forgot i was clipped in

[navratbiker]

oh yes i did the unforgivable [FONT=&quot]embarrassing[/FONT] stop, lucky for me it was just in a pull in and not at a junction. Forgot i was clipped in...saw the ground coming sideways. Lucky though i only scraped myself and not my bike, although did scuff the left pedal. duh! road rash to my arm and knee, could have been worse though like many people watching etc or even worse traffic.

Question is how many of you have joined me on such an experience of the ground coming to meet you?

please anyone who can make me feel a little less stupid chuckling.

 

[tonyzackery]

oh yes i did the unforgivable [FONT=&quot]embarrassing[/FONT] stop, lucky for me it was just in a pull in and not at a junction. Forgot i was clipped in...saw the ground coming sideways. Lucky though i only scraped myself and not my bike, although did scuff the left pedal. duh! road rash to my arm and knee, could have been worse though like many people watching etc or even worse traffic.

Question is how many of you have joined me on such an experience of the ground coming to meet you?

please anyone who can make me feel a little less stupid chuckling.

About time someone started a thread I could relate to! I feel your pain literally and figuratively...

First day of clipless pedals I decided to go on a long (25mi back then) ride. Went down twice on that day - both times at intersections with cars stopped at the light. Must've been hilarious! No damage to me physically, bent front rim that required truing, and significant damage to my ego. LOL!

 

[Denny418]

About twenty years ago, I'm being fitted for my new bike, with clipless pedals. They tell me to go for a short ride to see how it feels. I walk the bike outside, start rolling down their driveway and clip in, then decide I'd better stop before swinging out into the road, just to check for traffic once again. Down I go. I had gone maybe five feet on my new bike before my first accident. Bloody knee and elbow.

A very attractive girl happened to be waiting in a car nearby, saw the whole thing, and came out to see if I was okay. She couldn't understand why I had slowly tipped over without putting a foot down. I showed her why.

I went for my ride, then went back into the shop. The guys are looking at me in awe. I figure they saw me go down and have been laughing ever since. No, they saw me leave the shop with my new bike, and then thirty seconds later they look out and see me talking with a hot chick. They were in awe of my dudeness.

I told them the truth. I lost my aura.

 

[64Paramount]

Yup, been there done that.

Do you all remember that old TV show called Laugh In? Where the guy would slowly fall over on his tricycle??

I suspect that's what I looked like.

 

[navratbiker]

i am so glad i am not alone then the road rash looks a bit ewww but the bikes fine. wont stop me going out tomorrow though, just need to engage my brain and think unclip then come to a complete stop or or practice my hovering skills. lol

 

[Scotttri]

I can definately relate to this........sad thing is it was about the fourth red light I got in a row, and all of a sudden I forgot how to clip out, and down I went......no damage accept to ego as there was quite a few drivers who had a laugh

 

[gman0482]

Ok this is a good preparation thread for me . I ordered my 1st pedals & shoes like 3 weeks ago from a LBS, and still waiting ! having size 48 doesn't help either.

 

[Mojo88]

I can relate to this post as I just returned to cycling. I was at a light with my son and couldn't unclip. The tension was too tight and I did the slow fall , I told my son now I know how a turtle feels when they get flipped over and can't get up.

 

[Denny418]

I can relate to this post as I just returned to cycling. I was at a light with my son and couldn't unclip. The tension was too tight and I did the slow fall , I told my son now I know how a turtle feels when they get flipped over and can't get up.

Yes, it has to be the longest half-second in cycling.

 

[alienator]

Yes, it has to be the longest half-second in cycling.

The important question is how long did it take you to get up and pedal away so as not to be seen down by too many people?

It's at moments like those I like to think of what a boss once said, "If you never do anything, you'll never screw up." He said that at the annual Christmas party, right after I won the "Drill Your Way to China" award.

 

[Chavez]

I had the worst last week....pretty gassed near the end of a ride, pulled up to a stop sign, unclipped, and ceased paying attention....well, until the bike started leaning to the side where I was still clipped in.

It only takes a half-second to spill? Funny, normally it takes me about 5 seconds to call myself an ass hole that many times.

 

[Andy Somnifac]

Yeah, I've been there... First time (yes, there have been subsequent times as well) I stopped to adjust the computer pickup on my front fork since I bumped it putting the wheel back on. I pulled to the side of the road and slowed and wondered why I was falling and couldn't put my foot down... Luckily I fell into some nice soft grass, and no one was around. I wasn't so lucky other times.

