Comments on: 3 Words All Cyclists Must Know

By: Laura Laker

Laura Laker — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:05:34 +0000

I once had a pedal cliptastrophe at London’s Herne Hill Velodrome, in slow motion, at a complete standstill. This is an injury from which I proudly still bear a lump on the upper extremity of my right tibia.

PS – Your cleatastrophe classifications made me laugh out loud.

By: Kari

Kari — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:06:58 +0000

My brother used to get snotula just from sneezing as a little kid. I don’t want to imagine what it would look like if it were to happen as explained in the definition! Also, I have been “fortunate” enough to experience the reverse of a Cleatastrophe in two seperate ways. #1 of a reverse cleatastrophe (as mentioned above) is a newbie not clipping out of their cleats in time and keeling over. This often happens in the worst possible places and the people suffering from this kind are often multiple offenders (myself included). #2 is when a rider crashes and after the fact cannot unclip for the life of them

By: LidsB2

LidsB2 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:54:11 +0000

Jim B – All I can say is….”Inconceivable!”

By: Jim B

Jim B — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 08:49:52 +0000

First, Fatty said, “puns are the lowest form of humor.”

I have to make a distinction and disagree.

(1) Bad puns are pretty low on the humor totem pole, but a good pun is worth hearing.

(2) The lowest form of humor is that type of person who quotes funny dialog from movies or the three stooges. Such is person is funny in the same way a tape recorder is funny. But with worse fidelity.

By: ClydeinKS

ClydeinKS — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:35:51 +0000

Another variation to the cleatastrophe, similar to Liz. Upon completion of a charity ride, I was slowly pedaling back to rack my bike when a pedestrian stepped out in front of me. As I was going down, I had forcefully unclipped from my pedal and saved my fall. I attempted to clip back in but had discovered that I had TORN my cleat off the shoe. All screws in tact but now had a shredded mounting plate on my shoe, and a cleat firmly attached to the pedal, resulting in a WTF. Glad I have terminology to fit the incident now!
Jeff D

By: Robbo

Robbo — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:45:36 +0000

You want cleatastrophe? I give you the onZa HO pedal from the early ’90s. Pedal tension was achieved via elastomers that had an alarming tendency to change consistency juuust enough to make your next clip-out a real journey of discovery… later models were better, but the early ones were truly terrifying.

By: Linda

Linda — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:56:48 +0000

Blergh. Snotula. Thanks for THAT unfortunate mental picture!

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:49:50 +0000

“Unconfirmed reports of snotulae reaching lengths of up to eight inches.” Uh… sure. Chalk that up to the proven inability of men to estimate length in the absence of an actual measuring device. Additionally, those reporting having seen snotulae in excess of six inches are most probably measuring from the root (where the nose ends between one’s eyes) instead of the proper method of measuring from the columella.

By: Cliff L.

Cliff L. — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:58:19 +0000

I suffered a cleatastrophe of the worst kind about a month ago. Standing up to pedal up the local pedestrian bridge which I had done hundreds of times before without incident, I suffered a cleatastrophe when my left foot unclipped for no apparent reason. As best as I can re-create the accident in my mind, this sent all my weight to the left side of the bike, causing the handlebars to twist wildly to the left. Couple that with the forward momentum of my left foot now in space, equals to sticking a stick in someone’s front wheel, only replace stick with foot in this instance.

The only thing I remember is unclipping unexpectedly, feeling my left foot jam into my front wheel, going airborne, somersaulting, and landing on my back, while my bike came crashing to the ground behind me, all in a manner of microseconds. Fortunately I was ok, only my pride was damaged. My bike suffered a bent front wheel and broken rear derailleur.

Yeah, that was truly a Double-U-Tee-Eff just happened moment.

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:56:51 +0000

Yes, I also experienced the opposite cleatastrophe when, unbeknownst to me, a screw had come out of my cleat and the cleat got stuck to the pedal. I discovered this on a road right in the middle of heavy vehicular traffic. Thanks, Mr. or Ms. Minvan, for helpfully honking from behind as I desperately tried to free my foot as I approached that traffic light. That definitely helped the situation.