- Welcome back you beautiful people.
Clipless pedals or flat pedals?
Two different platforms that I've been
chopping and changing lately.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a flat pedal rider,
but I've been riding clipped in and it's helped me,
benefited me, on the trail.
(music sting)
Right I've been riding clipless pedals
on and off since Dotty showed me the ropes
right back in the beginning.
Hell, I've even raced in clipless pedals.
Like I've done Megavalanche on a Hardtail,
I've raced Sea Otter cross country and downhill.
Might I add, I got second in the downhill (cough cough),
but I went on an epic ride and I rode,
pretty much half the year clipped in just to get used to it,
see where it benefited me, and it did in certain situations,
it did so, more so than being flat pedal rider.
Now here is exactly where it did help me
and how I got to learn how to ride clipped in pedals.
(energetic music)
The one things that's actually has benefited me
is moving my bike around on the trail,
bike being clipped in, like, just quick ones,
just like that, I'm not lift,
I'm just relying being clipped in
just to manipulate my bike and my rear of the bike,
to just push it around on the trail.
So if there's a root in the way I can, like,
lift it out of a hole and bring it up.
I can manipulate my bike, just like this, look.
(energetic music)
Okay, you see that little step in front of me?
Now, I can use my clips, you could bunny hop up that,
but if you're not into bunny hop,
you can just lift up your front wheel
and then use your clipped pedals
to kind of manipulate that rear wheel to get it up,
just like this.
(energetic music)
So that's just a few ways to use your clipless pedals
on the trail to just manipulate your rear wheel,
to move it around on the trail,
you can dance down the trail.
Now here's the next one that's benefited me.
(energetic music)
Ah, when it comes to bunny hopping with clipless pedals,
yes we've told you not to use your clipless pedals
when you're learning the technique,
but this is if you know the technique.
I know my technique, I know how to bunny hop.
But when it comes to a situation like this on the trail,
where you want to hop this really fast and hard,
using your clipless pedals can help you get over it
when you're coming in really fast.
And there's a little bit of a root garden there,
so you don't want to be thinkin', right, drop my heels, curl,
get myself in this situation.
But using your clipless pedals, you can get over this.
And I sound like I'm a hypocrite, and I do it,
but I know how to do the technique.
Comin' in, oh.
Oh, and it's rough, nice.
All right, one thing that's benefit me,
and it's not technically,
I'm not going to a try and show you how fast is
or how fast I am actually going,
but again, the power down, clipped in,
I can go so much quicker and accelerate so much faster
cause I'm doing the push pull, just like this.
(energetic music)
Okay, this is rough on your local trail
and it can help being clipped in so your feet don't
actually bounce around, and you can ride a lot lighter.
And what I mean by that is, you don't have
to dig your heels in to keep your feet on your pedals
if you're running flat pedals,
which I do a hell of a lot.
I want to dig my heels in, put as much pressure down
on my pedals to keep my feet on 'em.
Running clipped in, I don't have any of that worry,
'cause I'm clipped into my bike.
My feet are living on my pedals,
and they're not going to be bouncing all over the place.
(engaging music)
'Kay, this next one is all about trusting
in grip, which I have a big problem with.
Now being clipped in, it just makes me nervous,
because I always want to get my foot out.
As soon as my tire starts to lose grip,
I feel like, oh no, and I dab.
Now by being clipped in, I'm starting
to learn to understand my grip,
understand that I have a lot of grip
and I should trust in my tires.
Here's a perfect example of trusting the grip
that you've got in your tires.
Now, you've got two turns.
One there, left hander, and then just straight
into a right hander.
They're all flat, it looks loose.
I mean, if I was coming in and I was riding
flat pedals, I could quite happily
take a foot off there, and then quickly
put it on and quite happily take off another one,
but that's just untidy.
Now, being clipped in, I don't want to dab,
because if I unclip there, I got to quickly clip here,
and unclip the other side to go around that turn.
Now I'm going to go through here, clipped in,
and just know that I've got grip.
(engaging music)
Tacky climbs, great being clipped in.
Look at this.
(breathing heavily)
Yeah!
See ya.
When it comes to tacky climbs like this,
where there's roots and stuff,
you can keep a constant power by pushing,
by pulling as well, and when you get
to a section like this, you can actually
go through it and keep, you can lift by pulling up,
and still carry on pedaling.
Whereas with the flat pedals you're going
vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom.
Won't be putting too much, and it's just going to spin up
by being clipped in.
Constant power all the way through,
which is key when it comes to a situation,
a section like this on the trail,
where you want to get up.
Look at this.
Got through there by being clipped in.
Flat pedals, (mumbles), I'd be pushing up.
(inspiring music)
There you have it!
Clipless pedals, who would've thought they would've
helped you, well they did help me
throughout this whole year of riding bikes.
On all those races, especially on a hard tail.
If I'm going to do an event on a hard tail,
I am definitely clipping in.
Now I love it when I put the power down,
'cause I'm push-pulling, I can get all my power down
to that rear wheel, and also the best thing
about it is when it comes to rough sections,
being clipped in is the best thing ever,
and I wouldn't have said that years and years ago,
but I am saying it now.
Clipless pedals, pretty cool.
And let us know in the comments down below,
would you try it, or if you do ride clipped in,
would you ride flat pedals?
Let us know in the comment section down below.
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And if you want to stick around and watch another video,
actually watch me learn how to ride clipless pedals
a few months back, click just over here,
and Dotty shows me how to do that.
Give us a thumbs up like if you love clip pedals,
or flats! See ya.