I’ve been told that to progress in my aim of gaining my MBL award, I need to be able to show that I can competently ride flats on technical terrain. I am utterly pish at riding flats having pretty much ridden clipped in since I started MTB. I am more confident on steep rocky, super bumpy stuff when clipped in and am actually afraid of riding flats. Which bike specific flats should I get? Ones that are for both like the Shimano MP66 or some flat only 5.10s or something?
Oh, and which do I start re-learning to ride without being fixed to the bike?
Fanks 🙂
Jo

You want to learn technique, aye? has to be normal (non sticky soled) skate shoes and any half decent concave pedals (SS nano’s?)

oh.. and riding in an SPD shoe on a flat pedal is wrong on every level

Don’t be afraid. I rode clipped in for a long time and then rode flats for the first time on hols in Austria a few years ago. I was gobsmacked by how grippy they were and they gave me loads of confidence. The only thing to watch out for is getting air since you’ll undoubtedly have honed your airtime technique to the “spud hop”.

I ride flats more often than clipped in now. My SPDs tend to be road-riding only these days

Hi Jo, how are you these days – you still suffer from fatigue? I’m a lot better these days – still recovering from a week of biking in Wales but at least I can do it now.

I went back to flats a while ago, and there is a definite relearning process, especially on jumps and drops. I found it improved my riding though.

Superstar Nano Tech flats are great imo – really grippy and wide and a nice low profile to minimise pedal strikes. There is somewhere you can buy the same pedal branded differently a bit cheaper, not sure where but I’m sure someone will remember.

Cheap vans (TK Maxx is usually a good bet) are just fine for flats – my 5.10s are grippier, but it’s not needed most of the time.

concave pedals (SS nano’s?)

mine aren’t concave, they are flat with big pins, good cheap grippy pedal to give it a go with, i use Marz bomber shoes with 5-10 sole, very grippy even in sub zero muddy conditions

Pedals – Octane1 off CRC, just another rebranded wellgo, bit the loose ball oens are £20 and sealed bearing versions £40, so pretty cheep, or MG1’s off ebay for ~£34 if you dont ride anywhere rocky (magnesium is ~80g lighter, but softer thean aluminium alloy so tends to fall apart if you hit it repeatedly into rocks).

Shoes – 5.10 are ‘the best’ but not if you get them wet (cardboard midsole), they also look a bit ‘special’ IMO. Pop into TkMaxx and just buy some skate shoes with the stiffest sole you can find. If the sole is in 2 parts even better as you can get it re-soled with the 5.10 rubber when it wears out.

Nano’s are concave. Get your verniers out and measure the thickness at the edge and the middle if you don’t believe me.

So these combi things are pointless then?

Hi Grum, I’m doing ok. I still get chronic sore throats and tickly coughs that prevent me from training at the intensity I would like to for XC racing, but the full on draining fatigue after every effort to be active has passed and I’m getting into a more leisurely mind set for riding and trying to develop my gravity skillzzz 🙂

for good feel on a flat pedal you don’t really want a stiff (SPD) sole.
the most technically skilled bike riders (BMX IMO) all use normal skate shoes and not even very grippy pedals and almost never lose their footing.. other than on the roughest DH tracks with multiple square edge hits, keeping your feet on a pedal has little to do with sole/pedal grip and far more to do with body positioning/weight distribution, your upper body plays a big part in this too.

Cool, thanks GW. Care to offer a ‘virtual’ newbies tutorial on body position/weight ditribution?

GW is right, but take it with a pinch of salt IMO. As a newbie to flats any extra grip you can muster will help whilst you get the technique sorted. Very few BMXers have to contend with as much mud/wet etc as us UK MTBers.

To ride flats remember to position your foot more centrally over the pedals and not the same position as you would use for with cleats in which the position is more on the front end of the foot. When descending drop your heals which will not only shift your body weight nicely further back in a relaxed fashion but also make you push your feet into the pedals when you hit rocks and you won’t have to worry about bouncing off!

