If you live in the Seattle area, this smoke thing we’ve got going on may be a pretty serious impediment to any outdoor riding plans you’ve got going. It is for me, unfortunately. My lungs just can’t hack this stuff, so I’m (blecch) riding inside.
If you’re good to go in this stuff, though? Right on. You might even be racing this weekend. There’s a wee bit of that still going on, eh?
If you’re racing, have fun go fast.
Not racing this weekend? Not deterred by the smoke of a million trees?
Well, get out there and ride.
Put in some serious miles if you can.
Go long.
The next month or so is your opportunity to build up the deep base of fitness that you need to carry you through the long winter of cyclocross…
…in which the short, intense race day efforts and subsequent recovery make it difficult to get in any kind of long miles.
So, take advantage of the summer weather, and get out there and ride your ass off this month.
What should you be doing?
In short, think long.
Ride a lot.
I mean, it’s nice out, right? It’s fun to ride for 4, 5, even 6 hours when it’s not too hot and not raining.
Long doesn’t mean slow.
Traditionally, this is time of the season when the big-time Euro-cross racers are out on the road clogging up the gruppetto in week long stage races. They aren’t in these races to win them, they’re in them to get pushed to greater levels of fitness by stringing long days of hard effort together, in a way that’s always been tough to do riding just by yourself.
“Tough” doesn’t mean impossible.
I mean, sure… you aren’t going to go out and get a Tour de Luxembourg level of training out of your hard weekend of riding, but if you follow the principles that underlie the intent of these week-long training races, you can probably do better than you’re doing now, and set yourself up for success in the fall.
So, what is that intent?
Let’s start with this; It’s incredibly difficult to make profound physiological improvements in your underlying, base-level fitness during cross season.
Can you and should you get faster during the course of a season?
Absolutely. But…
You race hard every weekend. If you’re doing it right, you’re spending most of the following week recovering from the weekend past & getting opened up for the weekend next.
You can do some small work mid-week to improve deficiencies or hone strengths, but you really can’t do the kind of work that it takes to bump your FTP enough to get to the front of the group you raced in last season, to be competitive at the next category level , or to win one of those races you’ve been sooo close in for sooo long.
The kind of work we’re talking about is the sort that if you did it on a Wednesday, you’d be way off the back come the weekend, and that’s assuming you could take a day off to do it mid-week and still be free to race on the weekend.
Sound likely? I didn’t think so.
Now, though? No such problems.
Want to be stronger this cross season? Spend your weekends for the next month or so doing long, hard, fast training rides.
This isn’t long, slow distance eating we’re talking about, this is “Oh crap, how the hell am I going to finish this ride” kinda stuff. These are the rides where you barely manage to drag your ass in the door of your house when you get home. The rides where, when you get home you need to drink a coke to summon the energy needed to order takeout.
4, 5, 6 hours of glorious suffering. That’s what we’re talking about.
Try one this Saturday. Then wake up Sunday, do it again. Give me a few weeks of this, and you’ll be really, really strong.
Then we can start to work on making you fast…
M
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In general, the theme of that post holds true just about every Friday; what you do today is dependent on what you’re going to do over the weekend.
If you live up in the Seattle area, like I do, this weekend is going to be… interesting.
Not only are there fighter planes buzzing around, a s**t ton of road closures, and record high temperatures, there’s also a smoke haze filling the sky that makes riding outside feel just a bit like doing laps of a Grateful Dead concert, circa 1970, with a Webber grill strapped onto your back.
Not great.
Personally speaking, my lungs can’t handle it. After a bunch of deliberation, I forced myself to ride inside yesterday, and I still woke up today feeling like the wrong side of an ashtray.
Now, granted; I’ve got a pretty bad case of exercise induced asthma like symptoms, and smoke is one of my triggers. I have no business trying to ride even halfway hard in this kind of stuff.
But it ain’t good for anyone to push it when air quality is bad.
