Last updated on March 16, 2011
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Having a bike I was bound to fall eventually. Unfortunately today I fell twice, both times on account of not being familiar with the new Shimano PD-M540 pedals I installed last night.
The first time I was at the intersection of 24 Mile and VanDyke, on the sidewalk, and as I went to press the crosswalk light button I didn’t get my right foot unclipped and I toppled over against the pole. Because of how I fell the rear brake lever stabbed the top of my thigh, just above the knee, making a nice puncture wound. The second time I’d just returned home and I pulled up in front of the mailbox and again didn’t manage to get my right foot unclipped before I toppled over, with my right knee, the rear rack, and the handlebar all hitting at just about the same time. The second fall hurt a lot more, but only scraped an area about the size of a dime. It still hasn’t finished bleeding.
Beyond my needing to get familiar with the pedals, I think I like them. I rode just over 20 miles today and for the most part I had no problems dealing with them. I just need to get the idea of pivoting my foot before moving it more ingrained.
There’s no GPS plot of the ride because I didn’t feel like logging one, but I rode from my house to the head of the Macomb Orchard Trail by way of 24 Mile Road before winding my way back home. Here is approximation of the route, save for the bit of trail leading from 24 Mile to Dequindre, and a few bits of wandering down side roads.
Oh, and the wind. ~20 MPH gusts aren’t much fun, particularly when you are riding straight into them. I had a hard time maintaining 12 MPH for the route down VanDyke back to 22 Mile.
I feel dumb about falling over, but it just shows that I need to get more familiar with using these pedals. My bike shorts and shirt are in the wash so that I can bring my bike to work tomorrow and possibly go riding from there. There’s a bunch of nicely accessible trails and paths leading from the end of the road my building is on, so it’d be a nice place to go riding. I’d just need to be sure to sort out dinner beforehand. And not fall over while practically standing still.