Oh the shame!!!

Thought I would test out my new cycling shorts and pedals today and did really well dodging idiotic drivers who seem out to get me or need me to change their radio stations they go that close, mad dogs and owners with 12m death leads and pot holes that people could go caving down...

However I stopped at the lights and proceeded to topple sideways AS I forgot I was attached to my pedals (first time I have ever worn clets and been connected) and didn't know how to remove them - so I fell sideways and crashed through a roadworks barrier image  (MUPPET)  - gouged out 4 lumps of my leg and had to cycle home with blood dripping down - sore.

I really hope this was a lesson learnt - disconnect shoes before trying to put foot on floor!

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Comments

  • I think this is almost a right of passage. I did exactly the same thing but I managed to do it at the end of my road at rush hour in front of most of my neighbours. I also gouged out a chunk of leg which I focused on very intently until all of my neighbours moved on and my embarrassment ebbed slightly.

    So no matter how much of a fool you think you have made of yourself, there is always somebody who has done a better job of it!!

  • Arggggg! they say there are two types of cyclist - those who've fallen off, and those who have still to fall off. Welcome to the club!!! There is nothing worse than the sensation of toppling and knowing you can't stop yourself. First time I did it I fell onto the road then slid half way down a ditch whilst still attached to the bike...... image

    Hope the injuries aren't too bad; get some germoline on the grazes! image Happy cycling!!

  • the topples are better than the crashes................topples are more embarressment than pain ..after 2 years without one I managed it again last week in the middle of my main road .............the embarressment of a pensioner and taxi driver coming to my aidimage

    I noticed the grazes straight away but forgot that the brusies that occur on the inner thighs from where the bike lands on them can hurt longer

  • Note to self - stick to trainers
  • ChimneyChimney ✭✭✭

    As an aside to this, Mrs C managed to do just that on a moped at a set of busy traffic lights. Didn't even have the excuse of cleats....

    Not sure what I got into more trouble for; Being unable to stop myself laughing at her, or for telling all & sundry afterwards image

    If reality matched intention I'd know I was dreaming
  • Talk to Squishy about failing to unclip at the end of a ride... in front of a big group of pirates image
  • And Bassy when he came to support at the Deca/Quin/Triple image
  • I am sort of glad it isn't just me that has embarassed themselves but sorry to everyone who has injured themselves in this unfortunate way.

    Seren nos I woke up this morning with brusing and couldn't work out where it came from! So I am walking like John Wayne today!

  • scinsanescinsane ✭✭✭

    I fell off in front of approx 40 cyclists in Suffolk the other weekend, took the missus out as well! I blamed her for stopping in a stupid place.........cut leg and ankle and the biggest bruise on my arse.

     As above, not a proper cyclist until you have fallen off - or just a crap cyclist like me image

  • I did this twice on my second ride - once in front of a tractor, and once in front of a learner driver. Welcome to the club! image
  • Tired Legs (Mrs Punch) wrote (see)
    Note to self - stick to trainers
    not always the best plan...............my son didn't want to clip in so went in normal trainers and flat pedals............on the biggest hill and just over 30 mph he hit a problem and his foot slipped..........straight over the handlebaers on a dual carriageway.....................lucky my bike was only slightly damaged but he ruined his shorts and new cycle top and has some amazing scars 12 months laterimage
  • Dustboy - Have you ever fallen off ? image
  • seren nos wrote (see)
    Tired Legs (Mrs Punch) wrote (see)
    Note to self - stick to trainers
    not always the best plan...............my son didn't want to clip in so went in normal trainers and flat pedals............on the biggest hill and just over 30 mph he hit a problem and his foot slipped..........straight over the handlebaers on a dual carriageway.....................lucky my bike was only slightly damaged but he ruined his shorts and new cycle top and has some amazing scars 12 months laterimage
    Could've done without reading that - note self again stop reading this  thread image
  • Yup guilty,

     first trip out with cleats a few years ago, get to road junction and oooohhhh splat onto the pavement. Gashed knee on the curb bruised elbow and shoulder. got up and carried onimage fortunately it was on an early Sunday morning so no-one about to seeimage

    Now out of habit I unclip as I am aproaching junctions

  • Not a proper bike ponce until you've toppled over at least 4 times image
  • I fell off 4 or 5 times in the first 100 miles I did with cleats. 2 of them were at the same road junction during a sprint tri.
  • Kanga I have to do it 3 more times...