So, live in this area? Be careful this weekend. Don’t overdo it. Just not worth it.
Rather than those long outside rides that you’d like to be doing, maybe cut it short and do something inside with a fan blowing on you, or -even better – in an air conditioned room. If you’ve got one of those, I’m officially jealous.
Still thinking about riding outside this weekend?
Do the following workout. If your lungs are bugging you when you’re done, or when you wake up in the AM, you’ll know better.
Ignition (full) –
You’re going to do a series of short, hard sprints midway through a 1 – 1 1/2 hour ride.
You’re also going to do 10-minute effort at right about your 2×20 output level before you start the sprint sets.
Before you head out the door, give some thought to where you can do that effectively.
A flat, straight, low-traffic section of road is what you’re looking for.
It would be great if it’s about a :45 minute ride away; that would make things nice and simple.
Hop on your bike and roll out the door.
Ride steady, at a moderate pace for 1/2 hour – 45 minutes, eventually winding up at the aforementioned stretch of road.
Ten minutes hard, then recover for 5 minutes.
You’re now going to do a series of – guess what? – Hard out of the saddle sprints.
How hard?
Well, hard to say. You’ll start to get the hang of it pretty quickly, but figure that you’re shooting for an output level that will allow you to crank out all the sprints in the set at about the same level, but not easily.
You aren’t sprinting to failure here, and you aren’t doing a max power test.
Don’t overdo it, you’re trying to open your legs, not destroy them.
Make sense?
10 sprints, 10 seconds each.
1 minute between each sprint.
After the last sprint, roll back home spinning easily to recover.
Budget at least 15 – 20 minutes for the spin/ride back home.
Well, it’s another Wednesday here at the CXWOTD, and as per usual, that means we’re doing some kind of skill oriented thing today.
It’s still really, really damn early in the pre-season calendar, so we’re going to continue taking baby steps with the skills work.
This is refresher course type stuff, but I don’t care how good you are – or how good you think you are – starting with the basics is the way to go.
Especially in freaking July.
So bear with us, and try – really try – to dial this stuff in. Force yourself to go slow enough to nail the minute details that make good form happen.
Slow in July, and you’ll be fast in season.
I promise.
On with the workout!
1 – warm up for 10 minutes.
2 – Stretch out after you’re warm.
Pay special attention to all the muscles used in those movements you make hopping on and off the bike that are different from what you usually do (We’ve talked about stretching on here in the past, check out the search function if you want/need some more info.)
3 – Dismount/remount skills for 5-10-15 minutes (depends how rusty/crappy you are. Do more of these, less of everything else if you need to.)
– Start at literally a walking pace, and slowly increase speed until you can mount and dismount the bike smoothly and perfectly at full speed. Do not jump on and off the bike, you are looking to smoothly slide yourself on and off.
Do just the most basic dismount/remount as per above until you have it down cold, smooth as silk.
When you’re perfect (hah!) throw some barriers into the mix.
– Again, start at a super, super slow speed.
– Approach the barrier, dismount smooth as silk.
– Step over the barrier, paying attention to how you lift the bike, and how you place your feet.
– Remount.
Smoooooth….
– Start with a single barrier, move to a double, and keep going slow until you have things wired. Then, speed things up until you aren’t smooth, back it down 1 notch, and make keep it there.
Smooooooth.
(If you don’t have barriers, anything will do. Use a log, put a stick on the ground – whatever.)
4 – Figure eight drill.
Set up 2 cones or 2 rocks or two – somethings, whatever – on the side of a slightly sloping hill. One up hill, one down, about 5-8 meters apart.
Ride in a figure eight pattern around the cones…
– first pedaling the entire time.
No coasting.
Pedal the corners & the downhill.
Practice using the brakes while still pedaling. This is one of those secret techniques that – once you figure it out – makes a huge difference. When you stop pedaling you lose traction, so don’t stop. You can break and pedal at the same time, sometimes.
