i promise i practiced. i went on my first real ride with clipless pedals today – it was almost my last lol.
by Silent_Tangerine1886
i promise i practiced. i went on my first real ride with clipless pedals today – it was almost my last lol.
by Silent_Tangerine1886
24 Comments
It does not matter how much you practice. This is simply a rite of passage lol
It happens to everyone at some point.
You haven’t rode clipless until you’ve fallen basically on your face at 1mph coming to a stop… Usually in front of a thousand strangers.
This is the way.
It sucks, I’m sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I fell a lot at first too. Most people do!
I took my bike out to my backyard deck and held onto a railing and just practiced clipping in and out for a while to get the hang of it. Still fell a couple more times after that but it wasn’t as bad.
I’ve heard others say they practice in a doorway, or moving slowly on grass so it hurts less. I’d also recommend checking your cleat bolts every few months so you don’t get stuck in your pedals after you learn! Keep going & you’ll get it!
You’re on track. Keep going it will get better. I’ve ridden clipless so long that I can’t stand flat any more.
Promise it’ll get better. It’s muscle memory. And you really have to be moving to get it right, practicing on a stand doesn’t help that much if at all.
After you get used to it you will never go back. Make sure to fine tune the pedals. Initially I had them too tight then too loose.
Paging circlejerkers
My friends call this a rite of passage..
Ps.. i still dont ride with clipless 😅
Had straps for my fixed gear bike before and toe cages.. but never had tried clipless..
Tbh… I like to rock sandals with flat pedals on my grocery getter bike
It’s a rite of passage. When I started out with clipless I went 3 years without the cycling gods demanding their sacrifice, then I put on a new set of pedals to replace speedplays (I raced road at the time but hated speedplays) and didn’t adjust the tension enough/wasnt familiar with the motion as much. BAM went down right at a stop light
Battle scars are cool 🤔
First time I clipped in I was so jazzed about how fast I was able to go I rambled about my new pedals to some folks at the trailhead at the end of my ride about how stoked I was on my new pedals. I then went up for “one last lap”. My trail exits back down to the trailhead with a very fast section that dumps you onto a gravel road. I hit the gravel road carrying way too much speed, braked hard, slid on gravel and ate absolute shit in front of the folks I was just bragging to.
I learned quickly that yes you do come unclipped when you crash and sliding across gravel in shorts sucks.
I switched to clipless last year and somehow didn’t go through the rite of passage. Probably will happen this year.
Been on clipless for 5 years now and been lucky so far. I have gotten stuck in a pedal when my cleat loosened up on me whic required me to awkwardly take my shoe off
tired away
Cool. Only 2 more to go and then you have it. We have all earned it at some point. And, you get yearly or decade dues that are due as well. 30 years and I messed up a trials move on my road bike and went down. Clip less didn’t release. Good times. Good times.
Sucks that you are tired but have you tried it?
Your knees? All of my initial falls were directly on my side, and stupid me was worried more about protecting my bike than my body.
On one hand, It’s sort of a right of passage. On the other? I stopped bothering with clipping in years ago and I don’t really miss it.
I’ll probably never do clipless. I’m 53 and have never done it yet, plus I have a wonky right knee and left ankle, so the twisting isn’t going to be great for either. Wolf Tooth Waveforms on every bike…
Nothing worse than that panic when you’re rolling to the side that is still clipped 😰
Ouch
Happens to everyone some time!!!
I really dig the hybrids. I’ll be about 50/50 on a single ride or even one foot clipped, one on a flat