (Except when
ya fall over at a certain vector <g>.)

It's just as trivially easy to squirm out of clipless pedals
as toke-lips & toast-wraps.

Plain flatties in the city, though, are nearly idiot-proof.

I've got some old leather belt-&-buckle straps and metal
clips around here somewhere. I guess ppl remember that old-
fashioned [censored] and it scares them off. I don't blame 'em.
Cordura straps are the best invention since bottle openers.

good ride, Tom

--
-- Powered by FreeBSD Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 00:39:51 -0700, [email hidden] (Tom Keats)

Quoted message said:

Same here. It bodes no good to talk so disparagingly of
clipless pedals. When properly adjusted, there should
simply be no problem.

My last one was because Shimano ships their pedals set to
max release pressure out of the box and I set my pedals at
minimum - which I did as soon as I got unclipped and got off
the ground. Knowledge is of marginal value when all you know
at the moment is exactly why you aren't going to get
unclipped and why you are about to fall. At a stop on a
recumbent, so no big deal.

Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on
two wheels...

Not really a horror story, but...

A couple months back I embarked on my first distance ride of
the season (not too far, ~45 miles). It was probably only my
third time on the road with clipless pedals, having spent
the winter on the indoor trainer. About a mile from the end
of the trip I hit a pothole, which knocked my pump and
blinkie onto the ground. Suffering from both winter atrophy
and exhaustion, I stopped to go back and pick them up...

At about 5MPH, I decided to unclip from the pedals... My
legs decided that they didn't want to go along with this
plan. They were apparently happy right where they were.
4...3...2... I'm going to fall, aren't I? 1... STOP...
WOBBLE... CRASH!!! Well, the good news was that I came
unclipped during the fall. I'm a pretty big guy, and luckily
enough I didn't break the arm I landed on.

Now, I hadn't seen another cyclist ALL DAY LONG. Of course,
moments after I fall a couple glides right past and doesn't
even say a word (I was standing by then). One of the things
I like about cycling is that we always give a nod, wave, or
simple "hello" as we pass eachother. In this case, I can
envision two possibilities: 1.) I was the idiot who didn't
know how to ride my bike and didn't deserve the time of day,
or 2.) Every cyclist out there has fallen over after failing
to clip out and they were giving me the requisite few
moments to swallow my pride in solitude. If it was, in fact,
the latter of these, I thank you!

MSM

"Gary" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I had been researching peoples comments on the use and
techniques of clipless pedals as I was trying to decide if
I was going to make the switch.

I made the switch and tried to take all the advice I
read in this group and on various websites to prevent
any big falls.

I lasted 3 miles.

I ride to work every day and there is one spot where I
take a shortcut from a parking lot onto a bike trail. It's
steep, 30feet long, then I have to do a 180 degree turn in
a space about the length of my bike. Completely impossible
to do without putting at least one foot down.

Knowing this was coming up I unclipped both my pedals just
before the steep 30 foot hill. If I plan it right I have
just enough momentum to get the crest before I stop and
then make 180 degree turn.

Just before I reached the top my foot clipped back into
the pedal. I am now at the top of the hill, almost
stopped, clipless rookie, steep 30 foot hill to my left,
and starting to panic.

The next 2 seconds are definitely not my most glamous. I
fell and started a mini cartwheel, the bike rolled over
the top of me and dragged me back to the bottom of the
hill. Thankfully, the hill was grass and the only damage
was to my pride.

This got me thinking that there has to be a tonne of great
clipless horror stories out there.

I did read of one online somewhere of a poor recently
seperated guy who was slowing down for a light and then
saw his ex-wife snuggled up with some new guy in the car
also stopping at the light. He was so suprised and upset
that he completely forgot to release his shoes and toppled
over right in front of her. Not one of his fining moments.

Do you have a horror story?? I'd love to here it..

..gary

Gary <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>... ...

Quoted message said:

Do you have a horror story?? I'd love to here it..

I switched to clipless a year ago, on various friends'
advice, and didn't ever have the manditory "I forgot I'm
clipped in" fall. I like clipless, I get less tired and
less sore, so I bought new shoes cheap ($30 canadian) at
the bike show.

Mistake #1 - I attach the cleats loosely, so I can
adjust them once I check my old shoes and I don't lose
the hardware.