 

[navratbiker]

oh i feel so much better now, no doubt at some point it will happen again. i made the right choice in saving my bike though. the thought of scratched carbon folks or scraped arm well, the arm will heal as well as my ego but if my bike would have been damaged i would have been devastated. about my scratched pedal though, if your like me i spend hours polishing her up. hey keep your experiences coming though, some of these are very funny indeed

 

[kdelong]

It happened to me twice, the second time involved a curb and my elbow. Since I ride for pleasure, and since falling is not a pleasant thing for me, I have given up clipless and gone back to my old tried and true toe clips and toe straps. Yeah, they are old school but so am I, they are what I learned to ride with and after 40 years, it is second nature for me to pull out and put a foot down.

 

[CycleGeek]

I just bought a new bike (!!) a week ago with my first clipless pedals. I'd heard it said that you fall twice, maybe three times while you're getting used to them, and then never again. Well, one down!!

I was riding on a gravel path, slowed down in a moment of indecision over which way I was going to turn, unclipped my left foot to put it down and then overbalanced to my right. Boom. A little bit of a twisted wrist, a few scrapes and some fairly impressive bruises, but no real damage.

I'm actually fairly pleased about it, in a twisted sort of way. I had just been worrying about falling and remembering a bike accident I had as a kid (face vs. asphalt- not a good scene), and then two minutes later I fell. And it was no big deal. Not particularly painful or scary, just a bit embarrasing. Hardest part was the heartattack I gave to my poor partner, who was riding behind me and had to watch!

 

[alienator]

I just bought a new bike (!!) a week ago with my first clipless pedals. I'd heard it said that you fall twice, maybe three times while you're getting used to them, and then never again. Well, one down!!

That's a lie. About 4 years ago I was trackstanding at a light, when Ma Nature bestowed upon me a gust of wind broadside. I had time to think, "Oh, no!" As I hit the ground, I saw an old lady slowing in her car, like she was going to ask if I was ok. That would've been the peak humiliation so I jumped up and sped away before she came to a stop.

Also, the likelihood of you missing your pedal when trying to clip in varies directly with how good looking the lass is in the car next to you at the light.

 

[64Paramount]

If I have any concerns about what is happening ahead of me with other riders, cars, pedestrians, etc. I just go ahead and unhook my left foot so I'm ready stop.

Sometimes it works out that I didn't need to do that, othertimes I'm very glad I was prepared.

Edited to add:

It still amazes me how hard it is to get my cleat locked into the pedal when I think about it. If I don't think about it, it just snaps right in.

Like Alien says, if there's nice looking babe in a convertable next to you at the stop light, I'll fumble it every time.

 

[slowbutnotdead]

I don't think that I ever forgot that I was clipped in but just didn't get out in time. this also happened with toe clip and straps when the straps were cinched tight. The worst is when I was riding with toe clips, I pulled out to put my foot down and the nylon cleat slid across the cobble stone away from me and I ended up doing the splits painfully and it took quite a while to get up. good thing it was a low traffic street and only a few people saw me.

 

[miller2]

It is a long time to fall the short distance. A couple of weeks ago, I had returned from a ride, and my 5yr-old wanted to go ride. We loaded up his bike and headed to a 1/2 mile loop near us. I should have known better than to keep the cycling shoes on. First time around the loop, he got on an upslope and stopped to watch a sand volleyball game. He couldn't get going again because of having his feet in a bad position. I unclipped my left foot, gave him a shove and fell over on my right side. I wanted to get my foot out, but couldn't seem to get it in time. Skinned my knee and bent my jockey wheels in quite a bit. When I got up, I didn't even bother to look over at the sand volleyball game. I assume they were all laughing. Had to take my bike to the LBS to get everything working properly again.

Nearly ate it yesterday when pulling onto a highway. I was trying to get on it in a hurry and missed my clip. I scraped the back of my leg on the pedal, but thankfully recovered and was able to continue riding.

 

[CycleGeek]

I just did it again.

After a short, steep, out-of-the-saddle climb, I had to wait for traffic at the top of the hill. A car stopped to let me turn left. I had my right foot on the ground and my left clipped in, but I didn't have my left pulled up high enough to get a power stroke to start on, and I was still in way-low gear from the climb, so when I put my weight on my left to start it went *thunk* to the bottom of the stroke. Then, there was the slo-mo rrrrrrrrrr-THUD onto the asphalt.

Oh well. At least now I have symmetrical ass-bruises.