    Actually forget that I am not sure I want to be a bike ponce!

    And I must stop reading this - going over handle bars scars 12 months later!!!  This Sprint Tri was meant to set me up changing my body in a positive way not scarring myself.

  • Fell off last week at a junction image undid left foot and fell to my right (dickhead).....luckily only a few bruises to my knee. hip and shoulder,.......Oh and my ego......and got the finger and jeers from two kids in a car....suppose it made their day image
  • only you Razor...only you.....image
  • ToroToro ✭✭✭
    Better to fall off at the beginning of your cycle career than at the end!
  • yeah it is a right of passage, I did it more times than i can remember when i started out. There was unclipping one foot and leaning the other way, forgetting to unclip at all, emergency stop - weight on pedals so as i unclip it reclipped itself again, and my favorite - trying to track stand as the light is about to change, oh dear this is taking longer than expected...over i go. I hit the ground just as the light went green too. Unfortunately this was at 8am at London bridge in front of about 100 pedestrians and a queue of about 20 cars (which i was holding up by having a little lie down in front of them. Suffice to say i got out of there as quick as possible. and had no need for my lights as my face was illuminating everything in front of me until i made it to work, and as i was riding into the car lift stopped for the door to open enough to get in prompty fell off in front of the CEO image He later emailed me to check i was ok as he saw that i was bleeding when i got up - I couldn't tell him that was from the earlier fall so just said i was fine.
  • JEvaNsJEvaNs ✭✭✭

    I spent a good half hour against a wall practising my clipping in and clipping out of my SPDs when I first got them, and then went on a little cycle totally prepared to fall off and I didn't. And I was safe on my second ride too.

    But then I went on a bike biking weekend and got to a junction that I wasn't expecting to have to stop at, and promptly did. Ripped my lovely cycling top and got a big graze and bruise. 

    Next day I was going well and we were stopping to wait for the others, so I took my time, looped around to line up behind the others, and somehow failed to unclip the correct side. That was an almighty bruise. 

    Had a couple of panics since then, but am still to discover the world of cleats (I think they are different from SPD aren't they?). 

    I always worry when I am struggling going up hill because if I have to stop, I will just have to topple because I am clipped in.

    I think hills are generally dangerous as we should just avoid them at all costs image

  • Cleats are the things screwed to the bottom of your shoe to allow you to clip into the pedals so you already have them, JEvans.  Cleats for different pedals are different and require a slightly different action to clip in, but if you've got the hang on SPDs it isn't too difficult to change to a different system.
  • Razor51 wrote (see)....
    You know me Lou image
    i can honestly say i have never laughed so much as your account you wrote up a while back of a Tri you did...imagelol...omg...my sides ached with laughter....which thread was that on? i want to read it again!
  • When you have been twatted by a car, get back up and carry on racing that is when yuou know you are a nut job cyclist image
  • ShivaShiva ✭✭✭
    I fell on my first ride in cleats, and then on the 2nd ride too. The second one was more comical as I came to a sudden stop as an Indian wedding poured into the road in front of, I braked and then toppled over in the middle of the party!
  • Lou......I think it was on the Training for a shorter Tri  image.....page 55
  • I managed to fall over today and hurt my knee and my hand...no bike involved though, i tripped off the kerb!!! Not looking forward to trying to hold on to bike handlebars tomorrow. Ow.....
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