Experiment with this, it can be a game-changer.
Try different speeds, different lines, different angles.
See when/how/why/what works, and what doesn’t.
Take it slow and have fun.
We’ll build on this basic drill a lot in the next couple of weeks/months.
Well it’s Tuesday, and you know what that means, right?
Nope!
As I wrote a few days back, you’re going to see some different stuff up here this season. I’m going to throw some of the workouts I’ve been prescribing to my (directly) coached athletes the past couple/few years up here.
Just ’cause.
Can’t do the same damn thing year after year, eh?
So, today?
VOMax intervals.
Be forewarned, these bastards ain’t easy.
For some folks, this will be a welcome change from the Classic 2×20 workout. Shorter/harder chunks makes for a variability that just works better for certain people. Others? Not so much.
You’ll probably figure out which camp you’re in pretty quickly. Regardless of where you wind up on that dividing line, keep at it. These things work.
Note that I’m using FTP as a basis for output level here. Frankly, this isn’t a workout that’s easy to do without some kind of power meter on your bike, and even with that, you’re probably best off doing this on a trainer. Or at least on a completely vacant road where you aren’t going to jam your face through the tailgate of a truck because you’re looking down the whole time you’re cranking out the watts…
Don’t have a power meter?
You can still give this a shot, but it’ll be guesswork at best. Drill it, then chill it. Repeat. You’ll see what I mean…
VOmax(pain) 12/50
Warm up
Warm Up: 20 min @ 40 % of FTP throw a couple of efforts at or > ftp in during warm up to make sure you’re ready
As per usual, it’s Monday, and on Monday we get in some recovery from the hard work of the weekend, to prepare ourselves for the week to come.
We go for a nice, relaxing…
Recovery Spin –
– Get on your bike. Roll out into the street – or into your living room if you’re on the turbo watching the vid – and just spin around for an hour. Or more. Or less. Whatever it takes.
– Really small gear, no hard efforts – heck, no medium effort.
– Spin. You’re looking to move your legs around in circles, almost like there is no chain on the bike.
– The idea is to get your body moving, flush the systems out, and speed your recovery.
– Just get out on the road and spin easily and aimlessly. At a certain point, your legs will start to loosen up.
– When that happens, turn around and go home.
– If you’re doing these on the trainer, same deal. Just spin. No hard efforts, just make the legs go around in circles in a small gear.
– Follow up with as much relaxation as you can. Eat, stretch, and put your legs up. Get a massage if possible.
Back to the Monday spin video tradition, today San Sebastian style. Great finale to this race, fantastic teamwork by team Sky.
Sorry about the lack of a workout yesterday! I woke up to the much-loved Windows Blue Screen Of Death. Yay!
Needless to say, that put a crimp in the blogging plans for the day.
Fingers crossed, things seem to be working more or less ok now. Onward!
It’s Sunday, it’s July, it’s the time of the year when the days are long, the weather is nice, and the thing to do is head out on the bike and get some long miles in.
It’s the time of the year for something like a….
Jacky Day.
This is a good general climbing and endurance workout that will stretch you a fair bit longer than anything you’re ever going to see out on the cross courses.
Heck, this is about as hard and sustained as you’ll ever see in a road race.
In fact, what we’re trying to do is, essentially, simulate a day off the front of a road race.
Ouch.
Select a route that will enable you to hit at least 3 climbs of 5-10 minutes or so each, with flat to rolling terrain in between. If your local climbs aren’t that long, try and do more shorter ones. If hills are longer… well, cool. Just don’t turn this into an all-out climbing day, ok?
Warm up well, at least 20-30 minutes before you hit the first climb.
Climbs should be hard but steady.
Start medium hard (not full gas!) and try and hold it the whole climb.
Drive it over the top, and roll down the descent. Visualize a prime at the bottom of each descent, and a chase pack nipping at your heels. Don’t sit up at the top of the climbs,stay on the gas all the way down and through.
