Flat Pedals

Last night, I rode real flat pedals with not-ideal shoes and shinguards for the first time. It was a really interesting experience.

First, I'm not as comfortable getting out of my clipless pedals as I thought. There were several technical sections that I rode faster because I knew I could instantly put a foot down. Even if you can get your foot out of a clipless pedal fast, it's still not as fast as with a flat pedal.

Second, I now really understand what it means to drive your weight into the pedals. When my feet would get a little light, I could feel them start to slip just a little, when they were heavy, no slipping. I'll be curious to see how this changes with better shoes. I think this will also change the way I ride clipped in, in a good way. With more weight on my feet, the bike seemed to handle much better.

The worst situation for me as far as my feet not staying on the pedals was when I was sitting and pedaling. I guess it's obvious, but any weight that's on the saddle is not on your feet, so they're more likely to slip.

Third, it will take some practice to get used to doing things on flats that I'd do without much thought clipped in. The main one I noticed was going off drops. I think my drop technique is pretty decent, but last night, as I approached the drop I'm thinking, "where will my bike go when the rear wheel takes off?". My physics-brain knows that my bike and my body will fall at the same rate, so it should be no problem. My survival-brain isn't so sure. I still went off the drop and was fine, but it wasn't as smooth as usual. After the ride, in the parking lot, I demonstrated to myself that I could, in fact, lift my rear wheel with the flat pedals.

Anyway, I had a really good time riding like that. I had some good moments where I was really flying, but also a few awkward ones. To be expected I guess. I doubt I will switch over to flat pedals full time, but I think I will try to ride with them quite a bit for a while. I can see how they will help me develop some better technique.