I just suck it up and deal with the elements or go to a skatepark.

:eek:

:roflmao::roflmao:

Moar running shorts.

^ D, just as long as you don't wear running shorts the next time I video you down a run!

^^ I didn't mean me :lol:


I don't even do spandex, because I have the good sense to know that it would fall in the TMI category.

it's not the shorts that make you dorky, it's riding an indoor trainer.

road bikes and bad weather gear are the option in bad weather.

you say that like it's a bad thing.

Ahhh, if that's the case, you live in a place where true "bad weather" doesn't occur very often! :P

Around here right now, the trainer is the only option.

Yea, I'm wondering what people mean by "bad weather". I go riding pretty much whatever the weather is so long as the snow isn't too deep to pedal through. The worst I've been in is when there was a bunch of hail that melted pretty quick and made the single track a horribly freezing stream.

How do your feet slip off the pedals so often that it's actually a problem??

After DDing a motorcycle for a year & a half, I never want to deal with bad-,cold-, or rainy-weather gear again. I've ridden two wheels in every kind of [non-natural disaster] weather at least once...rain, wind, snow, sleet, hail, ice storm, & temperatures as low as 13*. My love of two wheels stops when the 35* rain comes in.

around here, we can't ride trails when they are wet, it scars them up and ruins the actual earth.

so...rule 9.

by bad weather, i mean rain, snow, and freezing temps (20 or below). yes, i ride a road bike in rain, snow, and freezing temps. the right gear makes it quite doable, with very very little suffering. i personally will never ever road ride if it's windy. it can be a clear sunny warm happy day, if the wind is blowing more than 5mph, i ride the internet.

if it's super extra snowy, i ride a pugsly.

Around here i think xc is dying, therefore clipless is dying.

I think more normal people are out riding and they're just not into the tights and admittedly strange shoes. Good for them, there are some pretty silly cycling getups out there where a pair of shorts and a t-shirt would have worked.

Go north and you'll get that through most of the winter so there aren't any options other than trainers.

BTW, to answer the OP's question, clipless is not dying around here.

Buwahaha you would hate it here. The city I'm in is kept milder than the rest of Germany by a river (Neckar) and a large 300-600 meter high forest (Odenwald). That means that the around freezing, but still raining thing is the norm here through winter. I am rrrreally happy when above 300m there is snow, and even happier if I just maybe get to see the sun. Below freezing temps are also nice, when they happen, so the ground hardens up a bit. The thing I don't like is that I can't take a break longer than a minute or two before I start getting cold, so I just gotta keep moving. While moving everything is golden.


Does it rain there a lot? That would suck..

thankfully, no. we have very mild weather

Back when XC bikes were THE mountain bikes there was a lot more clipless goin' on.

I don't think clipless MTBing or XC bikes will "die" anytime soon, though.

XC will be alive as long as I am! Long live the dusty trail.

Well, I guess as a old XC'er I should dig out these and start using them:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2178/...84fd5434ae.jpg

And use 'em with these:

http://flyingpylon.com/ebay/shoes-3.jpg

The idea behind cheating on the exam is that you potentially don't learn something that will be needed at some point.

Unless he at some point enters some competition that doesn't allow clipless systems but requires getting the bike airborne to clear some obstacles, when will he ever need the skill of a traditional bunnyhop in a situation where he doesn't have his own bike?

^ by learning how to do it properly and not cheating with clipless, you will be able to clear taller obstacles and not look like a dork doing it.

Oh, Mister Peabody!!
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A5rQhKnTAM...manpeabody.jpg

How 'bout my short-shorts?
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/8...topintapex.jpg

Do you have a sleek full kit to match your shoes, bumblebee stripes maybe. :thumb::thumb:

Those pedals look scary-someone could get hurt!:eek::twitchy:

It's dying out... think back to the 90s and XC's day now take a look around today. The sport has become far more diverse, some of the same old clipless diehards are around, but a lot of new people aren't attracted into that.

Lets be honest neon skintight jerseys, tights, clipless shoes and weight weeniedom are not cool in fact it makes people look like a giant dorks and doesn't add much to the fun(which is why 99% ride). It's probably the mtb equivalent of a pen protector wearing nerd. lol