In between climbs, keep it steady.
You want to stay on top of a pretty big gear, at a level that is below threshold, but not that far below.
If you’re a power meter type, with an ftp of 265, you would want to try and average about 200 watts between the climbs and 300 on the climbs.
Not a PM type? Try and go about 90% on the climbs, and just over 50% between the climbs.
Remember, 3 climbs of 10 minutes, or the equivalent. With a warm up of 15-20 minutes, and a cool down of about the same, this would be just about perfect for a 2.5 hour ride.
Got more time? Rest after the 3rd climbing effort, repeat the cycle.
It’s better to keep the intensity up than to go longer. Remember, we aren’t resting between climbs, we’re dieseling along in a big gear.
Visualize yourself driving an all-day breakaway, and you get the idea…
Have fun, and think to yourself, as you’re rolling along…
“What would Jacky do?”
M
PS… this is a hard workout. Depending on your schedule, and what you did yesterday, it might be a bit much. Might also toast you for tomorrow, so be warned, ok?
Week two, day 5, which means it’s Friday. Which is always a tough day to prescribe a generic workout.
Frankly, I’ve got no idea at all what your weekend plans look like, and what you should do today is predicated almost entirely upon what you’re planning to do the next couple of days.
Going hard this weekend?
Should probably take it easy today.
Gotta’ work tomorrow, or got stuff other than cycling to do?
Maybe get some intervals in on the trainer today.
Racing tomorrow or Sunday?
Damn well better be thinking about that today!
If you’ve been following along here in previous years, you’ve heard this spiel before. Heck, if you read last Friday’s post you’ve already heard the “light” version of it.
But it bears repeating. Again.
If you want to get better, don’t just go out and ride, ride with intention.
Every time you swing a leg over the bike, have some idea of what you’re going to do that day. Even if what you’re doing is “just” having fun, or “just” riding with some friends, the group, etc.
Honestly, that’s an especially important thing to be clear on.
If you’re just going out to have some fun, just have some damn fun. That’s a more than OK goal for a ride, in a lot of ways it’s as good as it gets.
This is, ultimately, about having fun.
Just don’t get it twisted.
If you’re headed out on a group ride, don’t meet up with them thinking that you’re going to somehow subject the whole crew to your scheduled interval session, or your zone 3 limit.
It’ll suck for all of you.
Enjoy the ride for what it is, don’t make it something it isn’t.
‘Nuff said?
End sermon.
So, workout today?
Yeesh. After all that?
I dunno man, how about something to do it you don’t have any big plans tomorrow?
How about some…
Short Hill Repeats…
You want to do these on a climb that has you right on the edge of being over-geared.
There are a couple of ways to do this…
– big-ring-able, but just at the edge of being a small ring climb.
– small ring, but with steep or variable terrain or both.
Each effort should take 5 – 10 seconds or so, which tells you how long the climb needs to be.
Maybe a little bit larger than that.
Now we’re talking.
Warm up for approx. 1/2 hour, then roll on up to the base of the climb you have selected.
Begin your intervals with an out of the saddle, full race-pace ATTACK into the climb.
You’re looking to blast up the climb, full gas the whole way.
It’s perfectly OK to sit down 1/2 -3/4 of way through the effort – especially if you need to do so to maintain traction – but don’t let the intensity drop.
Try to maintain your intensity for the duration of interval.
You’re going to recover for 30 seconds between each rep, and then 2-5 minutes between sets.
5 reps. per set.
Minimum of 5 sets. Hopefully more.
If you can do more than 5, great… but try to maintain the level of output you had on your first set.
If you have a power meter, you’re done when the wattage you can maintain throughout the set drops off the edge of the table; that’ll be pretty obvious when it happens.
If the power comes back after you recover for a couple of minutes, then you’re not done. You’re done when it doesn’t come back, make sense?
Welcome back! It’s week two, day 4 of the CX Workout of the day, and today we’re talking a bit about running.
