close call for me today

I was riding in the middle of the right lane on a 2 lane street today.
Both lanes travel in the same direction. The street was moderately
busy. Posted speed limit was 30 miles per hour. This is the part of
the road where I work on sprinting and holding as a high speed I can
maintain for about 0.3 - 0.8 miles long.

I was hitting 28 miles per hour for a good portion of the way and
then there is a slight incline. At this time cars are passing in the
other lane at about 35 miles per hour, and I was dropping to around 25
mph. I got up off the seat at this time to really crank up the incline
for the last 3 block. My feet suddenly came off of my speedplay X2
pedals. Both feet were suddenly on pavement skidding. My tender area
came down on the top tube (not too hard though) I maintained balance,
skidded over to the edge of the road and let all traffic pass.

I don't think the car behind me got very close, but I was really
worried about getting run over for about a second. (I should have
taken this opportunity to record my maximum heart rate as I am sure
sprint plus fear of death is about as high as one can get.)

I do not understand how my feet came off the pedals. Maybe I twisted
one leg out of the cleat in my sprint and then the other foot came out
when i tried to catch myself with that leg. The cleats are tight and i
cannnot make my feet come out by pulling. Guess i should sprint in
traffic only while seated.

Anyway it was really just an embarrassment in the long run. I do not
even have soreness where i came down on the top tube.

Be careful out there..... Brink

Hi,

When I was about 8 years old I was riding a full size bike and had a
similar problem. No traffic and only doing about 15 miles an hour, but
I came down on that bar hard.

It was at that point I wondered why Mens bike don't lose the top bar,
like woman's bikes. It seemed like a no-brainer when I was 8, and I'm
now 42, and I haven't changed my opinion. :-)

In article ,
(Walter) wrote:

Hi,

When I was about 8 years old I was riding a full size bike and had a
similar problem. No traffic and only doing about 15 miles an hour, but
I came down on that bar hard.

It was at that point I wondered why Mens bike don't lose the top bar,
like woman's bikes. It seemed like a no-brainer when I was 8, and I'm
now 42, and I haven't changed my opinion. :-)

Welcome to the world of Compact Geometry! I think you'll enjoy your stay.

Seriously. A while back, mountain bikes started trending towards smaller
frames combined with tall seat tubes, for the express purpose of gaining
stand-over height (landing on the top tube being an even more acute
danger on MTBs than road bikes).

"Compact" road bike geometry takes a similar concept to the road bike.
There are notional claims of greater stiffness and lesser weight, but
the gains are marginal at best. However, if you rely on long seat tubes
and wildly variable stem sizing, you can make a few compact frames fit
almost anyone. Some compact frames are made in as few as three sizes, at
least on the MTB side.

I'm greatly in favour of compact sizing for a grossly selfish reason: I
take about a 52 cm standard-fit frame, or a small compact frame. This
means I can pretty much ride a large-size compact frame (a "large
compact" frame?) as if it was a standard-fit frame, so I get lots of
options .

--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

"Brink" wrote in message
om...

I was riding in the middle of the right lane on a 2 lane street today.
Both lanes travel in the same direction. The street was moderately
busy. Posted speed limit was 30 miles per hour. This is the part of
the road where I work on sprinting and holding as a high speed I can
maintain for about 0.3 - 0.8 miles long.

My feet suddenly came off of my speedplay X2
pedals.

I don't think the car behind me got very close, but I was really
worried about getting run over for about a second.

Important safety tip: DON'T SPRINT IN TRAFFIC!

"Ryan Cousineau" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Walter) wrote:

Hi,

When I was about 8 years old I was riding a full size bike and had a
similar problem. No traffic and only doing about 15 miles an hour, but
I came down on that bar hard.

It was at that point I wondered why Mens bike don't lose the top bar,
like woman's bikes. It seemed like a no-brainer when I was 8, and I'm
now 42, and I haven't changed my opinion. :-)

Welcome to the world of Compact Geometry! I think you'll enjoy your stay.

Seriously. A while back, mountain bikes started trending towards smaller
frames combined with tall seat tubes, for the express purpose of gaining
stand-over height (landing on the top tube being an even more acute
danger on MTBs than road bikes).

"Compact" road bike geometry takes a similar concept to the road bike.
There are notional claims of greater stiffness and lesser weight, but
the gains are marginal at best. However, if you rely on long seat tubes
and wildly variable stem sizing, you can make a few compact frames fit
almost anyone. Some compact frames are made in as few as three sizes, at
least on the MTB side.

I'm greatly in favour of compact sizing for a grossly selfish reason: I
take about a 52 cm standard-fit frame, or a small compact frame. This
means I can pretty much ride a large-size compact frame (a "large
compact" frame?) as if it was a standard-fit frame, so I get lots of
options .

Many years ago, I heard a comedian (sorry, I don't recall who) make the
observation of bicycles that he didn't understand why the ones with the
balls got the ones with the bars. Darn good question, IMHO.

On 11 Oct 2003 14:25:05 -0700, (Brink) wrote:

I do not understand how my feet came off the pedals. Maybe I twisted
one leg out of the cleat in my sprint and then the other foot came out
when i tried to catch myself with that leg. The cleats are tight and i
cannnot make my feet come out by pulling. Guess i should sprint in
traffic only while seated.

I have that problem with my speedplay's I tend to let me knees spread apart and
that causes my foot to turn and out I pop. never had it happen while standing
but I have had both feet pop out at once. usually in the middle of an
intersection.

--
Knight-Toolworks & Custom Planes
Custom made wooden planes at reasonable prices
See http://www.knight-toolworks.com For prices and ordering instructions.