Shoes impact your suspension…

19/01/24 22:44 Filed in: Riding

Wait.

What?

How?

I can remember reading at the time when World Cup DH racers were all changing to clipping in that they sit more central in the bike and therefore distribute the load more evenly across the front and rear suspension. Compare that to the same person riding flats who will drop their heels more, pushing their weight further back and loading the rear suspension more and the front less.
I had visible evidence of this after my recent trip to Thredbo on the Sender DH bike with Mallet pedals attached. At the end of the day the fork o-ring was right up at the full travel mark while the shock o-ring was nowhere near the full travel mark. Usually I see the reverse and leave that extra air pressure in the fork for "contingency" issues.
This was despite making a concerted mental shift on every run to attempt to ride just as if I had flat pedals under my feet. Over the day I never achieved that "same" feeling.

A bicycle is more than the sum of its parts. Choices have impacts in the least expected way sometimes.

Michael Hanslip Coaching

If you want to go faster, you have to pedal harder

Shoes impact your suspension…