I would be able to show you (and probably pick up on a few of your bad habits) far easier than putting it into words.
if we’re talking “virtual” ignoring gravity, imagine your body suspended, arms out in front holding onto a fixed bar and feet positioned as they would on pedals, think about your whole body position, change any part of that and your feet will move won’t they? you want to keep your feet and hands in the same place while riding but you want your body to be able to naturally move to the best position to weight the bike appropriately to follow the terrain. keeping your knees and elbows loose and anticipating every bump/obsticle is key.. you have to think ahead more with flats than SPDs too as you need time to pre-load the pedal for grip or to lift the bike. crasnk positioning is more critical too. eventually you want all of this to be completely natural and never have to think about your feet.. I know one (much better than me)DH rider who always rides SPDs as he feels he never needs to think about his feet when they are attached by clips, I never think about mine on Flats.. it just takes time to get it.. more for some people than others.
told you it wouldn’t be easy to put into words 😳
do you ride with anyone who can help?

but take it with a pinch of salt IMO. As a newbie to flats any extra grip you can muster will help whilst you get the technique sorted. Very few BMXers have to contend with as much mud/wet etc as us UK MTBers.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0ZenNaKLBg[/video]

He was a newbie to flats once too.. and by the sounds of it (at the end) still a newbie to rain 😉

The last thing you want on flat pedals is a big non grippy lump of metal in the middle of your shoe.

As another naturally clipped-in type, it’s taken a long time to get used to riding flats. 5:10s help, but aren’t the be all and end all. I’m using Kona Wahwahs pedals.

The biggest things that have helped me are firstly not thinking about it. If I’m worrying that my feet are going to come off, then they probably will – you just end up getting tense. Being able to stay really relaxed is the key. After a few days of continuous flats riding, its perfectly natural, and I’m barely aware of doing anything different.

Technique wise – you have to work the bike harder. You can’t just point and hang on. Pump the bike down through hollows, pop up over crests, roots, rocks etc. Watch how people like Sam Hill, Brendog, etc ride – wheels are in contact with the ground for a relatively small amount of the time.

Being able to ride flats is definitely a good thing. You can push corners harder and jumping is WAY better. The techniques learnt cross over into clipped in riding well.

Thanks GW (and others who have advised), you’ve put it into words very well I think. I can picture what you mean. I just need to be able to translate my ‘in the head’ understanding into my body carrying it out 🙂

To ride flats remember to position your foot more centrally over the pedals and not the same position as you would use for with cleats

I’ve ridden flats since I injured my knee in a crash circa 2006 and still disagree with this, especialy when pedaling, it just feels wrong and you lose all the shock absorbtion from your lower leg, and it’s putting your weight ~4″ further forewards.

Pedal/foot in pretty much the same position SPD or flats for me.

just have fun riding your bike (like a big kid), it’ll all fall together naturally over time anyway.. 8)

I’ve only ever ridden flats so not sure my advice is that useful, but the key thing i found was to learn to bunny hop. if you can lift the bike on flats, you can use a simialr technique to keep your feet on the pedals over rocky descents. Cycling up technical descents i tend to use a few weight shifts and things to get the bike over tricky bits. Plan in advance and throw the bike up/forward, that kind of thing. its a bit more like trials riding.

I prefer flexy shoes with thin & flat soles. The stiffness is in the pedal rather than the shoe.

shin pads will be a good idea to start with.

as for foot position, i tend to use the front part of my foot when pedaling for long periods, but more centred position when descending.

i didn’t actually realise this until i saw a picture of myself riding!

you lose all the shock absorbtion from your lower leg, and it’s putting your weight ~4″ further forewards.

that’s totally wrong on both counts, sounds like you need to move your body much and read the terrain ahead more while you ride.
the only time I’m more comfortable with the balls of by feet over the axle is when manualling (not even 100% sure why TBH).. The biggest reason I dislike sticky soles is I absolutely hate not being able to constantly re-position my foot by simply unweighting and sliding it. too stiff a sole would be awful in this respect too as I wouldn’t be able to feel exactly where my foot was on the pedal.

+1 for shin pads. They are bit uncomfortable at first but you get used to it.

More of a confidence thing for me but I am sure I have saved myself a number of unwanted tags

Oh the other thing – you’ll get nowhere if you’re trying to ride fast over bumpy ground with your saddle at full xc height. If I’m riding flats, having my saddle at “proper” height is the exception rather than the norm! Even a 1″ drop makes a big difference.