clipless urban trials

clipless

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urban trials

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so i decided that while the mountains are covered with snow i'd take up trying out urban trials on days when i'm not able to go snowboarding. (for those of you who don't know, urban trials on a mountain bike basically consists of hopping around on things and doing little freestyle tricks.) the problem is that i ride my bike clipless. i have a set of crankbrothers eggbeater pedals (pictured above) which i click into with my biking shoes. this means that my feet are locked onto the pedals and only release when i twist my feet to either side. while it works great and gives me a lot more control and power when i'm riding on the road or trails, they don't work so well when i'm about to crash and need to bail.

so today i get home from boarding and realize that viggy (my bike) has been rather neglected for the last couple weeks. it was still light outside, so i decided to throw on my cleats and take him out for a quick ride around the neighborhood. big mistake.

while dropping of fa small 2 foot embankment (which normally isn't a problem), i didn't take into account that my front tire would stop dead in its tracks as it buried into the hardened snow. i endo'd (end over end) into the snow with my still-attached bike endo'ing right after me, quickly popping my shoulder out of socket.

after putting my shoulder back into place, i started off back home. at the curb outside my apartment i tried hopping onto it in reverse. i managed popping and twisting my rear tire over the curb, but while trying to follow it up with the front tire, i took yet another spill. again my feet remained attached, twisting my knees and adding a pair of gashes into my right leg (also pictured above). worst of all, 4 or 5 neighbors witnessed this pathetic exercise.

the moral of this story? attempting urban trials (or my sad attempts at them) with clipless pedals is completely stupid. don't do it.

(by the way, the biking photo above is not me. that guy is good. i suck.)