"Geeze, unclip already!"

Hiya:
While walking about on Miramar Road saw one commuter cyclist take a
self-induced fall. Actor: Relatively young roadie on old lugged Trek
(chrome/replacement fork) wearing helmet and with goods in backpack (no
rack, no fenders), clipless pedals. Dude stopped for the light (which
had just turned red on him) in the appropriate lane, but didn't unclip.
He kept balancing and fighting wheelflop for a good fifteen seconds
until he fell over. I asked, he said he was fine.
Yeah, he's fine, but what does that steel cager who was hanging
thirty feet back (the typical "you can't trust cyclists in front of
you/let's not activate the induction coils for the traffic signal"
distance, I believe) now think about road cyclists' and commuters' bike
handling skills. What's with not wanting to unclip, anyway? I could see
it being a bigger deal with straps and buckles to yank on and slip out
of, but isn't one of the selling points of clipless easy entry and
exit?

Robert Leone

wrote:
Hiya:
While walking about on Miramar Road saw one commuter cyclist take a
self-induced fall. Actor: Relatively young roadie on old lugged Trek
(chrome/replacement fork) wearing helmet and with goods in backpack (no
rack, no fenders), clipless pedals. Dude stopped for the light (which
had just turned red on him) in the appropriate lane, but didn't unclip.
He kept balancing and fighting wheelflop for a good fifteen seconds
until he fell over. I asked, he said he was fine.
Yeah, he's fine, but what does that steel cager who was hanging
thirty feet back (the typical "you can't trust cyclists in front of
you/let's not activate the induction coils for the traffic signal"
distance, I believe) now think about road cyclists' and commuters' bike
handling skills. What's with not wanting to unclip, anyway? I could see
it being a bigger deal with straps and buckles to yank on and slip out
of, but isn't one of the selling points of clipless easy entry and
exit?

Robert Leone

That's pretty judgemental. Seems he was working on his trackstand and
lost it. No big deal. If this is the worst behavior you saw seems like
a pretty mellow day.

Hi gds:
Working on one's trackstand is one thing -- but it seems a dumb
thing to do out on Miramar International Speedway. I am hypersensitive
about that particular intersection because I have seen a sheet-covered
body there before (motorcyclist ran a red light on his way to work....)

Robert Leone
gds wrote:
SNIPPING original post.

Robert Leone

That's pretty judgemental. Seems he was working on his trackstand and
lost it. No big deal. If this is the worst behavior you saw seems like
a pretty mellow day.

In article om,
says...
What's with not wanting to unclip, anyway? I could see
it being a bigger deal with straps and buckles to yank on and slip out
of, but isn't one of the selling points of clipless easy entry and
exit?

There is a learning curve to clipless, it's possible the struggle you
saw was a new user trying to unclip from unfamiliar pedals.

--
is Joshua Putnam
http://www.phred.org/~josh/
Updated Bicycle Touring Books List:
http://www.phred.org/~josh/bike/tourbooks.html

wrote in
ps.com:

What's with not wanting to unclip, anyway?

Track stands are tres chic!

But trying to track stand and falling is hilarious.

wrote:
Hi gds:
Working on one's trackstand is one thing -- but it seems a dumb
thing to do out on Miramar International Speedway. I am hypersensitive
about that particular intersection because I have seen a sheet-covered
body there before (motorcyclist ran a red light on his way to work....)

I guess being stopped at red lights is my idea of exactly where one
would choose to do a track stand. (Of course not counting track racing)
Why is that dumb? Like most things in an activity like cycling it is a
skill to be mastered and can be fun when accomplished.

To me it seems a bit of a stretch to compare a motorcyclist running a
red light with a bicyclist doing a track stand while obeying the red
light. There could be circumstances where the track stand might be a
bad idea, for example if the cyclist was blocking a lane of traffic,
but usually the situation is that the cyclist is off to the side. And
since there is a red light and thus vehicular traffic was stopped even
the fall should have done nothing to create a dangerous situation--not
at all like blowing through a red light.

wrote:
Hiya:
While walking about on Miramar Road saw one commuter cyclist take a
self-induced fall. Actor: Relatively young roadie on old lugged Trek
(chrome/replacement fork) wearing helmet and with goods in backpack (no
rack, no fenders), clipless pedals. Dude stopped for the light (which
had just turned red on him) in the appropriate lane, but didn't unclip.
He kept balancing and fighting wheelflop for a good fifteen seconds
until he fell over. I asked, he said he was fine.
Yeah, he's fine, but what does that steel cager who was hanging
thirty feet back (the typical "you can't trust cyclists in front of
you/let's not activate the induction coils for the traffic signal"
distance, I believe) now think about road cyclists' and commuters' bike
handling skills.

Who cares?

wrote: (clip) Yeah, he's fine, but what does that
steel cager who was hanging thirty feet back (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Then GDS wrote: (clip) Why is that dumb? Like most things in an activity
like cycling it is a
skill to be mastered and can be fun when accomplished. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Isn't it obvious? Falling off your bike in a lane of traffic is not the
best thing to do. It should be possible to practice this sort of things
when there are no cars nearby. Suppose the driver of the following car had
been day dreaming, and just started up? Suppose someone had changed lanes,
not seeing the downed rider? Or, suppose, as was actually the case, nothing
happened. Still, the driver saw this cyclist as an inept nuisance, and our
standing in the community was dimished ever so slightly.

Leo Lichtman wrote:
wrote: (clip) Yeah, he's fine, but what does that
steel cager who was hanging thirty feet back (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Then GDS wrote: (clip) Why is that dumb? Like most things in an activity
like cycling it is a
skill to be mastered and can be fun when accomplished. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Isn't it obvious? Falling off your bike in a lane of traffic is not the
best thing to do. It should be possible to practice this sort of things
when there are no cars nearby. Suppose the driver of the following car had
been day dreaming, and just started up? Suppose someone had changed lanes,
not seeing the downed rider? Or, suppose, as was actually the case, nothing
happened. Still, the driver saw this cyclist as an inept nuisance, and our
standing in the community was dimished ever so slightly.

Not to beat a dead horse but the OP stated that this was all happening
in the appropriate lane.

So, my take on the situation is that if the cyclist was in the
appropriate place then it was also appropriate to do a track stand.
Again, this was a case of folks stopped at a red light. If the motorist
behind lost attention to the point of just running over a fallen
cyclist my bet would be that he would also run over an upright cyclist.

There are all sorts of dangerous actions and poor judgements that are
done by cyclists, but doing a track stand (successfully or not) in the
appropriate lane while stopped at a red light does not make my list.

Well, I've made way too many posts on this non topic.

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in
:

Still, the driver saw this cyclist as an inept nuisance, and our
standing in the community was dimished ever so slightly.

You have no real knowledge of what the driver thought unless he or she told
you. You're projecting.