I’m skeptical to say the least. Rowers don’t attach their wrists to the oars and tennis players don’t tether themselves to the tennis racquet. So quite why cyclists feel the need to bond so literally with their cycle is beyond me but, in my quest to be just like Chrissie Wellington I tried to smile and clipped myself to the bike.
Extreme cycling on a fifth floor balcony? No. I’d been advised to practice clipping in and out a few times while propped up against a wall before trying this new form of physical abuse out in public. So that’s what I did. Several minutes of shouting ‘Why won’t it work?’ ‘Is the pedal the right way?’ and ‘Is it in yet?’ followed before I headed out to the park away from that 50ft drop.
I managed all of 10 metres of propper, clipped in, woman attached to bike cycling a la Chrissie before this happened… but at least I remembered the big grin! And as I was reminded by Cake of Good Hope, even Olympians fall off.
Love it! You’ll get there. Just keep smiling… 🙂
2 questions/comments: a) how feasible is it to train with the clipped in shoes in a place like london where you are going to have to stop often anyways? or is it quite easy to unclip it on the go (that is, if you are skilled at it :D)
b) if i had invested a lot of money into a road bike (as indeed i am thinking about) i would be more worried about damaging the bike than me at this stage 🙂
Morningofmagicians – I think there’s a difference between commuting and training. Whether you’re clipped in or not you can’t really train on your commute through London. It’s not really safe to approach it that way.
At the moment I’m not clipping in to commute. The pedal I have still allows me to cycle normally with a regular shoe for short journeys.
A lot of cyclists do commute in London clipped in and I think once you get used to it its pretty easy to unclip and stop. You basically just twist your foot and you’re free but it takes a while to get used to having to remember to do this.
Training I see as longer rides and I’ll be doing these in Richmond Park where I won’t have to stop very much. So I’ll use the clips for these.
Ha ha – I did exactly the same thing the first time I rode my bike with clip on shoes. Was fine the whole ride, then forgot I was wearing them and fell over when I came to a stop. I’ve also done it and managed to bend my handle bars (the bike shop kindly bent them back free of charge).
It happens. And then it doesn’t, cos you get used to it, at which point it’s just fab. Keep going, you’ll get there. Power to you x
I’ve just stumbled across your blog for the first time – great to find a London fitness blog, I’ll definitely be back!