Fell off clipped in (or how to make a prat of yourself).

After 11 years of riding clipless pedals on the road I finally fell off
whilst clipped in, with the most appreciative audience possible, several
full school buses :-(
(I must have fell off clipped in on mtbs at some time or other).

I'm afraid my own pig-headedness played a part in my undoing, (or lack of
undoing).
I was travelling at about 25mph on a country lane with a sharp left-hand
bend ahead which a school bus was slowly negotiating.
WVM decided to overtake me before the bend but we were in the braking zone
as he came alongside, this rattled me so I pulled in front of him when he
stopped as the bus had now ground to a halt to give way to another school
bus coming the other way.
I was track-standing but at about the same instant I decided it was not a
Good Idea a gust of wind caught me and over I went!

So, one school bus ahead of me, one coming the other way around the bend and
unknown to me at that moment there were 2 more behind the white van behind
me. At least one set of passengers behind me had a grandstand view and they
conveyed their approval when the bus later passed me, several times in fact
as I passed 3 darn buses when they disgorged their self-loading freight
which in turn later passed me and me them and so on, a sort of ongoing
vehicle leapfrog.

(Oh, and my bike was very wide when we set off to discourage WVM from
overtaking, when he did eventually overtake it was with a wide margin).

Only damage was scratches to brake lever, cut little finger and almightily
bruised ego :-(

Must make a note to avoid that route during the school bus birthing season
;-)

Pete

snip snip
I was track-standing but at about the same instant I decided it was not a
Good Idea a gust of wind caught me and over I went!

So, one school bus ahead of me, one coming the other way around the bend and
unknown to me at that moment there were 2 more behind the white van behind
me. At least one set of passengers behind me had a grandstand view and they
conveyed their approval when the bus later passed me, several times in fact
as I passed 3 darn buses when they disgorged their self-loading freight
which in turn later passed me and me them and so on, a sort of ongoing
vehicle leapfrog.

(Oh, and my bike was very wide when we set off to discourage WVM from
overtaking, when he did eventually overtake it was with a wide margin).

Only damage was scratches to brake lever, cut little finger and almightily
bruised ego :-(

Must make a note to avoid that route during the school bus birthing season
;-)

Pete

chuckle

I've never had the courage to try clipless. I'm always putting my foot
down. Anyway at least you have people something to laugh about,
despite the fact that they were probably laughing at you rather than
with you. Life is too serious these days.

Have a good (or at least better) weekend!

P.S. Damaged egos are the hardest of things to repair.

snip snip
I was track-standing but at about the same instant I decided it was not a
Good Idea a gust of wind caught me and over I went!

So, one school bus ahead of me, one coming the other way around the bend and
unknown to me at that moment there were 2 more behind the white van behind
me. At least one set of passengers behind me had a grandstand view and they
conveyed their approval when the bus later passed me, several times in fact
as I passed 3 darn buses when they disgorged their self-loading freight
which in turn later passed me and me them and so on, a sort of ongoing
vehicle leapfrog.

(Oh, and my bike was very wide when we set off to discourage WVM from
overtaking, when he did eventually overtake it was with a wide margin).

Only damage was scratches to brake lever, cut little finger and almightily
bruised ego :-(

Must make a note to avoid that route during the school bus birthing season
;-)

Pete

chuckle

I've never had the courage to try clipless. I'm always putting my foot
down. Anyway at least you have people something to laugh about,
despite the fact that they were probably laughing at you rather than
with you. Life is too serious these days.

Have a good (or at least better) weekend!

P.S. Damaged egos are the hardest of things to repair.

Peter B wrote:

I was track-standing but at about the same instant I decided it was not a
Good Idea a gust of wind caught me and over I went!

Hehe. I had a decidedly dogdy moment the other day when I was riding
gears for the 1st time in a while. As I slowed to a stop I was so used
to my foot-that-i-dont-put-down being lifted up as the pedal comes up (I
usually apply a bit of backward pressure to help slow down) that when my
foot unexpectedly shot downwards I was nearly a gonner!

--

-Alex

----------------------------------


http://alexpg.ath.cx:3353/cycling.php
http://www.westerleycycling.org.uk
----------------------------------

Peter B wrote:

I was track-standing but at about the same instant I decided it was not a
Good Idea a gust of wind caught me and over I went!

Hehe. I had a decidedly dogdy moment the other day when I was riding
gears for the 1st time in a while. As I slowed to a stop I was so used
to my foot-that-i-dont-put-down being lifted up as the pedal comes up (I
usually apply a bit of backward pressure to help slow down) that when my
foot unexpectedly shot downwards I was nearly a gonner!

--

-Alex

----------------------------------


http://alexpg.ath.cx:3353/cycling.php
http://www.westerleycycling.org.uk
----------------------------------

"Peter B" writes:

After 11 years of riding clipless pedals on the road I finally fell off
whilst clipped in, with the most appreciative audience possible, several
full school buses :-(

We've all done it.

Simon, sympathetically.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Want to know what SCO stands for?
;; http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030605

"Peter B" writes:

After 11 years of riding clipless pedals on the road I finally fell off
whilst clipped in, with the most appreciative audience possible, several
full school buses :-(

We've all done it.

Simon, sympathetically.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Want to know what SCO stands for?
;; http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030605

"Peter B" wrote in message
...

I was track-standing but at about the same instant I decided it was not a
Good Idea a gust of wind caught me and over I went!

I've always wondered what the trick is to do a decent track stand on a
non-fixed bike. I can usually trackstand for a few seconds, like when
stopped at lights, but if they take a while to change then I eventually
start to wobble about too much and have to put a foot down which feels
seriously lame!

"Peter B" wrote in message
...

I was track-standing but at about the same instant I decided it was not a
Good Idea a gust of wind caught me and over I went!

I've always wondered what the trick is to do a decent track stand on a
non-fixed bike. I can usually trackstand for a few seconds, like when
stopped at lights, but if they take a while to change then I eventually
start to wobble about too much and have to put a foot down which feels
seriously lame!

"Adrian Boliston" writes:

"Peter B" wrote in message
...

I was track-standing but at about the same instant I decided it was not a
Good Idea a gust of wind caught me and over I went!

I've always wondered what the trick is to do a decent track stand on a
non-fixed bike. I can usually trackstand for a few seconds, like when
stopped at lights, but if they take a while to change then I eventually
start to wobble about too much and have to put a foot down which feels
seriously lame!

In the good old days when unclipping was not an option one used to put
a hand on the gutter of the nearest car (hostile stares) or a
convenient piece of street furniture. These things are still possible.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; When all else fails, read the distractions.