So attitudes can change.

In probably 1994, at about the age of 15, I got my first pair of clipless pedals. I still remember them, Onza HO Ti. I got them with either paper route money or Burger King money. Either way, my parents weren't pleased.

What followed were decades of riding clipped in. MTB, Triathlon, Road Racing, Singlespeed messing around, and even a pedicab tricycle. If it pedalled, I damn well better be clipped to it.

Last year I bought a new mountain bike, a slack geometry long travel hardtail. Down-country, party hardtail, milf magnet. I don't care what you call it. It didn't seem right to ride it the way it was designed while clipped in so I bought some flat pedals for it and moved my whole family to the PNW, and left all my other shoes and pedals in storage in Colorado. After more than a year of giving the dirt more hell than I've given it since I was 18, I'm convinced. Off road on flats is the way to go. I've yet to even shred my legs, I think that's either a rumor or incompetence. I wouldn't switch back now.

I'm still clipped in on my gravel bike, trainer, and road bike. That's not going to change. The more uniform circles I can pedal decrease my fatigue and increase my ride satisfaction. They probably don't speed me up.