Originally Posted by
DreamRider85
Normally I do 20-25 miles. When I first got the clipless pedals I got winded using them. But now I'm able to ride 50 miles and I felt like I burned less than when I do 25. So does clipless make training too easy? Is it sabotaging my workout? Not only am I peddling 2-3 mph faster but now I feel I'm going longer distance with less effort. Is this a bad thing? I was riding the same place with the same conditions. I'm wondering if any of you feel clipless makes your riding too effortless therefore sabotages your training.
How much time elapsed between the pre-clipped and post-clipped? Same bike? Different bike?
The more training you do, the further, faster you can ride, so some of the changes could be training related.
No doubt one can do things differently for different workouts. For example, I could hop on my heavy hauler cargo bike + trailer, load it up with 500 pounds, and head out and hit some hills
(molehills
). 5 or 10 miles and I can get my workout in.
There is some research indicating that clipless pedals only give marginal gains at steady state. I think they ignore that people aren't always riding at a steady state. I have also trained myself to pull up... some of the time. So, no clips, and I'm only using half the muscles. I'm still limited somewhat by metabolism and the cardio-vascular system, so it may not improve performance, but it works for me.
I can't remember the last time I rode 10 miles without some kind of foot retention... Except for that one awkward ride across town where I lost one pedal and used a spare flat pedal.