So, as some of you know, I got bicycles for myself and Cris – and I’ve been teaching her how to ride. The goal is to be able to get Cris’ riding up to a level where she and I (and other friends) can join the Tour of the Fireflies next month.
We started yesterday at the AHS field where she was able to ride in a few hours. 1 Of course, mostly just keeping herself from falling. But still, she’s learning from an MTB which is much more difficult for a beginner’s bike At rate she’s going; she’ll definitely make it.
Oh, nakapikit pa! Joke lang 😉Today was another day of riding for her; trying to ride straight and turn. But it was also my first day on riding with the cycling shoes I got. So both of us were in “student/training” mode a while ago.
Cris beat me; I fell hard thrice; 2 That’s what I get for laughing at her wearing leggings the other day whereas she only fell once (not even hard… and on a grassy area). What’s funny is that all my falls were when I was stationary or coming to a safe stop. How is that possible right?
Now just to give you an idea; I have an excellent sense of balance. I taught myself to ride as a kid without supervision and got it down in a few mins. 3 Okay, probably 10-30 mins My friends and I would do tricks during our BMX days, etc. So me falling off a bike is like me drowning; it just doesn’t happen. 4 Unless the road is slippery on a hard fast turn, etc. you know what I mean.
The reason: cycling shoes. I never knew how riding with cycling shoes could be so dangerous as it is advantageous.
For those who don’t know, cycling shoes are shoes which you screw in cleats on… these cleats are intended to be used with the pedals that come with the set. The purpose of the cleats is to literally lock your foot (shoe, to be exact) to the pedal… and you disengage the lock by twisting your feet a certain way. 5 with the lock as the pivot point, you twist your heels outward (or also inward if you’re on the dual-release types)
There are numerous advantages of locking your foot to the pedal:
- You can easily position your pedal if you have at least one shoe locked onto one pedal; this is best appreciated when properly setting a bike in motion.
- Once locked, you know your feet are in the optimal position for pedaling. You don’t have to adjust your foot placement while riding.
- The lock is very useful if you’re riding aggressively. Like when you try to pedal as hard and as fast as you can
- It’s also “safer” when you’re in really rough terrain, as the sudden bounces/shakes of the bike will never dislodge your feet.
The single, MAJOR disadvantage (which I learned the hard way) is that if you do not commit the “disengaging motion” to muscle-memory… you will fall. It’s very easy to disengage the shoes from the pedal if you’re aware and purposely doing it. But when you have to do emergency stops, or if you find yourself in a wierd angle (probably often when riding a trail) and your natural tendency is to simply stick your foot – forgetting that you need a certain motion to “unlock,” then you’re in trouble.
I’ve experienced this THRICE. And it’s quite embarrassing because from the eyes of someone who doesn’t know about cycling shoes, it really looks like you just let yourself fall without trying to do anything to prevent it. In short it will make you look like an idiot… and idiot in pain. At one point, I remember jokingly saying:
Damn these shoes; I paid about 8k so I can fucking bleed!
And bleed I did; as I didn’t have knee-pads on. Choosing to practice on a non-grassy area, and trying to save my bike before myself 6 Wounds heal, expensive bikes don’t didn’t help at all. But can you blame me? When you’re riding, you can feel the shoes really helping a lot… so you tend to want to try them everywhere – then forget about them when you actually have to stop. I’m only glad that my bike is intact… the only nicked portions are the edges of the handlebar handles… which could be remedied by buying new handles… once I get used to riding with cycling shoes.
I’m still looking forward to biking with the shoes though; I’m going to get used to riding with them even if it kills me (knock on wood)… The only question now is where can I get knee-guards that don’t look dorky. I’d rather they look like those exercise knee sleeves but with low-profile padding in front. I don’t mind getting bruised for the lack of “padding” but I do want to avoid bleeding like I did today.
Notes
| ⇡1 | Of course, mostly just keeping herself from falling. But still, she’s learning from an MTB which is much more difficult for a beginner’s bike |
|---|---|
| ⇡2 | That’s what I get for laughing at her wearing leggings the other day |
| ⇡3 | Okay, probably 10-30 mins |
| ⇡4 | Unless the road is slippery on a hard fast turn, etc. you know what I mean. |
| ⇡5 | with the lock as the pivot point, you twist your heels outward (or also inward if you’re on the dual-release types) |
| ⇡6 | Wounds heal, expensive bikes don’t |
you got cycling shoes already??? dude, one step at a time! ha-ha. anyway, let’s just see what happens at the fireflies event.
Wow, todo na ‘to! 🙂 Good luck on the tour. I appreciate the info re: cycling shoes. Learn something new every day…
Hahaha, sabi din ng shop owner di ko pa kelangan. Pero kung kaya naman daw why not (para di masayang yung SPD pedals); para one time big-time na ang gastos hahahaha.
Considering everyone will experience the same learning curve when switching to cycling shoes (regardless of cycling skills) – I thought I’d start immediately na.
Ang consuelo de bobo ko ay: My brother said my fall is very common even with his friends who use cycling shoes – and they’ve been biking for years hahaha.
Hi Carlo, I looked at this post again because I decided to buy cycling shoes too.. hehe! I’ve been reading up on it and some pro’s really recommended skipping the toe clip pedal stage, even for newbies (kumbaga, just progress from platform to cleats), because it’s more natural daw to twist away from the pedal than to pull off the pedal, blah blah.. Add to this, the guys at the bike shop they really recommended that I buy cleats (mura lang naman yung shoes na binili ko) even though I’m totally new to mountain biking. As a compromise, I bought a dual-sided pedal: cleats and platform.
Anyway, I was practicing with the shoes this afternoon. One foot at a time, so I started with my right. I used the platform side for my left foot.. But then while I was riding, the left foot engaged accidentally, haha!
My dad, who used to be a competitive mountain biker, recommended that I also get toe-clip pedals since it’s very hard to disengage from the clipless pedals when you’ve just biked through mud, and the mud cakes in and around the pedals and shoes. Nahulog na siya sa river dahil don.. hehe. But I figured, I don’t think I’d be riding hardcore anytime soon. Gentle trails lang muna for me.
Ang lagi ko lang issue with cleats is disengaging them is actually easy… pero sometimes they “snag” somewhere pa din after disengaging. So like if I felt it disengage and I move na my feet outward suddenly ayaw pa din gumalaw… yon yung super hassle kaya I haven’t tried using it on a trail yet no matter how easy the trail is (because mahirap mahulog sa mabato unlike if you were a roadie)
I’ll try it on La Mesa this Sunday though… pero contemplating on using knee pads with them hahahaha. I dunno if the “problem” i’m experiencing is common, or pangit lang design ng pedals ko (I’m on the XTR SPDs – pero a lot of people like Crank Brother pedals, so I’ll have to look into it sometime)