Your first cleat induced spill!!??

Supercell

Well I had my first this evening.

Was out for a spin on the new bike and not being used to the cleats i panicked when the damn chain missed a gear and got stuck..over I went into a thankfully soft muddy ditch.

I was on a quiet country road so was able to get back on just before a car passed me and saw me in my shame sprawled out in the mud!

Anyone else remember what their first spill was like?, embarrassment for me was the overriding emotion

Danbo!

Mine was waiting at the lights on leeson street bridge, turning right towards fitzwilliam sq. I was just standing there and a bus passed from behind, going straight. My left foot was on the ground, right foot still in the pedal. I decided the bus passed a bit close so went to move right, and just fell straight over.

Yup. Pretty Embarassing.

cunnins4

Roundabout in the phoenix park-some granny going round at about half a mile an hour. Tried to balance the bike while waiting for her to go, whoops, bad idea-over I went and squished the banana I had in my pocket all over the place and smashed up my mp3 player-that little hardened fecker lasted another 6 months or so after that bashing, what a trooper! Only thing I hurt was my ego and my ribs a little. Worst part was being stuck to the bike and not being able to get out of the pedals!

bunnygreen

Approaching lights at Lamb Doyles somehow managed to not get foot out quickly enough,over i go in front of traffic on all sides,car load of birds next to me,managed to break little finger as well,nice.

blorg

My first and only was when I had literally just got the things, leaning against a wall in my hall practicing clipping in and out. Balanced away from the wall just a little too far and down I went. It was a real slow-motion style fall onto (thankfully) soft carpet.

Have had a few close ones outside but have never gone over.

Supercell

noblestee wrote: »

Mine was waiting at the lights on leeson street bridge, turning right towards fitzwilliam sq. I was just standing there and a bus passed from behind, going straight. My left foot was on the ground, right foot still in the pedal. I decided the bus passed a bit close so went to move right, and just fell straight over.

Yup. Pretty Embarassing.

bunnygreen wrote: »

Approaching lights at Lamb Doyles somehow managed to not get foot out quickly enough,over i go in front of traffic on all sides,car load of birds next to me,managed to break little finger as well,nice.

Thanks lads, I lollered a little at those (sorry) !

smithslist

cunnins4 wrote: »

Roundabout in the phoenix park-some granny going round at about half a mile an hour.

:D:D

TinyExplosions

I honestly can't remember if it was my first, but my last was a couple hours ago!

Goin up to Howth, I hit a pothole and knocked something awry... left it till I hit the hill, and decided to check it out -it was one of the brake pads rubbing on the rim. Fixed it, and went to get back on the bike. New SPD-SL's... got one in fine, pushed off to get going, clipped the other pedal in and just sort of flopped over.... thankfully, the rest of the guys had gone ahead, so didnt see my shame! Only problem is that I broke half a cleat!

-Blanco-

my first was litrally about 10mins after I bought mine...

cycled around the shop carpark for about 20mins clipping in and out no prob. Went out on the road to cycle home. Literally 2mins later came to the red light on the road right beside the carpark and "timmmmmbeeeerrrrrr!!" Needless to say cars full of girls laughing all around!!

kenmc

TinyExplosions wrote: »

I honestly can't remember if it was my first, but my last was a couple hours ago!

Goin up to Howth, I hit a pothole and knocked something awry... left it till I hit the hill, and decided to check it out -it was one of the brake pads rubbing on the rim. Fixed it, and went to get back on the bike. New SPD-SL's... got one in fine, pushed off to get going, clipped the other pedal in and just sort of flopped over.... thankfully, the rest of the guys had gone ahead, so didnt see my shame! Only problem is that I broke half a cleat!

OMG how's the bike? Is it OK?

Supercell

I think the worst part of the fall over is the pathetic squirms to release the pedals while you are on the floor looking like a right wally (and probably hurting a bit from sore shoulder and scuffed knee or whatever body part broke the fall).

I got one foot out on the way down , the second one took a lot of squirming around to release, sooooo glad it wasnt in a public place !!

mikemac

Completed a 50km cycle with no problems and then fell off 10 metres from my front door!

Slowed down to cross the road to pull up outside the gaff and down I went right in the middle of the road blocking traffic. As I was struggling to unclip a taxi driver stopped and picked me up, strong guy!

He was a cyclist himself and was told it happens to everyone. My knee was hurt but my pride was hurt even more

TinyExplosions

kenmc wrote: »

OMG how's the bike? Is it OK?

That was my first thought, and thankfully it's fine

Supercell

TinyExplosions wrote: »

That was my first thought, and thankfully it's fine

Hehe, I was the same OMFG..my lovely new bike!!!...

Its got a bit of dirt on there, but its been baptised now i reckon!

Hungrycol

micmclo wrote: »

As I was struggling to unclip a taxi driver stopped and picked me up, strong guy! He was a cyclist himself

Big up for the Taxi driver (for a change).

trek climber

My first time was when I pulled up a friends house out in the countryand naturally forgot to clip out. I came to a slow stop and just like in slow motion I toppled over. Funny thing was, there was a tractor ambling along and he pulled over when he saw me lying on the ground with a big red face - first question he asked was had I much to drink !!!

kenmc

Touch wood I've not yet had my first tumble. Although I did come very close one day, was stopped on the side of the N81 near blessington, left foot on a kerb, right foot clipped in, on the phone, when a gust of wind caught me and I started falling rightwards. The person on the other end of the phone caught a load of expletives as I kicked and twisted my foot out and got there just in time. It's a horrible feeling, like just before you catch an edge on an Snowboard - you know that something is not quite right, but you're buggered if there's much you can do to stop it!

