Learning to ride and learning to fall

When people say “It’s as easy as riding a bicycle,” I’m no longer sure what it means. Sure, riding is easy, but so is falling. In fact, falling may be easier because you have gravity on your side.

Pride goeth before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18)*
Falling is embarrassing, especially when an elderly woman leans out of her car to ask if I need help. That happened on North Druid Hills Road when I was test-riding a bicycle.

It’s also embarrassing (but more pleasant) when a young French woman tries to assist me after a fall near the Carter Center. The French woman departed when Joan arrived to take this silly picture of me.

*The quote from Proverbs doesn’t exactly apply to this situation, but I wanted to see how my spell-checker would handle “goeth.”

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Pedals
Pedals have changed a lot in 30 years. The old-style platform pedals (below) are still around (Think back to your childhood). They’re easy to use and they’re safe, but maybe inefficient.

 

Build a better rat trap . . .
Lightweight metal (rat trap) pedals with toe clips are pretty good; they keep your foot on the pedal during the upstroke so you can lift as well as push. But I sometimes have trouble getting my foot back into the clip after a stop.

 

Becoming attached to your bicycle
Today, so-called clipless pedals are popular because they literally lock your feet to the pedals. I’ve tried it, and it works. In an ideal world, you should be able to unlock them when you slow to a stop. Please refer to this detail, where my shoes are still attached to the pedals.

Nonetheless, I’ve settled on clipless pedals of the eggbeater style (below left). These are called Crank Brothers Candy 2 pedals. I’ve also included a picture of a real eggbeater.

 

It’s all about appearance
At least when I fall, I’ll have really cool-looking pedals.

Keeping it simple
Joan threw in the towel and reverted to platform pedals. But she still falls from time to time. I’ll try to get a photo.

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Next: Riding every bicycle path in metro Atlanta (maybe)