How long before I can ride again?

what brand pedal did you crash in?

Just because you don't feel much pain, does not mean the bone is healed. Stay off it and anything else that risks re-injury or impairs the healing process. If you over work it, and it doesn't heal, you will have a much bigger problem.

Do not worry about muscle atrophy, that is normal. Do only what the MD says is OK. After the bone heals, then you can start exercise to get the strength back.

They're 'Zero Speedplay' pedals:

OK, following the general consensus, I'll wait the full three months until the bone is fully healed. The left thigh is already showing signs of atrophy after only 12 days of inactivity, but if it's anything like the arm I broke, those muscles will come back in no time. On the plus side, my arms and shoulders are more muscular than ever after hobbling around on crutches for weeks.

Silly question, but how much of a performance benefit was I supposed to get out of these clip-on pedals? I can see where an increase of 0.5 mph would be all the justification a racer needs to use them, but I only ride on bicycle paths and don't ride competitively. I'm only in this for the physical conditioning.

Part of the benefit is being able to power the full circle, the other benefit is having more control since you can lift the bike up with the pedals as well as the bar. A plus in racing or hard core DH riding, but for fresh air and exercise riding I prefer to keep it simple. Flats; no toe clips either.

i can't say you'ed get more speed with them but it's power for up hill. you can pull up on the peddles as well as pushing down. when i was rideing i only came to two hills i was unable to climb with regular peddles. the guys i was ridding with tried it wit clip in peddles and fell over. I just step off and walked up the hill. yes some of the guys that had mastered the pull on the peddle thing got up a few hills faster but for fun and exercise I can't see the need for them. And i was riding some real nasty off road stuff.

Good to know. The salesman who talked me into these claimed something in the neighborhood of a 60% increase in mechanical efficiency compared to regular pedals. Much as I wanted to believe that, I can't honestly say that I felt any improvement in power output or a reduction in muscle fatigue with the clip-in pedals.

Rode mountain bike for a long time with clip in pedals,would never use the toe cage death traps. I ran the sring loaded clips and ran then really loose, never got trapped in them once. Once you get tused to the clips you wil not like regular pedals again, specially if you ride rough trails. They let you move the rear of the bike around with your feet. Yuour legs will get incredibly strong if you use them correctly. Most people dont notice the full benefits of them because their leg muscles are not built up to pull up on the pedals but they let you run a few gears higher on the road due to the higher power from having both legs working on moving the pedals than just one. On trails they allow you to bunny hop over much larger obstacles.

If your feet got stuck then it is the salesmans fault, he should have set up your clips for you extremely loose, especially if you have never used them before.

Only getting power on the downstroke of your leg is only using half your ngine.

Take this advice.

Once you begin PT the atrophy will disappear fairly rapidly. Don't sweat it. Your biggest challenge for the next 3 months (aside from going nuts) will be to keep the weight off. Watch your caloric intake carefully. You need nutrition to heal quickly and properly but you don't need to pack on fat.

Bummer man, but at least it looks like you will heal well!

Jim

I use these on my mtn bike, they are very easy compared to the Ultegra pedals on my road bike. Just like so many things on a motorcycle, popping out of the pedals needs to become an automatic reaction. Don't go back to plain old pedals, just take it easy, set up the pedals loose, and practice with them. The efficiency gains really are huge, not just from the pedals but from the stiff shoes as well.

Hope you get well soon.

I'm also a proponent of clipless pedals. Like eevryone else said, loosen them up and practice. It will be second nature soon enough to twist your foot out. I had the obligatory low speed tip over and after that have been unclipping without a thought every time I come to a stop, whether I mean to or not.

I went quite a few years before going back to clipons on my mountain bike; but they really make a difference. I've read that you get close to 20% more power from them and I can tell you when I do 25 plus miles its a big difference.

I've fallen over a few times too, with fortunately minor injuries. I'm using whats called campus pedals, so if you want you can use regular shoes instead of the clip shoes which suck to walk in.

You just have to remember when the going gets slow to get one foot free. Had I done that before any of my crashes they would have never happened.

I'd like to hear more about these co-ed pedals. What exactly are they?

Don't worry too much about muscle atrophy. I broke my hip five years ago (fortunately the acetabulum socket, not the femoral head), and yes the quads and hamstring started going away pretty quickly. Wifey was getting concerned about me developing a flat butt, so something had to be done!

When the doc said it was OK, I started doing gentle recumbant bike sessions. If I recall it was about three weeks out. This did a world of good! At ten weeks I went to my final appointment. Doc wanted to check my flexibility so I smiled and dropped to the ground in a "reverse leg cross" - butt and knees touching ground and feet pointing out to the sides. Then I got up off the floor using only the leg muscles.

"OK - Get out of here. You're done!" Everything has been great since then.

On the subject of clip pedals, I swear by them. If you set them up loose enough you'll be fine. It took me several months to get used to them on the mountain bike, but I'd never go back! On the road they work great too. You just develop that reflex to flip out the heel when you need to unclip. Again, keep them loose! You're not in the Tour de France

I might have confused the term co-ed with campus pedals. Basically it has the clip on one side of the pedal, and a normal pedal on the other side. I don't need the clip shoes to blast around the hood, I use normal running shoes. On long rides the clip-ons are worth their weight in gold.





http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1033468_-1_1589016_1586500_400264

Millions of cyclists use clipless pedals with no issues. My guess is 2 things contributed to your injury. First, the cleats / pedals may not have been adjusted properly, and second, you don't know how to use them. Not slamming you, but the fact is they work wonderfully - ONCE you get used to them.

Most people on road or MTB eat shit a few times when they convert to clipless. Personally, I wouldn't ride a bike without them. Haven't in about 20 years.

If you are even mildly a serious cyclist, or want to be, give the pedals another shot. They dramatically increase pedaling efficiency IF you use them correctly.

I've launched over the bars (OTB) on my mountain bike more times than I can count, and never once remained clipped in. So you should be OK too...

Barry

My stepdad just had EXACTLY this injury in the spring from falling over on his bicycle. Took his hands off the bars at very low speed to zip up a jacket and then sort of just plopped over on his side.

He was back riding (carefully) in about 9 weeks. Don't push it!