Ha! I feel so smartass lvl up! I’m a regular internet bloke and I figured it out myself. I was just pounding this concept into some blokes head on pinkbike, less than a month ago!

Totaly agree, and I mean you can feel it on uphills as well, it’s so much easier to do a track stand or just pedal slowly when looking for a line. It is way better to stall for a moment, look and then move on,rather than just sprint into something only to put the foot down and get off the bike due to bad line choice. I mean this an argument that should get into XCers head looking for performance enhancement.

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Good info here. Thanks for sharing!

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Good interview!…..Anybody who has tried flats will quickly realize that the foot has a much broader range of movement on the bike. Similar to what all these new shoes offer, flats allow you to pronate your foot inward as you pedal forward preventing misuse knee injury.

My wife happens to have a masters in PT and the first thing she taught me many years ago was to walk correctly after 3 knee surgeries. She is a big proponent of these softer shoes and has taught numerous patients to do the same thereby relieving their knee pain.

When you walk/bike in such a manner your tib fib aligns with your femur correctly thereby preventing knee pain by creating more shock absorption. This in a nutshell is why I love flats and so glad you turned them on to me!!!

I’ll see if I can get my wife to comment on this so everybody can understand the mechanics better.

Thanks!

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bikejames Reply:
January 31st, 2012 at 12:28 pm

Thanks for sharing your experience, I’d love for your wife to post any additional info she may have.

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Excellent interview. I can attest to the benefits of going barefoot. I wore orthotics for over 20 years and was under the impression I just had “bad feet”. I was fitted for them after a tennis related foot injury and became so physically dependent on them over the years that I couldn’t walk barefoot around the house for more than an hour without becoming crippled with foot pain. A few years ago, after reading “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall, I realized much of what was mentioned in the book sounded familiar to the experiences I had had leading up to my original foot injury. My podiatrist had basically put my foot in a cast that never came off. My feet weren’t “bad”, they were just very weak. Over the course of several months I weaned myself from the orthotics. My feet have now been orthotic, and more importantly, pain free for over two years. Not only that, but I can absolutely contest to an increase in balance and agility on the tennis court (I do wear minimalist-type tennis shoes when I play). And yes I do ride flats…

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I enjoyed the interview, thanks for posting it. I’m still not sure I get how the actual technique of riding flats differs from clips in regards to the actual foot. I’m fully committed to spend some serious time on my new flats, because I do believe it will help teach me some things about my riding. However, I’m not sure I get the barefoot part yet. Maybe I’m just being dense… On the other hand, I have been having serious tightness and pain in the outside of my lower legs (mainly while SSing which I haven’t done in a while), and I’m partly hoping the larger platform of the flat pedals might relieve some of those problems.

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Shoes hinder how our feet work. As children its better to let them go barefoot to build the muscles. Our shoes wear in to our feet and if we wear our shoes wrong that will also hurt our feet and the rest of our body. What He said about the receptors is so interesting !! My though about the difference in clips and flats is that many clips are just the hardware for the clip, the flats are a larger flat surface. Just my thought. So the flat gives a large flat surface.

I am all for flats!! I love them and wont go back to clips.

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Nice interview.

The part about the brain perceiving foot restriction as a threat
made a lot of sense to me.

That “tightening up” Andy described is how I’ve always felt when riding
clipless. I feel somewhat vindicated… its not “just me” but how a normal body/brain
should respond to having its movement restricted.

Flats for life!

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Hi James, I am a final year physiotherapy student from Britain. i started a blog today to give some general advice regarding injuries and some preventative tips. this podcast is fascinating and does have some close links to what i was talking about in my first post.
keep up the good work, you continue to give me ideas relating to my rehab process with patients
Adam

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Hi James,
So, Crocodile breathing,
Interesting. I find I CAN breathe into the stomach and yes I am getting more air for sure, but it feels like I am having th let go of my ab’ recruitment to let the belly drop on the bike. How can I protect my lower back whilst releasing my belly like this? I am sure it must be possible but do you have any queues please James. I am thinking back to the Saurai book you recommended “the rings”? And how he proposed that one should always old the stomach as if about to be punched down there!

Thanks for bringing new life to my biking
Neil

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bikejames Reply:
February 5th, 2012 at 8:19 am

If you notice on my video I posted about fixing your hip hinge movement I had Chad send his breath to his lower back and obliques, not his belly button. Belly breathing may be a bit misleading – you need to breath into the belly but don’t just relax the abs and let the belly push out. It is more about sending the breath into the lower back and sides and feeling the sides push out, not the belly button. When you can do that then you can keep tension in the core to protect the spine while belly breathing.

It takes practice and won’t happen right away. That is why I have my clients start off each training session with 10-15 crocodile breathes before warming up – I can explain it and show them once but they won’t “get it” for a while.

Hope this helps, glad my info has helped you enjoy riding more.

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Finally took your advice and got a pair of 5 10′s with flat pedals. After a couple of rides I’ve noticed my right foot is solidly stuck to the pedal but my left foot has been occasionally slipping. Any ideas on how to fix? Skills wise(betterride alum) everything works the same as being clipped except the real wheel lift. Found I’ve been cheating by being clipped in and struggled at first getting the wheel up.

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bikejames Reply:
February 7th, 2012 at 10:36 am

Make sure that you are dropping your heels, especially the left foot. Odds are the clipless pedals have taught you to ride on your toes with your foot pointed down, which will cause your foot to slip off without the false attachment point on the pedals.

Also, split squats are one of the best exercises to fix that so make sure you are doing them in your program.

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