We’re doing cyclocross, which means ya gotta’ run, at least a wee small bit, so might as well talk about it. And maybe train that aspect of your game. A wee small bit.
Running can be a drag if you haven’t been doing much of it, or even any of it for a while. If that sounds like you, check out this post from last week.
For the vast majority of people reading this, what I outlined in that piece probably holds true today. What you should be doing is some variation on the theme of “run down to the end of the block and then back”.
If that’s where you are at with your running don’t try and pretend you’re at some other point and go out and flog yourself today. As discussed in the link, if you do that you’re likely to hurt yourself or at least put yourself on the couch for a few days.
That would be sub optimal.
So don’t do it, ok?
But we still want you to run, and eventually it would be good to build up to the point where you can run pretty quickly for at least a short while, like in a cross race.
Short.
Like in a cross race.
How far do we run in a cross race?
Not very far at all, and not for very long.
So maybe we can train by doing short bits of running.
That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?
Like, maybe something that even a giant-quadded road sprinter could handle?
Specificity, right? Get good at what you actually need to do, which in this case is run a really short distance uphill.
There’s a nice bonus to this.
If you’re doing really short runs, you can pretty much run every day.
When I say “short” I’m talking maybe ten-15 minutes.
Do you ever run more than that in a race?
NO!
And ten minutes ain’t much.
Most people can find a way to shoehorn ten minutes into their schedule to literally run down to the end of the block. And back.
And we’re talking about building up to that!
Give five minutes to your running today and tomorrow.
Then 6 minutes on the third day.
Then 7 the next.
Then 8.
See the pattern?
Do this for a week or so – stopping before you start to get sore, every time – and then we can throw something a little bit harder into the mix.
**********
Oh.
You’re already for something a bit harder?
OK.
You got it. Today we do some…
Stairing.
First, figure out where you can do the workout. Since we’re going to be running stairs, you probably need some stairs…
…or a small hill, or a grassy knoll – something you can run up. Stairs are best, but whatever you can come up with will work.
You don’t need NFL stadium stairs or anything crazy like that. Look for something that’s long enough to give you 10 seconds of running at a full sprint; That’ll be plenty long enough. We’re doing speed work, here. Short, sharp efforts.
Got a location?
Cool.
Get on your bike and warm up for 15 minutes or so. Maybe ride on out to wherever you’re doing these.
Mosey on over to your stairs/knoll/whatever, and get set. Stretch, have a sip of water, turn up the volume on your Ipod.
Jog up the stairs. Walk down.
Get a sense for the spacing and “feel” of the stairs. You’re going to be flying up these things in a full-on lactic acid bath shortly, so you want to get comfortable with the terrain so you don’t have any… problems…
– Repeat x5
– Sprint! up stairs, fast, using whatever stride is most comfortable. Walk down.
– Repeat x5
Rest for 1 minute, walking slowly up and down stairs.
– Sprint up stairs, this time using quick, tiny strides, 1 stairstep at a time. Walk down.
– Repeat x5
Rest again, same as before.
– Sprint up stairs, this time using long strides, several stairsteps at a time. Walk down.
– Repeat x 5
Rest again.
– Sprint up stairs, combining the previous two exercises – 1st time up, long strides; next time up, short strides, etc. Walk down.
Rest again, 2-5 minutes.
If this is your first time running stairs this season, that’s it. You’re done. Feel free – heck, feel obligated to stop early if you have any tweaks, twinges, or strange feelings in your legs.*
If you’ve got some running miles in ya’ already, repeat the entire damn thing until you just can’t do it anymore, or until you are going so slowly it’s ridiculous.
Get back on bike, spin out your legs, go home.
Notes –
The idea here is to get good enough at this to go really damn hard. If you do this right, it’s a brutal workout.
Don’t go that hard if it’s your first (or nearly first) time running stairs this season. Keep it under control. You want to build up to the point where you are going up the stairs in a dead sprint, and are completely gassed at the end of each set.
