Blog
What kind of pedals?
People are always asking which kind of pedals are better, flat or clipless. Well, in our opinion as coaches, we would say the ones you are most comfortable with. There are pros and cons of each, such as: flats are better for learning a lot of skills, clipless are marginally more efficient, (and many other things you can find on the internet).
Here are the important things for you to be aware of either way:
Flats:
It's super helpful to have good pedals: low profile, with little pins that grip your shoe, not plastic.
and good shoes: flat bottom- for grip on the pedal, stiff sole-for pedaling efficiency. Mountain bike or skateboard styles work well.
Pedal with the ball of your foot on the pedal.
Clipless:
If you decide to make the switch, do it when you have time to practice clipping and unclipping a lot, before going on a trail. You are going to fall while you’re learning, so try to have as many of those falls as possible be somewhere relatively safe, like a grassy field. You can always put your flat pedals back on for a trail ride, if you’re not quite comfortable with it yet.
I recommend multi-directional cleats (Shimano SH-56), set at the easiest resistance at first. These cleats allow you to pull your foot off the pedal in more of a natural motion (to the back, side, or straight up) in addition to the usual twisting motion required to release the shoe from the pedal. You can increase the tension as needed, so your foot isn’t coming off the pedal when you don’t want it to.
If you have any questions, just reach out to one of your coaches or team captains.
Happy trails!
Coach Susan Kemppainen, 8/3/2020
Reflections of an experienced-in-years/beginner-in-skills mountain biker (where to look)
Those of you that have ridden with me know that I am neither fast nor a technically skilled mountain biker. I ride to stay fit, get a total-body strength workout, and for the mental benefits of regular exercise. That mentally therapeutic aspect has become especially important during the emotional strain of the coronavirus pandemic. Also, as I don’t have a team to organize and coach at the moment, I have decided to work on improving my own riding skills. And, in the hope that someone will find my ramblings to be helpful, I have decided to write down some of the things that I think about while riding.
On today’s ride, I decided to focus on focus; where I am looking. This is one of those bad habits that I formed early on in my riding, because when I got my first mountain bike in my 20’s, I didn’t have a coach or mentor to teach me how to ride properly, only friends that were also figuring it out as we went. I am still trying to get in the habit of keeping my gaze focused about 20-30 ft up the trail ahead of me. Here are some things I noticed today while working on looking ahead:
The bumps feel smaller when you’re not looking at them. Those of you who have watched or made GoPro videos of mountain bike trails know that the GoPro makes everything look flatter and smoother. I noticed the same kind of effect when I was able to keep my eyes on the trail ahead as opposed to the rocks I was riding over. I had seen them before I got to them, chose my line, then kept looking ahead. Two things resulted; my bike followed the line I had chosen (which is usually the clearer, smoother path), and I didn’t notice the bumps that were in my path as much. You know how you don’t taste food as well when you have a stuffy nose? I liken the experience to that, because it seems that one sense enhances the other. In the case of riding, your vision affects what you feel. If I’m not looking at the rocks as I roll over them, they don’t feel as big. I’d never noticed that before.
I go faster when I look ahead. I was trying to go fast today for comparison, but the only thing I consciously changed today was where I was looking. My upper loop time improved from a previous PR of 8:42 to 8:27, and my lower loop time improved from 18:01 to 16:18. Those are pretty significant differences; both on my new Trek. I made it up Hamburger Hill, and had to fight hard against the tendency to drop my head and look at my front tire when I was out of breath and nearing my max HR. I just kept looking up the trail at what was coming next, and my gaze helped propel me in that direction.
“Watching for bears” is a practice I brought back and tried to teach the mountain bike team after hiking in Big Bend National Park and in the Canadian Rockies. Of course, in the Texas hill country, we don’t have to look for bears on the trail, but we are keeping our eyes out for hikers, dogs, other cyclists, snakes, deer, and road runners, in addition to checking out the features we plan to ride over and choosing the line we want to ride ("look where you want to go"). If we pretend we have to be on the lookout for bears, we may find that we ride faster, make it over more and bigger rocks, corner better, land that drop safely, and catch that competitor.
Happy trails to all of you, and stay safe and healthy!
Coach, Susan Kemppainen, 7/18/2020