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| These swanky Fyxation Mesa Subzero's may be seeing a lot of gravel duty |
I'm sure many of you have, and many of you reading here do use flat pedals for gravel road riding, but I generally don't give it much thought. So, why now? Well, again......I'm not sure! I just know that it suddenly seems like a great idea.
So, why not?
By the way, I have used flats on gravel road riding before. I did the "Fatbike Century" over a year ago on flats. I also used street shoes! It was a successful experiment and raised not a few questions in my mind about why we insist on using specific pedals and shoes for all our riding. I don't think it is necessary and I wonder if this predilection with using specific shoes and pedals hasn't actually caused more issues than it solves.
I suppose we could debate things till the cows come home, but I have had one observation that, along with clothing choices, seems to take down a huge barrier to getting out there, for me, at least. That is that when I have a bicycle with flats installed I am more likely to want to ride that bike than I am my bikes without flat pedals. To tag along this line of thinking, I am also more likely not to worry a bunch about wearing cycling specific duds as well. Just a jersey, pop on a helmet, go ride.
Easy.
Sure, that doesn't mean that it isn't a good idea to use that specific cycling gear much of the time, but if I had only clipless pedal bikes, and if I thought I could only ride in a chamois and jersey, I would ride a lot less than I do. Sometimes I even ride without a helmet. (GASP!) Yep! And it is awesome.....
Anyway, the less barriers to getting on the bike the better, I think. Yeah.......I think I may be mashing flats a lot out on the gravel this year. At least to start out with. We'll see where it goes.......
6 comments:
I only run flat pedals and wear vans almost anytime I ride. Flats combined with a good foot retention strap such as the hold fast frs is the best of both worlds. I get easily adjustable foo retention when I want isnand if my feet need a break I just flip em over and ride strapless.
Works great for getting off the beaten path where the wide platform is forgiving in rough terrain and makes walking much more enjoyable.
I have flat pedals on all my bikes. Well, one bike does have toe clips/straps. I enjoy the freedom of simplicity they offer. I like not having to concentrate on clipping in and out.
For super long rides like TI I wonder if flats would not be better. The small contact surface on my m540 spds causes my feet and ankles to start hurting. I am going to give flats a try and also a clipless pedal with more surface a look as well.
I keep saying 5-10's and flats and people keep lookin at me like I have snakes crawling out of my ears. I guess it's just not techno enough for them.
@Ari- For a better supported pedal that still works with Shimano cleats, take a gander at LOOK: http://ridinggravel.com/components/riding-gravel-pedal-round-look-x-track-wrap/ My friend and contributor to Riding Gravel liked them.
I have often thought that a ride featuring hike-a-bike sections or Level B walking would be best with flats and real hiking shoes or some other kind of supportive footwear.
Once I hit my 50s, I also "regressed" back to flats on everything. I found that I was becoming a bit nervous when riding offroad while clipped in (and have no idea why), so much so that it was starting to affect my riding to the point that I actually BEGAN to make errors. At the same time, commuting was more convenient on flats so eventually I installed flats on all of my bikes. There may be some disadvantages, but I'm more relaxed and therefore enjoy getting out into the woods without stress.
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