Commuting with Clipless Pedals.

sdavies13

Sorry, this is more of a story to share than a question...

Ok so have now done a few commutes to and from work and my time is improving and amazingly my stamina already seems to be better.

A colleague previously advised me to give SPD pedals and shoes a try so after spotting an offer on some Shimano SPD pedals on a certain well known deals site I bought them. Later buying a pair of decent looking SPD compatible shoes.

Well knowing how notorious these things can be for causing accidents I gave them a few tries around the local roads. Emergency stops, going around corners at speed, etc and everything seemed fine. After a bit of adjustment the positioning felt fine and didn't have too many problems engaging/disengaging the clips so decided to give the run into work a try.

I made it the whole 22 km to the office without a single incident (other than occaisionally having trouble getting the clip to engage whilst moving, which took a few attempts). As I came to our car park's security desk where the people know me and there's a tonne of CCTV, I carefully disengaged my right foot, then found myself leaning to the left...

Had that sudden panic as I realised what was happening and couldn't get my left to disengage before I went over, landing on my hip!

Just then one of the managing directors pulls up behind me in his Jag.

Thankfully I wasn't hurt but my pride sure took a knock.

At least the journey home was accident free...

armyknife

sdavies13 wrote: »

Sorry, this is more of a story to share than a question...

Ok so have now done a few commutes to and from work and my time is improving and amazingly my stamina already seems to be better.

A colleague previously advised me to give SPD pedals and shoes a try so after spotting an offer on some Shimano SPD pedals on a certain well known deals site I bought them. Later buying a pair of decent looking SPD compatible shoes.

Well knowing how notorious these things can be for causing accidents I gave them a few tries around the local roads. Emergency stops, going around corners at speed, etc and everything seemed fine. After a bit of adjustment the positioning felt fine and didn't have too many problems engaging/disengaging the clips so decided to give the run into work a try.

I made it the whole 22 km to the office without a single incident (other than occaisionally having trouble getting the clip to engage whilst moving, which took a few attempts). As I came to our car park's security desk where the people know me and there's a tonne of CCTV, I carefully disengaged my right foot, then found myself leaning to the left...

Had that sudden panic as I realised what was happening and couldn't get my left to disengage before I went over, landing on my hip!

Just then one of the managing directors pulls up behind me in his Jag.

Thankfully I wasn't hurt but my pride sure took a knock.

At least the journey home was accident free...

So is that a thumbs-up or not?

Weird_Nev

Everybody does it.

Just FYI, you'll be fine now for about 2 months, and you'll convince yourself you've got completely used to them.

Then you'll do it again.

But it IS worth it! The thing is to recondition your legs to swing the heel out to disengage the clip, not pull the foot upwards. It becomes second nature, as does the position your foot has to be on the pedal for a normal downstroke to simply click the cleats into place.

ventureuk

When commuting with SPDs, to make the stability triangle of three point contact to prevent a fall forget your feet and learn to use your arms. Lamposts, railings, telegraph poles, street signs and often the roof or side of a car/van is enough with just light contact.

Know your route, when you'll stop, where the traffic lights and pinch points are, predict the road ahead and your entire commute can be done feet up.

Or learn to track stand...........which is way cooler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRR4paQnUsQ

custardy

we've all done it
or even better in my case
unclip and put your foot down on a greasy bit of the road and go flying anyway
would never go back to flats

stevemcol

Anyone who clips in will have slipped up early on. You'll probably be fine from now on and they are definitely worth using.
Ventureuk, there is nothing cool about track standing. It looks ridiculous.

Weird_Nev

stevemcol wrote: »

Ventureuk, there is nothing cool about track standing. It looks ridiculous.

It's a vital skill! I'm not even joking, it's a really important skill to be able to bring a bike to a halt and balance for a short time without putting a foot down.

Marco_Panettone

Weird_Nev wrote: »

It's a vital skill! I'm not even joking, it's a really important skill to be able to bring a bike to a halt and balance for a short time without putting a foot down.

It gives you a game to play on the way to work too (not a game I'm any good at, mind!). Falling when clipped in is sort of the law. Everyone has to do it at least once.

armyknife

stevemcol wrote: »

Anyone who clips in will have slipped up early on. You'll probably be fine from now on and they are definitely worth using.
Ventureuk, there is nothing cool about track standing. It looks ridiculous.

Yes, I was in pedestrian mode yesterday and a guy was doing it at some traffic lights, a couple of seconds fine if the lights were about to change, but I looked a couple of times over a few seconds and the guy was hoping about trying to keep it going, it really looking silly by then.

Marco_Panettone

If you want to see silly (and also awesome) trackstands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIRuIdvRMJ4

It gets better from 2:10

Johnmcl7

Marco_Panettone wrote: »

If you want to see silly (and also awesome) trackstands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIRuIdvRMJ4

It gets better from 2:10

I was sure it was Martyn Ashton that was going to be in your link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZmJtYaUTa0

John