Your first cleat induced spill!!??

dub_skav

Similar story to many. Had been commuting clipless for months and never fallen, so assumed it would never happen. Just as I was getting home, hopped up on the path at the lights at the end of my road, coasting to let a woman pass and turned a little too sharply as I was taking off again, went on my ear. Unclipped in mid-air and hopped up sharpish.

I reckon the woman thought I was mental.

showry

had a beauty yesterday:
coming home from a spin, I'd left the group and was taking my normal shortcut home.
There was some kind of car rally on so there were cars everywhere. I nudged my way to the front of the queue at a roundabout, saw a camper van taking the exit just before me so went for it only for a little souped up corsa to swing out behind it into the inside lane. I hit the brakes and slowly realised what was about to happen, it seemed to take forever, I think I was even able to give a Wile.E.Coyote "oh sh1t" shrug to the watching pedestrians. Finally I hit the ground and rolled onto my back, bike in the air (if anyone remembers the dying fly dance to the Sultans of Ping's Turnip Fish that's the position I was in).
I quickly unclipped, grabbed the bike and scuttled across the roundabout, as gracefully as cleats would allow me to scuttle, to the cheers and beeps of assorted boy racers and rally enthusiasts.
Not good.

DirkVoodoo

Uggh, I think the only thing worse than a cleat spill is a cleat spill in front of boy racers!

PeadarofAodh

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Uggh, I think the only thing worse than a cleat spill is a cleat spill in front of boy racers!

How about a cleat spill under a boy racer? That's both embarrasing and, I'd assume, rather painful.

Deisetrek

Had them about 2 weeks , bit wary of 'em but no problems at that stage . Went for a good cycle , daydreaming as I pulled on the brakes outside my house ..... utter panic as I knew I was locked in ,and like others proceeded to keel over in slow motion .
Don't know which was worse , the embarrassment ,or the look of disappointment on my wife's face ( who was observing the whole incident from the window) upon realisation that I wasn't in actual fact having a heart attack!!

rflynnr

What I love about these stories is the slow motion element common to many. Having done it myself (at the top of a hill near the Naul after simply forgetting I was cleated in), my abiding memory is recognising the inherent hilarity of the situation before I hit the ground.

DirkVoodoo

Too true. They are rarely that sudden, the fact you are clipped in has dawned on you long before you hit the ground.

Happened to me on the Sean Kelly this year, getting near the end we were heading slightly uphill and I shifted into the small ring. My chain popped off and the bike's lack of inertia meant I came to a stop pretty quickly. I was too tired at that point, despite the fact I had plenty of time to unclip my shoe. I gave a lazy, half hearted jerk of my heel and when that didn't work I just leaned a bit to the side and tried not to scratch the bike on the way down.

sooty11

my own was fall number 2 on my first attempt to cycle into work from balbriggan a couple of months ago..literally just fell over at the lights at rush hour in dorset street:mad:
the face on the metro girl when she saw my blood streaked leg was priceless....which was caused by fall number 1, 30 minutes previous....stupid lip on a cycle lane wrecked me and my precious new focus!!!

Redjeep!

Mine was in front of the entire cycling club one Sunday as I was waiting and forgot that you need to keep moving.

I fell over once when I had clips, in the middle of a herd of cows which was quite amusing as they all started a mini stampede, then stopped and all turned to look.

Both times were slow motion.

ajk24

bought my first roadbike on a wednesday - first spin was grand no sudden stops required - saturday cycled out to tag rugby tournament - freewheeled up to bunch of girls on my team - clippled out left foot - accidently clipped back in... Ow my pride! (2 hours later knee collapsed - no cycling for 6 months)

hynesie

Just after the main food stop on this years Croi Corrib cycle a girl had fallen off her bike and between her and the people helping her up they were taking up 1/2 the road. I slowed down in order to wait for the car coming in the opposite direction to pass but I didn't account for the car to slow down to a complete crawl so they could get a good look at the accident. I kept expecting them to speed up a bit but they never did, I just kept slowing down more and more until, in slow motion, I fell on the ground in front of the car and as a result the whole road was blocked until I managed to unclip myself.

Bunnyhopper

Jaysus lads, I've been considering switching from platforms to spuds but you're putting me off the idea.

On the other hand, I like the slo-mo comedy element and the sense of prat-fall camaraderie so maybe I'll just get a set and join in the timmmmmberrrrrrr fun

Gavin

Bunnyhopper wrote: »

Jaysus lads, I've been considering switching from platforms to spuds but you're putting me off the idea.

On the other hand, I like the slo-mo comedy element and the sense of prat-fall camaraderie so maybe I'll just get a set and join in the timmmmmberrrrrrr fun

Just keep em loose and when you feel yourself starting to fall, the panic kicks in and a rapid, highly undignified exit from the clips is quite doable.

Lumen

Bunnyhopper wrote: »

Jaysus lads, I've been considering switching from platforms to spuds but you're putting me off the idea.

I've always used Looks, and never had a spill caused by them, despite being an uncoordinated buffoon.

Maybe it depends on spring tension?

Am about to switch to these, hopefully best of both worlds:

Eoin D

Lumen wrote: »

I've always used Looks, and never had a spill caused by them, despite being an uncoordinated buffoon.

Maybe it depends on spring tension?

Am about to switch to these, hopefully best of both worlds:

haha, this thread is gas. I'm planning on switching to cleats soon enough!

Was wondering what ones people recommend getting, they're going to have to be cheapish I'm afraid as I may be leaving the country within a year!

Ironically enough I was looking at those Shimano A530 SPDs there when I saw your post!

Lumen

Eoin D wrote: »

haha, this thread is gas. I'm planning on switching to cleats soon enough!

Was wondering what ones people recommend getting, they're going to have to be cheapish I'm afraid as I may be leaving the country within a year!

Ironically enough I was looking at those Shimano A530 SPDs there when I saw your post!

My knowledge is about 10 years out of date, but anyway...

I've used SPDs and Looks. SPDs are obviously better if you want to walk in the shoes (with recessed cleats), but for an A->A bike I'd still stick with Looks - nice big clacky engagement, big platform and simple (i.e. maintenance-free).

By contrast I always found SPDs a bit fiddly.

Those A530s are fairly new. The traditional single-sided solution seems to be M324s, but the A530s look much nicer.

Having had cleats since my first adult bike, I now hate riding without them. It feels unnatural not to be physically coupled with the bike, and those cage things scare me.