Fatty goes flatty!!

Couldn't resist that as a title!! Converted to flat pedals recently. I was wondering if it might give me a little more confidence in corners and reduce the chance of painful offs. Usually I get my feet unclipped with SPDs but not always! Maybe a dab can come a bit easier with flatties?? I started with a set of DMR V8's - what a pile of poo they were, felt like they had sand for bearings and the axles weren't even straight! They just felt cheap. Settled on Wellgo MG-1's. They feel much better engineered and I think they're lighter and for nearly the same money.

First impressions - I thought I'd gouge the flesh off my legs with flatties, but so-far I've not had a problem. They're grippier than I expected - I thought I might slip off them in extremes, but not so far. They don't get the power in the up stroke like SPD's but you drive more of the stroke than I thought. My only concerns are the size (which I should eventually get used to). I keep striking them on tree stumps and rocks, etc. If I forget to put my seat down on techy downhills or neglect to put it down far enough, the seat presses the backs of my legs and tries to lever me off the pedals. That's not good and gets very unnerving. But that's down to technique. The other issue is really rough rocky downhills, The jarring feels like it's lifting you off the pedals. However, the normal pedal of choice on a hardtail is probably not a flatty. The grippy nature of the pedals means that if you place your feet awkwardly on the pedals, repositioning is difficult, especially if you're trying to keep the power down or you're mid-way through a descent. Don't know if bike specific shoes would alter this issue, but I seem to have difficulty getting my feet at a comfortable angle, the alignment of the pins and the shoe tread seems to put my feet either side of my preferred angle.

I bought some 661 MXE knee/shin pads to go with the pedals - nice bit of kit for not much money. More comfy than I expected for climbing in and confidence building for downhills.

I've extolled the virues of cheap hydration packs earlier this year. However, feeling that I could do with more capacity (both cargo and liquid), I took the plunge and bought a Camelbak. I'm afraid I'm a convert. If you can afford Camelbak's prices then you should buy. I got a Mayhem and the quality of the product certainly shows. It's well thought out and fits much more comfortably than the old one. However, the old one did it's job, and will still get used when I want to go light.