Guide to Mountain Bike Pedals, Shoes, & Clothing
Selecting the right gear is essential for optimizing your mountain biking experience, especially for youth athletes. This guide explores the different types of pedals, shoes, and clothing, providing insights into how each choice impacts performance and safety. From the versatility of platform pedals for beginners to the efficiency of clipless pedals for advanced riders, understanding these options helps in making informed decisions. Additionally, the importance of cycling-specific shoes and clothing is highlighted, emphasizing comfort, safety, and enhanced performance on the trails.
PEDALS
Flat shoe on pedal with pegs.
Platform/Flat Pedals – this is exactly as it sounds the pedal is flat and can be ridden with flat shoes like a pair of running shoes. Most bicycles will be supplied with this type of pedal. Sometimes you will find platform pedals that have pegs on them. This is designed to prevent the shoe from slipping while riding. It is recommended that first-time riders use flat pedals and flat shoes until they establish skills and experience before progressing to clipless pedals. Please do not make a team practice the first time an athlete tries clipless pedals. There will be an adjustment period and a student-athlete will need time to practice in a wide-open area where they can fall without getting injured.
Clipless Pedals– Mountain bike clipless pedals are typically smaller and have cleats allowing the rider to click in. Why are they called clipless when they have clips? Well, that goes back to the older style pedals that had a “cage” on the front to prevent your foot from slipping. Riders used to say they were clipping in. When the technological advanced to allow riders to remove the cages, they called them clipless.
Some pedals will come in a format that requires a cleat in the bottom of the shoe to click in, essentially mating the shoe and pedal together. There are advantages to having these types of pedals – the feet won’t slip off on the bumpier terrain and the pedal stroke can be more efficient. If you choose to get this type of pedal, you will need to buy mountain bike shoes.
SHOES
Do you need to buy specific shoes for cycling? Just like any other sport, running shoes will do fine when an athlete is just starting to ride. However, as a person progresses, using running shoes will limit their potential.
Cycling shoes are designed to minimize numbness of the toes by spreading the pressure across the sole of the shoe. These specially designed shoes also improve the grip of the shoe on the pedal. This is achieved with harder materials on the sole of the shoe. The soles will also have an aggressive tread pattern to help grip if they ever get off the bike and must walk on the dirt trails. From an aesthetic point of view, there are mountain bike shoes that look very similar to running shoes should that interest you.
CLOTHING
Common questions from first-time mountain bikers are, “Do I really need to wear those spandex shorts? Can’t I just wear my gym shorts?”
As is the case with shoes, sport-specific attire will help with comfort and may help you perform better. However, with shorts, there is also a safety factor. as the baggy material found in gym shorts can get caught up in the saddle/seat. Cycling shorts do not have excess material in the inseam, provide a lot of mobility, and have padding in the seat for comfort. Some shorts come with sewn-on bibs to help keep the shorts in place while riding and all will come with a chamois. The chamois is there to eliminate/reduce chafing while riding.
There are alternatives to spandex if you prefer. There are cycling shorts that appear similar to day-to-day shorts. But they are designed to have less material in the leg and fit a little tighter for safety purposes. Most will have an insert for comfort.
As for the shirt, your local Georgia Cycling team will have a jersey you can purchase for use in the Northside Hospital Race Series. You don’t have to compete to purchase your team’s jersey! But all those competing will need to wear team apparel. As for practice, a quick-dry T-shirt would work. Since many of the practices take place in the summer, you want a moisture-wicking shirt. A moisture-wicking fabric has two jobs: one is quickly moving (or wicking) sweat to the fabric's outer surface, and the other is drying rapidly so that your sweat doesn't saturate the fabric.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR: Michel van Musschenbroek has been a volunteer with the Georgia Cycling Association since 2015. He is currently one of the coach trainers in the state and is a former provincial champion and nationally ranked speed skater. Entering his first cycling race in 1974, he had success competing in Road Races, Criteriums, and Track and was regional Time Trial and Criterium champion.