Had a great Sunday ride in fall temperatures. I enjoy riding in arm warmers, and the cooler weather might have been a factor in my improved performance on hills. I had a PR on one hill that has bedeviled me for years.
I approached the house after a little more than two hours on the bike, thinking about all the work I had to do for the rest of the day. I turned into the driveway, applied the brakes, unclipped my right foot, put it down, and turned the handlebars slightly to the right.
A picture perfect finish to the ride. But then I slightly raised my right foot at the same time I attempted to unclip from the left pedal. For some reason, the cleat wouldn’t come loose. But the shift in weight rocked the front wheel over to the left, and I felt that familiar old feeling — I was going down on my left side, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.
This time, I quickly got the bike off my body and sprang up, looking up and down the block to see if any of the neighbors had seen my embarrassing tumble. No one was outside. Dignity intact.
Clipless falls happen to every rider, I’m sure. I had mine early on, but I’ve also had some after riding for some time. But I’ver never had one when I was stopped with one foot already on the ground.
No pictures. I got the bike into the garage and closed the door behind me.
You let the cat out the bag.
I have fallen over too while clipped and I had a couple of near misses in situations like yours.
Funny, I came VERY close to this same scenario last week threw my weight at the last minute and save it. I delayed clip less for years worried about these, now would never give them up
Great. Just as I’m about to buy my first clipless system, here comes another horrar story! LOL! Actually it’s not the unclipping that worries me as much as taking off from a light, on a single speed, uphill and into the wind and clipping in… Oh, horror and woes! (Glad you’re ok. Hopefully no damage to you or the bike)
Ha! I can picture the spring upright and the quick glances in all directions to see if there were any witnesses. Especially those with a smart phone and the dreaded red light of the video recording your trick dismount.