Mistake #2 - I forget that I have done this when, weeks
later, I decide to try my new comfy shoes out, and don't
realize why my connection to the pedals feels weird until
I've clipped both shoes in, I am riding along a major
arterial road, and the light ahead of me is red.

The sidewalk looked safer than the road, especially is this
was morning rush hour, so I dove for it. My pride had the
worst bruises.

After that, though, it was a beautiful ride. 🙂

Carolyn

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 18:13:21 -0700, Gary <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Do you have a horror story?? I'd love to here it..

When I took up cycling again in the late '80s I bought a
Trek 1400. It came with Look pedals. Not wanting to invest
in new cycling shoes, I bought a set of Instep adaptors,
which I rode with for a couple of months. I finally bought a
pair of clipless shoes and headed out for a ride. As I was
approaching an intersection I noticed a particularly good-
looking woman walking a dog. I rode right up next to her,
came to a stop, and promptly plopped over. :-(

When I first started going out with my girlfriend she only
had a MTB with platform pedals. She soon acquired a used
Trek 520 with SPDs. I bought her a pair of cycling shoes and
cleats and we went out for a ride. As we were riding past a
friend of her's house she spotted her friend. We rode up the
driveway and came to a stop next to her friend, whereupon my
girlfriend demonstrated the horizontal trackstand. :-(

There's those who have and those who will!

jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net
home.earthlink.net~jeverett3Open ↗

In article <[email hidden]>,

Dane Jackson said:

She obviously was unhurt, and so I silently pretended not
to have seen anything (knowing from my own clip-less
moment's the thing I wanted most was noone else to have
seen it).

There's /always/ an audience nearby for such incidents. I
think it must be some sort of law of nature.

Maybe the best way to have an incident-free ride is to go
where nobody's lookin'.

good ride, Tom

--
-- Powered by FreeBSD Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Michael S. Moorhead said:

envision two possibilities: 1.) I was the idiot who didn't
know how to ride my bike and didn't deserve the time of
day, or 2.) Every cyclist out there has fallen over after
failing to clip out and they were giving me the requisite
few moments to swallow my pride in solitude. If it was, in
fact, the latter of these, I thank you!

I only clipless moment I've seen someone else have was
getting on the ferry for the Chilly Hilly ride last year. A
recumbent rider (late fourties or so) was pulling to a stop
next to me. She stopped, I could see her flexing to snap out
of her SPD's, and slowly toppled over. She obviously was
unhurt, and so I silently pretended not to have seen
anything (knowing from my own clip-less moment's the thing I
wanted most was noone else to have seen it).

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g I
brake for chronovores

S. Anderson said:

"Gary" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Do you have a horror story?? I'd love to here it..

I used to ride Onza pedals. These have a nasty habit of not
releasing at the top of the pedal stroke. They seem to snag
up becauseof the design of the cleat mechanism. They
release best with weight on the pedal at the bottom of the
pedal stroke with perfect horizontal-only rotation, which
is somewhat counter-intuitive in an emergency. I was riding
a sidehill trail, fairly steep, but not that high, maybe 50
or 75' to the bottom. Now keep in mind, I RARELY crash..in
that last 10 years, maybe 2 or 3 spills, all fairly minor.
I'm trailing a weaker rider (mistake #1..) and that person
had to stop on the trail because it was getting too
technical and steep. So I look up to see this person
stopped in the middle of the trail, no warning and I had my
head down (fatal in hockey!). I veer off to the open side,
which also happened to be the open side...didn't quite make
it and desperately started trying to get my foot out. I
swear, I nearly tore every frickin' ligament in my knee and
ankle trying to get that god-damned pedal out!! Anyway,
didn't happen, fell perfectly sideways down the ravine, did
two perfect loops, fscking bike still clipped to my bloody
feet. Gave upon the Onzas after that ride, after 2 years
with them. None the worse for wear really, but rather
embarassing. Nothing quite like that feeling when you're
going past the balance point on the steep side, next stop,
12' down...

Now *that's* a clipless horror story. I hope you don't mind
me saying it's an awful shame it wasn't caught on video.

"Ryan Cousineau" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Gary said:

I had been researching peoples comments on the use and
techniques of clipless pedals as I was trying to decide
if I was going to make the switch.