We’re going to do this exercise – or a variation of it – every week for a while, so be patient. You will get better at it, and I will throw in some variations that will keep it fun and challenging, including some agility and lateral stability drills. Stay tuned!
Enjoy!
M
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It’s the time of the year where I – once again – whip out the post I wrote a while back on the old in-and-out.
Enjoy…
The Hokey-Pokey Redux, Redux. And Redux again.
(or, left foot in, left foot out, that is what it’s all about.)
Fair warning: this is about as dweebish as it gets. It’s also (largely) a re-write of a post from previous seasons. If you find yourself actually wanting to read more on the subject, and similar subjects,
enter “Wednesday” into the search box on the lower right side of this page. If you wade through the posts that come up, you’ll find a pretty high volume of skills posts. Lots of words, some pretty
pictures.
Mostly words.
Anyways, onwards!
————————————————-
First, lets look at the Pedal/Shoe interface –
All of the clipless pedals commonly used for cyclocross operate on the same basic principles.
A cleat –
Is held in place in a pedal…
…by a hook at the front of the pedal, and a gate at the rear. *
The gate is spring-loaded, in an orientation that provides for extremely high resistance to force in the vertical plane, and extremely low resistance in the horizontal.
The cleat/pedal interface is designed so that lateral or medial rotation of the foot overcomes the spring tension holding the gate portion of the pedal in place, releasing the cleat and allowing for vertical disengagement.
The factors that limit the proper functioning of the pedal in release mode are these –
– Force necessary to overcome spring tension of gate
Can the lateral/medial motion of the foot produce enough force to overcome the spring tension of the gate?
– Range Of Motion (ROM)
Can the foot produce a wide enough range of lateral/medial motion to overcome the spring tension of the gate?
– Resistance multipliers
The resistance of the pedal gate to lateral/medial motion is designed to be low, but several factors can cause substantial increases in the actual force necessary to release from the pedal. For EG –
– Contamination by foreign media
Mud, grit, crap of all sorts in pedals/shoes can jam spring mechanism
– Out of plane cleat motion in act of release
If the foot/cleat is pronated/supinated in the attempt to release from the pedal, it introduces a vertical force component to the cleat/pedal interface, causing potentially significant increases in overall force necessary to trigger disengagement.
OK?
Now, the body –
The rider triggers release from the pedal by rotating the foot medially or laterally –
(Generally speaking, we always try to release using medial rotation. There are lots of sharp spinning parts providing a disincentive for release motions that lean in towards the bike.)
Medial rotation of the foot is a result of medial/internal rotation of the hip
knee,
…some combination of the two, or rotation of the entire body.
The range of these rotational joint moments is limited. Here are some observed norms, if you’re interested –
What the hell does this have to do with cyclocross?
Bear with me.
When we dismount the bike, We’re trying to get off (the bike)
– Quickly
– smoothly
– efficiently
– without hitting the deck
Knowing how the mechanics of the pedal/shoe interface and the related body parts function, we can think logically about how best to do this.
Here’s how I described a super-basic “Cowboy” dismount in a previous post –
1. Unclip right foot.
2. swing right foot over saddle, behind left leg.
3. Left foot stays clipped in. Right side of leg/ass braces against saddle.
4. r hand leaves bar, braces on top tube.
5. Coast in this position.
6. left foot unclips.
7. DROP to ground. Do not step down, right foot is totally passive. Simply drop to ground as you unclip left foot.
Here’s why the dismount breaks down this way, with reference to everything above…
1. Unclip right foot.
Gotta start somewhere, right?
2. swing right foot over saddle, behind left leg.
We’re doing this “cowboy” style. More on the “step through” style later…
3(a). Left foot stays clipped in.
…more on this later.
3(b). Right side of leg/ass braces against saddle.
Bracing the right side of the leg against the top tube stabilizes the body in a position that will allow for sufficient ROM to disengage from the pedal, and provides for an additional point of contact with the bike, increasing control of the bike during the dismount.