Killgore Trout

5 weeks ago. Rode to the top of a line of traffic waiting at Sutton train station level crossing. started going over - panic - trying to click out - reaching for the level crossing gate - which hads a lot of play and did not stop me. Grazed leg stung like bejayziz. Thankfully the train wasn't going through the crossing when I fell - they would've had a great view.

Raam

Last year in my first outing to Wicklow I met my training buddy in the morning for our first spin together, he was asking about cleats as he had not started using them. I told him they are great and I have never had a spill with them. I had been using them for months at that stage. At the top of our first climb we pulled into a car park area, I unclipped, then as we pulled out again, I clipped in, got stuck in the gravel and fell over.

seamus

Turned the corner onto the contra-flow cycle lane from Custom House Quay to Memorial road. Just as I did, a romanian beggar stands out into the middle of the cycle lane with his back to me. I come to an almost complete stop and screamed "watch yer back!", but by the time he's reacted, I'm already flopped over.

I resolved that the next time it happened, I'd just run the little ****er over.

DirkVoodoo

Only 2 days ago. Was coming back from a cycle around Howth. At this point I was quite proud that I had gone a whole week without a fall and assumed that now, being used to cleats, I was safe from falling.

Not bloody likely! Coming up to the crossroads at deansgrange, traffic on all 4 sides, I braked hard when I hit the front of the traffic saying in my head "now all I have to do is put a foot out...hmmm, it appears to be caught.....oh darn!"

I managed to unclip half way through the fall, so i was doing the splits under the full illumination of car headlights. I Clipped back in and put as big a smile as possible across my face, as I'm sure everyone was bursting themselves laughing at me.

And I scuffed my new pedal

EDIT: Also, thanks to Raam for the help with the SIDIs, they are fantastic!

Canis Lupus

Not cleat induced but when I got my bike with straps I was cycling home, took a left turn a bit sharply, needed to take my foot off the pedal to try and swing the balance back, realised foot was now stuck to pedal.

I went down in slow motion, banged off a pedestrian railing and all the while waggling my legs like a twit desperately trying to get them out. I went into a heap. Pulled my feet out, jumped up and brushed myself off and tried to look like nothing in particular was wrong until all the cars that had saw the incident had gone. I know know to pull my feet backwards rather than sideways to get out of the straps

Getting cleats this weekend. I assume I'm in for more fun....

Stark

When I first got them, I used to forget to unclip my right foot when getting off the bike at the end of a cycle. Fortunately I had the screws loose enough so my foot popped out before I got hurt.

TinyExplosions

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

And I scuffed my new pedal

Better the pedal than the bike!

blorg

Canis Lupus wrote: »

I know know to pull my feet backwards rather than sideways to get out of the straps

Getting cleats this weekend. I assume I'm in for more fun....

You won't regret getting the cleats, they are actually far easier to get out of than toeclips and straps (I had these before going clipless.) I've had a similar experience with a rented bike with toeclips on holiday, kept twisting my ankle out and wondering why my foot was still stuck!

Thinkfirst

After good few months riding with cleats I though this will never happened to me... but one morning still sleepy couldnt get my foot out and fell off stopping on one of the lights at Merrion Sq. Full of people crossing and a big traffic jam. I didnt see anybody laughing as I got up and rode away as fast as I could

Lesson learned: Dont try to do equilibrium on your bike so early in the morning

bobtjustice

My first was stopping at lights where the actual traffic light is close enough to the edge of the path so you can reach out and balance against it....dumb ass here took his eye of the ball (or pole if you will) for a mere second, and realized that he wasn't stopping on said lean.
Que, Del boy style fall thru the bar,:cool: broken thumb, and whats worse was a bus driver laughing his ass off behind me.... cycled home very very quickly and got the missus to drive me to the ER... nightmare.!

bobtjustice

seamus wrote: »

Turned the corner onto the contra-flow cycle lane from Custom House Quay to Memorial road. Just as I did, a romanian beggar stands out into the middle of the cycle lane with his back to me. I come to an almost complete stop and screamed "watch yer back!", but by the time he's reacted, I'm already flopped over.

I resolved that the next time it happened, I'd just run the little ****er over.

Should have cracked him with a running...or in this case cycling clothes-line that would have been superb.:D

DirkVoodoo

Turns out i broke a cleat, i only looked today. It still works, but one of the corners is snapped off and those shimano spd ones are 20 bills new from cyclesuperstore

TinyExplosions

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Turns out i broke a cleat, i only looked today. It still works, but one of the corners is snapped off and those shimano spd ones are 20 bills new from cyclesuperstore

Ditto dirk -they're that expensive, and the spd-sl's were that annoying, I'm seriously considering a 30 quid pair of spd's, and the sl to spd converter plate for me shoes!

michaelm

Had the embarrassement of falling live on radio! Doing the Ring of Kerry a few years ago was approached at the start in Killarney by someone with a microphone from a local radio station as I cycled slowly to the start line - the excitement of getting to speak on the radio was obviously too much for me as I forgot to clip out: "I think we'll go to an ad break"!

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.