I made the switch and tried to take all the advice I
read in this group and on various websites to prevent
any big falls.

I lasted 3 miles.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Sorry, nothing impressive. Clipless have been a lot
less trouble for

me

Quoted message said:

than toe clips, and much more comfy. But early on, I did
the classic "fall down clipped in at a stoplight in front
of cars" trick. Which I do not recommend.

Oh yeah, and there was one or two truly spectacular
mountain bike crashes last year, but those had nothing to
do with my pedals.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden]
sfu.cawiredcolaOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club

Hahaha... same goes for me. I actually adapted to clipless
with almost no trouble. I never had ONE fall until the first
day I went out with my new Look pedals. Previously I had a
pair of shimanos which I'd gotten used. The first ride with
the Looks I stopped at a stoplight and BLAT! It's happened a
couple of times since then, but mostly at stoplights.

The worst I can think of was when I was hit by a car in
2002. I wasn't very seriously injured because the car was
just starting up at an intersection, so I hurt my back where
I fell and broke a bone in my right pinky. However,I also
twisted my left ankle, which I didn't really notice until
the next day. It was all sore and swollen, just badly
twisted, obviously from being clipped in when I fell. But
that's about the worst of it. In case anyone is interested,
bike was okay except for one wheel which was [censored].

"Michael S. Moorhead" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Not really a horror story, but...

A couple months back I embarked on my first distance ride
of the season

(not

Quoted message said:

too far, ~45 miles). It was probably only my third time on
the road with clipless pedals, having spent the winter on
the indoor trainer. About a mile from the end of the trip
I hit a pothole, which knocked my pump and blinkie onto
the ground. Suffering from both winter atrophy and

exhaustion,

Quoted message said:

I stopped to go back and pick them up...

At about 5MPH, I decided to unclip from the pedals... My
legs decided

that

Quoted message said:

they didn't want to go along with this plan. They were
apparently happy right where they were. 4...3...2... I'm
going to fall, aren't I? 1... STOP... WOBBLE... CRASH!!!
Well, the good news was that I came

unclipped

Quoted message said:

during the fall. I'm a pretty big guy, and luckily enough
I didn't break the arm I landed on.

Now, I hadn't seen another cyclist ALL DAY LONG. Of
course, moments after

I

Quoted message said:

fall a couple glides right past and doesn't even say a
word (I was

standing

Quoted message said:

by then). One of the things I like about cycling is that
we always give a nod, wave, or simple "hello" as we pass
eachother. In this case, I can envision two possibilities:
1.) I was the idiot who didn't know how to ride my bike
and didn't deserve the time of day, or 2.) Every cyclist
out there has fallen over after failing to clip out and
they were giving me

the

Quoted message said:

requisite few moments to swallow my pride in solitude. If
it was, in

fact,

Quoted message said:

the latter of these, I thank you!

MSM

Isn't that always the way?You'll see no one all day and then
have some dumb mishap, and suddenly you're passed by some
big group, snickering and tittering.(Or so you imagine).

"Chris B." <[email protected]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Now *that's* a clipless horror story. I hope you
don't mind me saying it's an awful shame it wasn't
caught on video.

Heehee..oh, it woulda been on TV! It's remarkable how quiet
things get and how much goes through your mind in the 1 or
2 seconds it takes from the initial "Oh [censored].." to the ka-
thud as you hit the ground. I had a lengthy debate in that
second or so about whether I should put my arm out to
absorb the impact, or take it on shoulder hockey-style. I
kept my arm in and rode it out pretty well unscathed. Must
have been hilarious to look at though!! Fortunately there
was some undergrowth (it was in the bush..) and I only had
a few scrapes.

I once watched a guy in a race try to ride over a creek bed
on a wet 2x6 plank bridge..that's 6" wide. The bridge was
about 3' above the creek. Went over sideways, much like me,
and did not come out quite so well!! Couldn't get his feet
out and heard this horrible crunching sound as he impacted
the rocks with his ribs!! Very nasty..I'm no shrinking
violet and I chose to walk it..he was yelling at me to get
out of his way so I wouldn't "slow him down"! I think I
beat him...

Cheers,

Scott..

