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| It's Not Hard to See THIS Hand Has Been Covered Up by GLOVE LOVE! |
I was riding home, much like any other weekday. As
occasionally happens, I encountered a motorist at a four way stop that tried to
be nice and waited for me to go. She didn’t realize that not only did she have
the “right of way” by virtue of having stopped at the sign before me (and to my
right to boot), but that my intention was to make a left turn and that she’d
then have to make a lane change to pass me immediately afterwards simply due to her confused courtesy. There seemed little point to creating
yet another passing situation simply because people aren’t following the rules.
Well, to make a long story short, I then fell over at the
stop sign. The lady was somewhat flabbergasted. After all, it is not every day
you try to wave on a cyclist, only to see him simply fall over. It is one
disadvantage of my clipless pedals. Stop for long enough, and if the bike
starts to tip over away from the unclipped foot, there may be no way to stop
the fall. And so it was yesterday. I hadn’t PLANNED on a LONG stop. Fortunately,
since I habitually unclip my right foot, when I fall, I fall towards the
non-drive side of the bike, so the handlebars are the only real bike component
at risk.
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| I Fell at This Intersection - In the Photo, I was Moving from Left and About to Turn Into the Photo |
Yesterday, my left glove saved me from the embarrassing
added personal indignity of “hand rash.” My Glove love indeed. Perhaps my loyal
reader never falls over, but I do.
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| Captain Picard Contemplates Steve... |
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8 comments:
I always worry that I'm going to fall over at a stoplight some day. And I don't even ride clipless. O,o
I do stand with my right foot on the ground and my left foot on the pedal though.
Been there, and done that. Endured the embarrassment.
Since I just added some new clipless pedals to the MAP, I'll probably do it again. There are just those moments when one gets caught off-guard.
Glad to hear it wasn't a big deal.
Bummer man. Exact same scenario as that time I fell over near that hospital, except the courteous driver then laughed at me... who could blame them though, really?
Yes, bummer! When thinking about falling over, gloved or not, conceptually I think about NOT using my hand so that I won't jack up my wrist. In practice, the few times I have gone down, so far always with gloves, I put my hand down, which had the expected result with the wrist, but at least no hand rash.
I fell over once and was so embarrassed. I thought it was a total newbie thing. then a year later I was at the bike shop and mentioned falling and the bike mechs were all like " Oh I fall over while standing still too". I never felt so validated and ok. This continues to make me feel fuzzy.
Glad your hand is ok.
Track stands, people. TRACK STANDS. They're not foolproof, but if neither foot is out you are ready to deploy either one in the event you need to put the landing gear down.
Falling off a bike sucks!
I am not in the clipless camp anymore, since I almost fell into the Big Muddy with my feet attached to the bike. They ain't for me!
Glad you're okay!
Paz :)
Glad you were not badly hurt Steve...
We have all done it.
Being left handed I always un-clip left side first, so when I fall it tends to be right side down...luckily I have never caused any major derailleur damage though.
-Trevor
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No Need for Non-Robot proof here!