Mountain Bike Pedals

I've been learning to mountain bike now for about nine months.  I have only been able to ride about a dozen times in those nine months, so I'm not exactly progressing as fast as someone practicing three to four times a week would in those nine months.  Nevertheless, my confidence was growing as were my skills...until about six weeks ago.

I was out at Rowlett Creek Mountain Bike Trails ready to really go all out.  I was there a week prior and really felt strong and skilled.  So now I was going to really push it.  At the turn from loop 1 onto loop 7 there a big rock in the way.  The week prior, I'd gone over that rock five times...but not this time.  I hit and it shot me back; feet stuck in the clipless pedals, and down I went right onto my chest and chin.  After several minutes of attempting to catch my breath, I finally was able to continue my ride; albeit painful.  I then attempted my ceremonial "brick" run, but couldn't even run a single step.  OUCH!

This injury started me analyzing my mountain bike riding, crashes I'd had, and (lack of) skills.  Interestingly, I found the root of all my injuries stemmed from not being able to get my feet on the ground before another part of my body did.  Now, I realize I'm not supposed to need to do that...but as I suggested, I'm new to mountain biking and started this at less than appropriate age (read: older).  With this realization, I went out and purchased some BMX pedals.

Yesterday, I went out rode again at Rowlett Creek.  I hesitated over that rock that forced me to crash a few weeks back, but managed to get over it (finally) without incident.  I also had a few other close calls, but with the new pedals, my feet hit the ground before anything major occurred.  I even discovered that when I chickened out on some parts of the course, it was very easy to step off the bike and lift it over the obstacle.

I know it isn't the most powerful way to pedal, but I'm more confident riding with my new pedals.  I get to test them next week at the Sabertooth Duathlon.

Train safe!