Welcome to the Motrin My Game My Pain Fly Gurlz games!
Throughout the season we will be hosting club, camp and relay challenges that are all about having fun and participating in the sport that we love – mountain biking!
Each month we will challenge community participants with innovative competitions that anyone with a mountain bike can compete in. One winner each month will be awarded wonderful swag from our partners. Stay tuned and check back weekly for blog updates and to find out how you can become a player in the first annual Motrin My Game My Pain Fly Gurlz games!
Some of our fave clipless pedals stories from you!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
A.L. from Whitby, Ontario writes:
You always fall over when you're not even moving! Isn't that the truth... For my first experience with the clipless pedals I decided to make it very safe. A nice ride on the sidewalk of an industrial area in Oshawa. Sounds like a good place to try em' out right? ... WRONG! Of course, as the story goes, I've slowed down to stop at a stop sign. I'm heading west and a bus filled with GM workers is heading south (turning left at the stop sign). So, as I slow and realize that there is no way on god's green earth that I am going to be free from the metal monsters gripping my feet, I panic and bail. The embarrassment comes when the bus driver slows along side me, opens the bus door and says "how'd that feel? I think you otta look into a new hobby! hahaha". I was admittedly very discouraged and, not to mention, having bitter feelings towards bus drivers!
S.G. from Beeton writes:
I used to ride a bike a lot in my teens and really missed it. I decided to get back on a mountain bike. Where do I begin. I searched out the internet and found out about Fly Gurlz. I signed up in a flash and went to a beginner camp in London. I had borrowed a bike with clipless pedals and a pair of shoes. I enjoyed the day with multiple crashes, bumps and bruises but the best was when we did a little climb and entered an open field. With great encouragement from the Fly Gurlz team I locked in my feet and took off. Up the hill and across the field...WOW. What an accomplishment. I was so darn pleased with my self that I stopped and went to put my foot down #*(@Q&#(*$ I said! Then in slow motion my bike, standing dead still, tipped over to the left. I didn't even let go. It felt like forever...I wondered...who saw that? How stupid did I look? Could I feel my hip? My shoulder? Quick body check and I was still intact! I fought back! Freed those feet from the pedals and got back on that crazy piece of machinery (only clipped one foot in the rest of the day -SHHHH don't tell anyone I am a chicken). This moment lead to my renewed love of cycling and the great outdoors...thank goodness for pain relievers and ice! All in good fun.
M.C. from Hamilton writes:
My clipless petal story goes like this: I was on a internet blind date- we decided to meet in Niagara for a ride along the river. About halfway into the 60k ride, we stopped at a stop sign. My foot got stuck in the clip...I fell sideways still attached to my bike. I ended up with a badly skinned knee, skinned elbow, wrenched shoulder and blood eveywhere. The guy I was riding with didn't even stop! He kept going!! I finished the remaining 30k of the ride. He never even asked me how I was...needless to say that was our first and only date!
S.V. from Nottawa writes:
I began to montain bike during the summer of 2006 on an 1993 Norco Bush Pilot - no shocks - no disk brakes. Despite the deficiencies in equipment, I was hooked on this sport. I quickly convinced the family that this was THE summer sport we could all enjoy together. So we all bought new bikes, mine is a Kona Kikapu Deluxe. I acclimatized myself to my new bike sans clipless petals during that first summer, to be honest being bound to the bike scared the begeebees out of me. However, by the Spring of 2007 I was eager to try out the clipless. So with snow banks still lining our streets, I headed to Kamikaze and bought my Shimano clipless pedals and sexy Specialized shoes. Since the trails outside lay under 2 feet of snow, my husband set up our basement so that I could ride my bike and get used to clipping in and out of the pedals. The problems was that I couldn't clip out! so BANG! I would fall to the tile floor, BAM! I would hit the jack post, KLUNK I would slam into the storage trunks. It was ugly, but I wouldn't give up. Night after night I would practice...until we realized that the sole of the sexy specialized shoes was being compressed when I was clipped in, therefore making it virtually impossible to clip out. Thankfully Kris at Kamikaze made the needed adjustment and Presto, I can easily clipout! Moral of the story - Determination is a great quality, however I need to recognize that sometimes I need a little help....
