We all remember it vividly; our first clipless pedal mishap. Usually, this type of blunder is made all the more embarrassing because it occurs at extremely low speed—or even no speed at all.

Falling over at less than two miles per hour while still clipped into one’s pedals is a traditional rite of passage for mountain bikers. Once you’ve done the awkward, slow-speed tumble in front of someone, you’ll never let it happen again because of the galactic humiliation it causes. You return home with body and ego bruised and put the bike away, only to bring it out the next day to practice in the privacy of your own backyard to ensure that you never again have to endure such an indignity.

The first time it ever happened to me, I was 16 years old and was breaking in a flashy pair of Shimano SPD M737 pedals that I’d only had for two weeks. I’d ridden them about a dozen times successfully with no falls, and I thought I had it mastered. Boy was I ever mistaken.

I was returning from a ride in the rugged hills north of Pittsburgh, my high-school stomping grounds. After trudging, bumping, sliding and cursing my way through the muddy, horse-hoofed singletrack, I finally hit pavement and prepared myself for the final climb up a steep, cobbled in-cline that looked like a stone wall from a distance.