So, as most of you may know, I made it.
I did a ride today without another clip stack.
I went downstairs and first I practiced clipping in and out 1 foot at a time.
Then I clipped in my right and glided and stopped.
I still felt like I was not ready to go out yet, so then I leaned my bike up against the wall, clipped in my right, and practiced clipping my left in and out.
I did get stuck a few times, so I kept practicing.
Then I practiced stopping and starting and clipping both feet in.
My success rate was pretty good - about 90%.
Then I stood at the exit of the driveway and mentally tried to start cycling.
A neighbour came downstairs to put something in their garage and saw me just standing there on my bike, looking at the road, not moving. I must have looked really weird.
After a little while longer when I couldn't think of anything else to do, I decided to just head to Centennial Park.
What everything says / thinks their clip stack looks like:
(image via www.backroads.com)
(Maybe I'm lucky I fell in the privacy of my driveway..)
I was going to take it conservatively and get off and walk across the major intersections.
But once I was rolling, I realised that if I needed to stop, my left leg just needed to be free, so I made the decision to free my left leg in anticipation of any risky areas.
Which was quite a lot of the way, especially with all the cycleways in the doorzone. I was never sure if a car would pull out.
I'm guessing my right thigh is going to get stronger for a while, compensating for my left leg which I had unclipped, but sitting on the pedal, not really applying much force, in case I clipped in accidentally.
I got to Centennial Park and did a few laps where I practiced clipping my left leg in and out, in and out.
My success rate dropped down to about 60%. I'm not sure if this was because I was alert and processing everything else going on. (As it was the middle of the day, the demographic were lots of slow kids and slow leisure cyclists, no fast lycra cyclists to be seen).
So it was fine, while my success rate is low, I figured, I just need to allow time to clip out and also allow for this and if I think I need to stop, just clip out early.
I feel pretty confident about it all now.
Husband also mentioned that it's important to place pressure downwards when unclipping, as lifting does nothing. I think this may also be something that I need to focus on.
I think it's a matter of practicing and getting it into muscle memory. I'm successfully unclipping most of the time, so I must be doing something right, I just need to work out what the patterns are.
I've also read (and my husband mentioned it), hill starts can be challenging. So, something else to watch out for.
[Also tonight, I had a thought that maybe my cleat could do with a little adjustment, so we changed the angle a tiny bit. Perhaps it was needing too much twist to get out of it.]
(Image via Hyperbole And A Half again)
NO.
(Even though there was one on the balcony as I typed this. Bleagh.)