S. Anderson said:

Couldn't get his feet out and heard this horrible crunching
sound as he impacted the rocks with his ribs!! Very
nasty..I'm no shrinking violet and I chose to walk it..he
was yelling at me to get out of his way so I wouldn't "slow
him down"! I think I beat him...

I think he beat himself pretty badly as it was.
--
Rick Onanian

Quoted message said:

John Everett [email hidden]

wrote in part:

Quoted message said:

As I was approaching an intersection I noticed a
particularly good-looking woman walking a dog. I rode right
up next to her, came to a stop, and promptly plopped over.

I think it's a rule of nature that all of our least
impressive moments will be

My own most embarrassing failure to unclip moment occurred
fairly late in the summer about five years ago. I was riding
on a two lane suburban road that has a center turn lane and
stoplights every four blocks. The only other traffic on the
road was a convertible occupied by three girls in their late
teens or early twenties. The driver signalled a right turn
so I passed them in the turn lane. They apparently decided
they didn't intend to turn after all and continued straight.
I pulled back into the turn lane to allow them past me and
ended up drafting them to the next red light. The rear seat
passenger struck up a conversation with me at that light,
the subject being how fast I'd been riding. The light
changed and like a fool I sprinted to keep in their draft.
By the time we hit the next red light a mile up the road I
was so badly blown I simply forgot to unclip. Kerplunk!
Ain't hormones a wonderful thing? <g>

Regards, Bob Hunt

P.S.- A little road rash, one severely bruised male ego, and
a chorus of giggles were the only results of the fall so
it could have been much worse.

S. Anderson said:

"Chris B." <[email protected]> wrote in
message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Now *that's* a clipless horror story. I hope you
don't mind me saying it's an awful shame it wasn't
caught on video.

Heehee..oh, it woulda been on TV! It's remarkable how quiet
things get and how much goes through your mind in the 1 or
2 seconds it takes from the initial "Oh [censored].." to the ka-
thud as you hit the ground. I had a lengthy debate in that
second or so about whether I should put my arm out to
absorb the impact, or take it on shoulder hockey-style. I
kept my arm in and rode it out pretty well unscathed.

I think that's the best decision in most circumstances.
Falling with outstretched arms seems to result in a lot of
broken clavicles and shoulder injuries which never seem to
heal completely.

Not as far as being able to un-clip. I used to wear toe
clips and straps with cleats. The only way I could get out
of these _quickly_ (read: emergency un-clip) was to lean
my foot to the outside to get the strap loose and the
cleat to clear the rat-trap, then twist my foot out. So
changing to clipless was easy, as I already had the twist
out part mastered.

The only horror story I have concerning clipless was shortly
after "upgrading" from the original Looks to the more
streamlined Shimano version. Unlike the original Looks,
these didn't hang in a convinient upright position, but
tended to hang in a more face down position.

One day, I happened to stop on a particularly steep street.
When I tried to start out again, I found I didn't have
enough coasting time to flip the new pedals into a clip-able
position. As a result the nylon cleats came down on the
powder coated smooth underside of the pedal.

My foot slipped off, the crank back pedaled with painful
results and I almost went down. This is the main reason I
switched to the double sided SPD's as soon as they came out!

- -

"May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear
for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner geocities.comczcornerOpen ↗

"Tom Keats" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

There's /always/ an audience nearby for such incidents. I
think it must be some sort of law of nature.

Yeah, I remember when I was new to clipless. I was riding
with friends. We stopped at the light, and I did this slow
motion tumble into a nearby juniper trying to get my foot
out. They thought it was hilarious.

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky Please replace earthlink for mouse-potato
and .net for .com Home of the meditative cyclist:
home.earthlink.netWelcome.htmOpen ↗ See the
books I've set free at:
bookcrossing.comCpeterskyOpen ↗

(Tom Keats) said:

There's /always/ an audience nearby for such incidents. I
think it must be some sort of law of nature.

Maybe the best way to have an incident-free ride is to go
where nobody's lookin'.

Last week at a club ride a new guy showed up a few minutes
before we started. He made a great impression as he smoothly
rode up to the ride leader, forgot to unclip, and smoothly
fell over. Surprisingly, nobody gave him any grief about it
-- being nice to the new guy, I guess.

--
Ray Heindl (remove the Xs to reply to: [email hidden])