Calm before I storm, coasting towards the ladder at a walking pace, a sudden lunge is all I need to roll silkily up the steep wooden ramp and continue my ascent. It’s a feature I’ve climbed a plethora of times over the ages, but it’s only a few years back that I would have told you I’d never be able to do it without being clipped into my pedals.

I can’t match the brute antagonism I could generate in the past with my stiff soles, bolted-on cleats, and ‘clipless’ pedal mechanisms. But at the top, I can’t help but smile. I’m no John Fredlund but every once in a while, I too can ride my bike so soft and smooth that it’s like I have kittens for feet. 

After over two decades of riding predominantly locked-in, It’s been about three years since I’ve used clip-in pedals on any bicycle. I’m riding flats on my commuter/gravel rig, any hardtail or full suspension bike I’m reviewing, and my single-speed. And I had to laugh a bit reading a few thoughts that I had on #1FG & flat pedal experience back in August, 2020. It turns out, shock of shocks, that I only needed an annum or three of more practice to get halfway decent at it. 

Contrary to most recommendations, the soles of my favourite shoes, for much of the year, aren’t super-super-sticky. When it’s properly dank & damp in the trees I’ll at least think about a tackier option but even then I’ll usually pop on my Crankbrothers Stamp shoes with their Match rubber. Plenty of grip when combined with good riding technique, but the ability to adjust my foot position any time I want. 

I contrast that with full-traction options like Giro Tack or Five Ten Stealth which offer more passive grip but also a more wedded-to-the-pedal experience that really requires me to put my feet down just right to begin with. It does help that I move between three excellent pairs of pedals – Wolf Tooth Waveforms, NSBillet Daemons, and the Pembree D2A pedals I’ve been using lately on the #1FG bike. 

One note about the D2A is that I swapped out the rear pins on my trailing foot for some longer Squidworx pins. I find the asymmetric setup makes a big difference to keeping my rear foot engaged when descending janky trails. 

High-posting is also relegated to the past riding a single-speed with flat pedals up anything that’s properly steep and or loose and or technical. Drop that saddle. There’s just so much more traction to be found on the flat pedals when I can move around the bike. That’s true both with the very long rear center of my Waltworks V2 and the ultra-short rear center of the Enigma I’ve been riding. Dropper posts, for uphill and down. 

My gearing is a bit lighter, my cadence a bit faster, and I certainly can’t be lazy, but there‘s only the odd section of previously conquered trail that still defeats me on flats. Doesn’t stop me trying. I’m absolutely still progressing even three years later, so I don’t ever say never anymore. Plus, the rest of the time my technique is dialled comparatively such that I often feel much more confident floating janky uphill sections than I did clipped.

I still note to anyone who will listen, once I checked my ego and accepted I wouldn’t be quite as quick up or down, riding my simple bike, every bike, on flat pedals is simply more fun. And I think most folks I ride with regularly would tell you that at this point they no longer notice a performance difference in either direction. 

Quitting clip-ins cold turkey is difficult. It’s not that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, it just takes us a lot longer to dial it in. After three months I was competent, after a year I was definitely having more fun most of the time, and three years later I’m divesting myself of the last of my clip-in shoes and pedals. I mean, it’s been three years?!

Climbing steep techy single-track #1FG with flat pedals sucks infinitely less than I previously claimed. In fact, I love it. If you’re going to switch to simple-speeding, might as well run the simplest pedal interface as well?