Cycling in Flip-Flops
I took the toeclips off my Saluki today, so I could cycle in flip-flops while this stretch of warm weather lasts. I’d been riding the 420 bike clip-free for a while, but this is the first time in years I’ve gone without toeclips on a really nice bike. Frankly, it feels great, and I think I’m gonna leave the clips off for a while.
In the Rivendell catalogue, there’s usually an article called something like “Clipless Rivendell style,” in which Grant Peterson talks about the benefits of riding with your feet free to move around. He points out that the loss of efficiency from not being tied to your pedals is very slight and suggests that there may even be some gain from being able to push with the bottom, not just the ball, of your foot.
On my morning ride today, I didn’t feel any slower than usual; even climbing up Pike street seemed no harder than it does when I’m attached to my pedals.
What I like best about riding without clips is that it emphasizes comfort. I am not in the Tour de France; I eschew suffering on the bike; I rarely ride, as Phil Liggett puts it, “like a man possessed.” In fact, it makes me feel all smug to be pedaling happily down the road in my flip-flops while Spandex-clad race-wannabes huff by grunting and groaning, their feet surgically implanted with metal clips onto their carbon-fiber cranks.
When I did the “Pedaling Philosophy Tour” from Seattle to San Francisco a couple years ago, I hooked up for a few hours on the road this patchouili-scented Swedish kid who was cycling from Prudhomme Bay to Tierra del Fuego. He wore Birkenstocks and had clip-free pedals. At the time, I thought this was just hippie overkill. But now, I think he was on to something and I say, with apologies to Karl Marx:
Cyclists, free your feet! You have nothing to lose but your clips!
In the Rivendell catalogue, there’s usually an article called something like “Clipless Rivendell style,” in which Grant Peterson talks about the benefits of riding with your feet free to move around. He points out that the loss of efficiency from not being tied to your pedals is very slight and suggests that there may even be some gain from being able to push with the bottom, not just the ball, of your foot.
On my morning ride today, I didn’t feel any slower than usual; even climbing up Pike street seemed no harder than it does when I’m attached to my pedals.
What I like best about riding without clips is that it emphasizes comfort. I am not in the Tour de France; I eschew suffering on the bike; I rarely ride, as Phil Liggett puts it, “like a man possessed.” In fact, it makes me feel all smug to be pedaling happily down the road in my flip-flops while Spandex-clad race-wannabes huff by grunting and groaning, their feet surgically implanted with metal clips onto their carbon-fiber cranks.
When I did the “Pedaling Philosophy Tour” from Seattle to San Francisco a couple years ago, I hooked up for a few hours on the road this patchouili-scented Swedish kid who was cycling from Prudhomme Bay to Tierra del Fuego. He wore Birkenstocks and had clip-free pedals. At the time, I thought this was just hippie overkill. But now, I think he was on to something and I say, with apologies to Karl Marx:
Cyclists, free your feet! You have nothing to lose but your clips!
posted by Professor Dave at 11:17 AM
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