A funny thing happened on the way to the forum!
Discussion
A true story that has caused much p*ss taking!
Those of you who ride ‘clipless’ will know that, while a boon to efficient pedalling, they also have a bit of a dark mischievous side. You know what I am talking about; you glide serenely to a junction, left foot unclipped ready to drop to terra firma only to find that, a freak gust of wind, change in road camber or act of god conspires to tip you to the right while your right foot is still firmly attached to the pedal! All you can do is hope that some fly tipper has left a nicely padded mattress in position for you to land on.
On my last ride I found myself approaching a family; mother, two small children and large black Labrador, blocking the narrowest part of the track, as I approached I unclipped my left foot ready to stop, the mother saw me and called to the dog to move so I re-clipped my left foot ready to ride on. Unfortunately the dog obviously misunderstood as it simply turned round so it was broadside to me blocking the track. I executed a perfect emergency stop when it suddenly dawned on me that I was firmly attached to both pedals. The inevitable happened and I started to fall to the right when, much to my surprise and relief, I came to a controlled stop about 30 degrees off vertical! My right shoulder had come to rest on the mattress like chest of the mother!! I think we were both equally embarrassed!!
Anyone else had an equally embarrassing moment?
Those of you who ride ‘clipless’ will know that, while a boon to efficient pedalling, they also have a bit of a dark mischievous side. You know what I am talking about; you glide serenely to a junction, left foot unclipped ready to drop to terra firma only to find that, a freak gust of wind, change in road camber or act of god conspires to tip you to the right while your right foot is still firmly attached to the pedal! All you can do is hope that some fly tipper has left a nicely padded mattress in position for you to land on.
On my last ride I found myself approaching a family; mother, two small children and large black Labrador, blocking the narrowest part of the track, as I approached I unclipped my left foot ready to stop, the mother saw me and called to the dog to move so I re-clipped my left foot ready to ride on. Unfortunately the dog obviously misunderstood as it simply turned round so it was broadside to me blocking the track. I executed a perfect emergency stop when it suddenly dawned on me that I was firmly attached to both pedals. The inevitable happened and I started to fall to the right when, much to my surprise and relief, I came to a controlled stop about 30 degrees off vertical! My right shoulder had come to rest on the mattress like chest of the mother!! I think we were both equally embarrassed!!
Anyone else had an equally embarrassing moment?
ecsrobin said:
I'm confused I thought you didn't ride Clipless? After reading James Wilson's blog?
I have one of each!! The single speeder is clipless, I haven't tried going for the maximum excitement of riding it fixed as well!! I suppose I ought to give it a try as it has the flip flop wheel and I have got as far as putting an 18 tooth fixed sprocket on it!!! Watch this space for a future epic story of unbelievable daring and stupidity in equal measure!!The old Marin Pine Mountain has flats.
The bit of his blog that I found useful was the advice to sort out foot position on flats before moving to clipless, when I first used the clipless I had the cleats pretty much square on to the shoes and I got a bit of a niggle in my knees, when I was riding with flats I found I naturally turned my toes out quite a bit so I adjusted the cleats to give me the same foot position as I had with the flats and it all came right! I have flat feet and walk a bit like Charlie Chaplin so what works for me may well be wrong for someone else!!
I think me having a bike fit could be quite entertaining:-
Expert: so right shoulder lower than left
Me: yes, big off at Charlies bend Cadwell Park 1985
Expert: knees not quite pointing in the same direction
Me: ahh, well I used to be a passenger in sidecar trials
Expert: feet completely flat like a pair of kippers sir
Me: what can I say, faulty DNA
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