Category Archives: Mountain Biking

Downhill Pedals vs. SPDs and general stupid man (mahon) tricks

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Platform pedal with pins

Platform pedal with pins (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am a HUGE fan of using downhill (DH), or platform pedals on my mountain bike. I have found that by combining my WellGo pedals with Five Ten DH shoes, it is possible to climb with the same efficiency you have in clipless pedals. While doing a little research on this article, I came across some cheesy marketing material for the Five Ten FreeRider shoes that said “Free Your Feet and Your Mind Will Follow.” This oddly resonates with me since I love telemark skiing.

Side note: Perfect day, get Shel and the kids up early, make some tele turns, cruise back down and mountain bike a bit, have some lunch, golf 9 holes and then cruise over the Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery for a Gooney Bird and an FYIPA or two. Hmm, no work, stress, tv or conference calls in there. Weird!

I tried DH pedals for the first time about 1.5 years ago after I broke my left wrist 1/2 way through the Slick Rock trail in Moab, UT. I was riding by myself, of course, and jammed my pedal earlier in the day. I found this out after my fall. I had banged the pedal on a rock earlier in the ride, but had not fallen off. I was hauling butt up a VERY steep hill, hit a rock and started falling backwards. This would not normally cause alarm, you simply twist your left foot out of the clipless pedal and step/jump off the bike. It may sound complicated for non-biker folks, but it is very easy after you have done it a couple thousand times. The problem is that my pedal was broke and I didn’t know it. The result, I put my left arm out to catch myself. As my son told me later that day, not very smart Dad.

I broke my wrist and have a really cool triangle star on my elbow. I duck taped my wrist, took some ibuprofen and walked and rode out. I had to ride or I would have been walking out in the dark because the desert gets dark at 5 PM sharp in late November. I have some photos of the scar and tape, sorry about the blood.

Cool triangle scar

Duck Tape Wrist, the knot above the break is my broken wrist

Being a stubborn and resilient man, a little wrist break wasn’t enough to get me to switch pedals. I have ridden for years and had no major injuries, so I didn’t really think about it. The real impetus to switch was because after spraining my ankle for one last time, I couldn’t rotate my left ankle out of my pedal. That really sucked BTW, not being able to rotate your ankle out of an SPD pedal is a pretty strong testament to the stupidity that I have surrounding taking care of myself medically :-) In any event, I made the switch and haven’t looked back. I don’t make money endorsing DH pedals, my Maverick ML8 bike or any of the other items in this blog, except this one: my company. I just really enjoy riding hard. You have to get a wide enough platform with big ol’ calf tearing spikes and good shoes or you will hate it. It also takes some getting used to, if you hit big jumps going downhill both feet come off the pedals. This can be more than a little freaky.

I love my bike (my Capre Verde), have to include it and a shout out to my favorite bike shop in Boulder, Full Cycle on Pearl. This is an old one missing pedals and my Maverick Speedball with remote, now the Crank Brother Joplin.

Thoughts on Mountain Biking and Running: Mountain Biking is still way more fun than running

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I remember liking my runs more when I was lighter, in shape and not carefully running to avoid injury to my feet and ankles. I ran three more times this past week in barefoot sandals and just couldn’t shake feeling like heck. I felt worse than heck, but this is a family blog, so there you have it.

I ran Marshall Mesa this week with Shelly. I felt best running uphills, but I couldn’t quite shake the tightness I felt in my left ankle. My forefoot hasn’t really adjusted to running barefoot yet and I have a some discomfort with the straps on the sandals. The other two runs I had this week were on the Boulder Creek Path and much easier (albeit, less fun) than trail running. I have been considering keeping a history on my running progression, to see if there is a departure from sanity or potentially something positive that helps keep me accountable and on track.

It is also not recommended to run in Luna Sandals and mess up the way you tie the lace around the forefoot. Luckily my wife is patient and waited for me while I messed with the laces. Eventually I sat down and retied my right lace and realized I wasn’t securing one of the ankle laces. Nice YouTube video clip of how to tie your huaraches:

I broke down and ran on a treadmill today at a hotel in San Fran. Dang was that fun. I ran fast(ish) and long(ish). Any distance over 5K for me right now is long. I actually had fun running and tried to get some video on my iPhone of running on the treadmill while I was holding the camera. After almost falling on my face a couple of times and watching the kids in the pool laugh hysterically at me, I gave up. I was a little sad that I enjoyed the treadmill so much, but the softness and convenience are hard to beat.

I still wear my flip flops around as much as possible to toughen up my feet and build up my arches. It must be helping because I am not as sore when I am back in TKD.

Side note: I have been reading some pretty inflammatory blogs about barefoot runners being nutters. Interesting reading, but I am not much of a fan of ranters, regardless of the topic. It seems like people should be entitled to their opinion, but should realize how crazy they sound when they are calling everyone around them crazy. Anywho, off to the biking part.

Dave, smiling after an uphill at Hall Ranch

Shelly: AKA Deer, Tornado, Hot Stuff, My Girl

My wife and I have been riding with friends and family a lot lately. The pace is a little slower sometimes, but overall the social and casual atmosphere has been really enjoyable. My great friend Dave is becoming a biking nut, he is smiling away after riding the uphill section of Antelope on Hall Ranch very well. This is not how he rode this ride last fall, turns out watching calories and working out all the time is a good thing. I ought to follow his lead.

Waiting with me after I broke my derailleur

Bike trail maintenance tip number 1, learn to work on your bike so you can cobble it together if you break it and still enjoy the ride back home. I broke my rear derailleur hanger and was able to fix it so I could enjoy the fast, fun ride down Hall Ranch on the way back to the truck. It beats walking out in the dark everytime.