4. r hand leaves bar, braces on top tube.
bracing the hand on the top tube reinforces vertical stability of the body, helping to control the tendency of the foot to supinate
during medial rotation. Hand on top tube also helps to control bike, facilitates shouldering/portaging after dismount.
5. Coast in this position.
We use this coasting phase to sight the dismount and to prepare for…
6. left foot unclips.
The body is held stable, in alignment, and within the ROM necessary to release the cleat from the pedal. There should be no difficulty with release unless resistance multipliers are present…
7. DROP to ground. Do not step down, right foot is totally passive. Simply drop to ground as you unclip left foot.
The key is dropping to the ground after cleat disengagement.
By suspending the body in the correct position using the hands and hip (per 1-4 above,) we facilitate the conditions necessary for safe disengagement.
Attempting to step towards the ground, or dismount motions of the body disturbing the established equilibrium can and will result in an increased likelihood of a failure to disengage, and subsequent danger of crash/collision.
————————————————–
Whatever controversy there is regarding the method of dismount I describe here appears largely to append to my “don’t unclip the left foot first” recommendation.
Please allow me to emphasize that I do advocate releasing the foot prior to making any sort of “exiting the bike” motion. I do not, however, teach the method taught by many, espoused by nearly all of the East-Coast luminaries, and described (excellently) by Adam Myerson in his blog.
Here’s what Adam wrote in the comments section of an earlier post on the topic –
…I advocate clipping out of the left first when you have time to do so, and don’t need to be on the gas all the way to the dismount point. It’s much easier to step off a bike you’re not still attached to.
I advocate staying clipped in on the left when you have to pedal all the way up to the dismount point, and when you’re not stepping through.
I advocate stepping through ONLY when clipped out of the left already, and when you have ample speed and coasting time to take the extra time needed to step through.
Option 1 works every time, in every condition, and I consider it the default.
Respectfully.
I think -at the most basic level- we agree where it really counts.
Unclip before you begin any motion that leads to or constitutes “stepping off” of the bike.
I can understand why the “Unclip before stepping over” approach works, and is popular with many riders. It’s a good way to get off the bike.
I don’t use it myself, and therefore I don’t teach it.
Why don’t I use it?
As explained well in the Cycle-Sport Blog post, this dismount method -while very effective – is not universally applicable, and is not optimal under conditions such as “…uphill dismounts, deep mud, last minute dismounts….” (I would also add sand to the list.)
Believe it or not (and I know I’m straining credulity writing this after forcing you to wade through this ridiculous post,) I’m all about simplicity.
If I can teach one technique that works all the time, or two techniques, one of which only works most of the time, I’m going with the one that works all the time.
Honestly, though?
I think this may largely be an East-Coast/West Coast thing. The main reason I don’t use the “unclip first” method is because I learned early on that on the rutty, crappy, chuckhole infested minefield disaster courses of Seattle in the 90′s, if you tried to ride into a barrier hanging off the side of the bike balanced on an unclipped pedal, you were pretty likely to get bounced off the pedal, and flat onto your ass.
It just wasn’t a good default position for the courses out here, and really… it still probably isn’t.
Above all else, figure out what works best for the the courses *you* ride on, practice it, wire it, and go fast.
Nothing wrong with either approach, just…
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* Yeah, yeah, I know… “what about crank bros, Speedplay, Time, etc.”?
The details are slightly different, but in all the commonly used “mountain bike” pedals, the function of the pedal still follows the same basic formula.
** ”What about the “step through?”
Save that thought. We’ll get there.
*** “Hey! What about a workout for today!?!?!*
Oh yeah. That.
Get on your bike. Go find a grassy field.
Practice clipping and unclipping, giving extra consideration to all the stuff above.
Everybody can always stand to get this stuff more wired in, especially this early in the (pre) season.
Have fun,
M
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