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Tell me why I frequently land heavy on the rear wheel now I use flats.
I guess I'm worrying about my feet leaving the pedals, perhaps, but what to do?
(earlier today, I went to make a turn and weight the left pedal and completely lifted my right foot up in the air and thought wtf).
Been using them about a week or two on daily commute/xc ht, not had any accidents due to them yet, and feel generally I'm getting on ok, but well, hopping up a curb takes a lot more effort now and if I'm feeling slightly tired then that's just not gonna happen. feeling less confident about drops (2ft max) and steps have become a bit more threatening.
Today, my guess would be I was leaning back too far, except the front wheel landed first.
Where did you learn your flats technique from?
Like most things learn it right first time
Funny isn't it? I'd feel way more scared about the idea of going off drops and steps with my feet clipped in, having never ridden clipped in.
I think just keep riding. Thinking what your feet do too much is possibly over-thinking things. You'll get used to it if you build up to things. Go back to square-one. Practise hopping until it becomes second nature.
I would really really suggest booking in with Jedi at Ukbikeskills.
He'll take time to explain the mechanics of being on the bike including what your feet are doing whilst riding/jumping/drops.
I won't even try to explain what I learned suffice to say I was clearing the 9ft gap on flats by the end of the day.
You've probably learnt to be lazy when clipped in, by using your feet to pull the bike up when unweighting it, drop offs, jumps, bunny hops. Now you can't physically lift the bike with your feet, their coming off the pedals etc. New technique required.
Where did you learn your flats technique from?
What flats technique? Been riding SPD since I got back into cycling (stopped after teens, restarted early 30's).
I think just keep riding. Thinking what your feet do too much is possibly over-thinking things. You'll get used to it if you build up to things. Go back to square-one. Practise hopping until it becomes second nature.
Thanks for this, seems pretty obvious now. I'd only ever really bunny hop if really necessary. So on commute home today I practiced bunny hops, lots. Can clear a 6" curb but not prepared to try bigger yet.
On most rides, practicing bunny hops just doesn't occurr to me, too busy going fast for "training" or going slow for recovery (bunny hops increase HR quite a bit you know).
Just by practicing bunny hops today I feel like I made some progress, I've got that technique from BMX as a kid of course, just not the height yet.
Before on SPD when doing drops, I'd just lift the front wheel in the normal way to land flat, but was wondering on way home if it would be better to hop off them instead as far as keeping feet on pedals go?
Other thing about bunny hops, saddle height, mine's at normal height for commuting, no dropper unfortunately, I guess that might limit height I could get hopping?
Does bike weight play much part in bunny hop height? How high can you BH a 12.5kg bike for instance?
Cheers!
& one day I hope to treat myself to Jedi skills course.
What flats technique? Been riding SPD since I got back into cycling (stopped after teens, restarted early 30's).
It's the bit where you learn how to do all this the best way 😉
It's also potentially different to SPD riding and some kind of skills/coaching kind of answers your questions
How high can you BH a 12.5kg bike for instance?
Whats your skills like? Take a look at Danny Mackaskil on his trial bike.
Even with SPD's it's taken me longer to forget the bad technique and things I learnt/taught myself/bodged than it did to learn the right/best technique.
Making a change to your riding like this is a great time to go back to some basics with a decent skills coach. Go in with an open mind and it can blow your mind.