I did some really light XC stuff in June '13 but didn't start riding real "mountain biking" trails until August '13 and road biking for a few months before that. I went clipless immediately for both. This was no problem on the road bike but I feel like it hampered my progress on the mountain bike, because I was scared to try anything I wasn't at least 95% sure I could clear.
I just went to flat pedals a few weeks ago and I'm immediately way more confident and I'm not seeing any difference in climbing ability. The only thing I miss is being better connected to the bike and not being able to bounce off the pedals, which will go away with technique. Clipless is nice for road biking and XC, but for "all mountain" and technical terrain it can make a slight loss of control into something that'll put you on the ground if you aren't able to clip out in time.
Has anyone else gone through the same thing?
I just went to flat pedals a few weeks ago and I'm immediately way more confident and I'm not seeing any difference in climbing ability. The only thing I miss is being better connected to the bike and not being able to bounce off the pedals, which will go away with technique. Clipless is nice for road biking and XC, but for "all mountain" and technical terrain it can make a slight loss of control into something that'll put you on the ground if you aren't able to clip out in time.
Has anyone else gone through the same thing?