J.A. from London writes:
I, like probably most people attempting clipless pedals for the first time, was warned to expect to fall. So, thinking I'd try to get a handle on clipping in and out *before* I went outside, set up my bike leaning against my couch (pre-trainer days) in my condo apartment. Got in fine. But when I tried to get out, the pedals were very stiff, and I shifted my weight to really give it a good crank, and whoops, crashed over to the floor with a mighty crash, still attached to my pedals. Finally got myself out and set my bike upright for another go. Whoops, there I go again! CRASH!! At this point I realized that my elderly downstairs neighbour was probably thinking I was going to crashing through her ceiling, so I discontinued my indoor experiment in favour of the outdoors. Yep, fell outside too, but got a nice little scar on my knee that allows me to tell this story!
Help - I've fallen and I can't clip out!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
How appropriate to start the MOTRIN (R) My Game My Pain blog with a story about the challenge of getting used to those brand new clipless pedals that you just bought.
Now I have been known, on occasion, to peel off out of control and fire into the bushes of some poor unsuspecting forest. Often I leave the trails with all sorts of plant material woven into various and assorted parts on my bike. So far so good on the animal front, although I almost hit a deer in Jasper, Alberta but that's a story for another day! Anyone who has ridden with me knows that this is my mountain biking style. Even after years of riding I am still a total klutz - a happy smiling klutz mind you but a klutz all the same. Which brings me to the gist of this entry, I still fall sometimes and end up upside down, still attached to my bike...
One of the Fly Gurlz club leaders shared a story with the team that brought back a whole litany of memories for me. She just got her clipless shoes and was taking part in a spinning class at her local cycling shop. Of course she had the usual question anyone does when they buy their first set. "How in the heck do I get in and out of these things and why are the pods so darn small? ". She figured out how to clip in and had a great workout, but then to her dismay she went to get off the bike and couldn't! Her husband was showing support on the sidelines trying to move with gestures to show her the quick ankle turn that is needed to snap out, but all to no avail! It is the sweetest story ever because in the end she removed herself from the shoes and then pried the shoes off the pedals! If that's not a classic & wonderful newbie clipless pedal story I don't know what is...speaking of which...I will share my own!
When I first got my clipless pedals I thought I was the Queen Bee of Bloor Street! It was 1996 and they were the size of two massive hamburger patties but I didn't care because I was riding clipless! At the time I was really good at track stances as I had no car and logged hundreds of commuting hours on my bike. I remember it like it was yesterday. I pulled up to turn left at Bloor and Bay Street and of course I was in the car lane with a line behind me a mile long. The light turned red and I stopped and began to do a track stand, the light was taking forever to change so I decided to put my foot down and the clipless pedal panic hit me like a stack of Big Macs! "oh no - I can't get out, I can't get out" and down I went like a sack of potatoes, right in the middle of the intersection at rush hour! To add to my embarrassment the cars behind me were honking and began driving around me making unmentionable gestures, all so they could make their left hand turns and not miss the light. I squirmed and wriggled both my ankles and a foot finally came free and I managed to sheepishly make my way over to the sidewalk where one stunned witness said "That was an incredible wipe out, I have never seen anyone fall over on a bike when they weren't even moving ... * sigh *
To this day I still giggle when I think about my first experience with those hamburger sized full on old school Look pedals. My husband keeps everything so I am sure if I dug far enough into one of big boxes in the garage I would find them. The last witness to my free fall in downtown Toronto all those years ago!
Now don't get this story wrong because once you become "Mistress of the clipless pedals" you will never go back. It's the in between stage that makes for some great story telling!
So here is your first MOTRIN (R) My Game My Pain challenge! Send us your first experience with clipless pedals story and you could win a Trek WSD Jacket! Contest closes on April 15, 2008. The winner will be picked at random and we will share some of the funnier ones right here in the blog. Go to the Contest page on the website to submit your story.
Until next time - Michelle.