Yah, I've only fallen once too. That was all it took to break my femur. One of the roadies in my group also fell only once. The result? Another hip fracture, but much worse than mine. Of course you're more likely to fall while riding a mountain bike. All the more reason to practice clipping in and out on a dirt trail rather than on the road, where the consequences of falling are far more serious. How about roots and rocks? Read what I wrote instead of being deliberately obtuse.
Sounds like you guys need to double up on your calcium consumption. On a more serious note for JoeDuck, get some clip less pedals, set them loose, then ride around a soccer/football practice field and practice doing slow speed figure 8s, while clipping in and out. This should give you a feel for how they work and jump start the muscle memory routine for the process. If you break your hip, blame Aurelius.
I spent a lot of time researching this type of injury after the operation. It's much more common among cyclists than I would have thought, and the methods usually used to repair it (partial hip replacement, J-brace) cause lasting problems. IIRC, Floyd Landis had a J-brace installed. I was fortunate in that the surgeon who operated on me suggested a riskier procedure, but one which, if successful, would have much better results. It worked.
and I'm using VP "thin gripsters" on both of my Rivendells, and am very happy. Even on long rides, 50-70 miles in a day, they're comfortable and I like being able to move my feet around - gives my leg muscles a break. For shoes, I found some excellent shot-putt shoes with dead-flat soles, no waffle tread just a slab of rubber. They're also fairly thin, but rubber is stout enough that I don't feel the pedal pins/spikes through the shoes (only on my legs when I'm walking the bike and bang into them). http://oceanaircycles.com/2013/04/22/vp-vice-and-001-pedal-comparison/ http://www.rivbike.com/product-p/pe4.htm
Y'all can pat me on the back now. I got over my crisis of motivation aka the f*ckits and actually *gasp* rode the trainer just now. Managed to get in two sets of Tabata intervals in 53min. My Cateye Psychostimulator said I was hovering somewhere in the 400w range consistently across all 10min of intervals. That 20sec on seems to last for-effing-EVER! while the 10sec recovery flies. WhyTF is that?! I've now matched last year. I rode the mother-loving thing twice last year and I'm up to twice already this year. M
I went to my LBS today to test ride the Sirrus and Secteur. I was not impressed with the feel/power of the brake levers on either (ok, Brembo spoiled me). I found the straight barred Sirrus the least comfortable of the two and didn't care for the thumb stretch to use the shifter. For me the Secteur was more comfortable and less twitchy (or after 20 years of not being on a bicycle I was remembering how to ride a pedal powered vehicle again). After tweaking the position of the seat and bars I thought I had my bike. Then the salesman points out the Allez Elite
X2, nice BMX pedals with sharp pins work just fine. The sharper the pins, the less dangerous. It is like a knife, a dull knife is more dangerous, more likely to slip and hurt yourself. My riding consists of around town rides of 20-40 miles. I recently did Pittsburgh to DC, 370 miles total, on flat pedals. You can get a decent pull up on the pedals if you point your toes down a bit. I still use clipless on the MTB, they are useful for that log you have to bunny hop mid corner or the short steep climb where you need 110% power. Do not use toe clips, they are dangerous and do not offer any real advantage over good flat pedals. To put your foot down in an emergency you have to pull your foot back and then put it out to catch yourself. At least with clipless the motion is all to the side to put your foot down quickly. Be prepared to drop a little coin on good flat pedals, they can be comparable to clipless. Cheap Vp flats cost as much as cheap Vp clipless and it goes up from there.
Wow, I am a flat bar fan, but damn, that is tempting. FYI: the Allez is going to be more racy and less versatile. That Sectuer will do almost anything you want to do. The Allez will not accept larger tires for light off-road riding.
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One advantage I've come to appreciate after switching from clipless to flats on my mountain bike is that on extremely steep and tricky climbs, flats make it much easier to get going again if you stall out and have to resume pedaling from a dead stop. When you're in the lowest gear, there often isn't enough time to clip the remaining foot back in after the other foot completes half a pedal stroke. On anything less challenging than expert level trails, I still prefer clipless pedals because of the advantages they confer. It just so happens that all my training at the moment involves mastering the most difficult and dangerous trails, and for that I don't want to be clipped in.
Opinions may vary... For the most technical trails I much prefer being attached to my bike. Makes moving the back wheel around easier among other things. Once you get good with the clipless you can get in (and out of) em pretty darn quickly. Its just not something you end up thinking about 'cause the legs/feet just kind of do it automatically. Speaking of attached to the bike: just got in from a '5 Gravel Roads' ride. AKA I went backwards on the last stretch first and then re-rode the same stretch the 'right' way at the end of the ride. Roads were smooth enough that I could've ridden the road bike down em. M
One way to train yourself to clipless is to stop at every stop sign, pull a foot out and put it on the ground. After a few hundred of those you'll not even think about it. The guys who used to tip over at the start lines back when I was racing were the ones who didn't stop at stop signs. Of course we were using tow straps.
I hope I wasn't the only one riding on Turkey Day. Got out for 9.6 miles of singletrack and blasted some previous lap times out of the water. Maybe it was the new Shimano Gore Tex winter shoes that did it. No froze toes today. Of course, I almost fell down while unclipping a couple of times due to installing some unfamiliar cleats just before leaving the house.:eek1 Aurelius would've been proud.
The nice thing with that one, other than discs, is the long-cage RD and it's super-low low gear. Not to mention, the geometry may be way too twitchy for a returning rider. Be sure to ride the Allez and Secteur back-to-back, JoeDuck.
FWIW, I've been using a pair of 'walking shoes' that have a substantial steel shank in the sole much like a good hiking boot. my Wellgo pin pedals grab onto these like glue, and the shank keeps me from feeling ANY pedal under me. the pedals have a dish that just about matches the curve of the ball of the sole of the shoes.