I have a dirty little secret.
I ride a gravel bike. With flat pedals.
I come from a mountain bike background, more of a fun rider than a lactate disciple, more bunny hop than FTP test. I switched to flat pedals on my MTB early on. Why? Because you can do things with them that sound like dental instruments with clipless pedals: wheelies, log rides, technical gimmicks, spontaneous line changes. When things get dicey, I want my foot on the ground immediately. Or jump off before it clatters. Without clicking out. Without drama.
And yes: you ride more comfortably. While racing cyclists in their carbon-hard beak shoes click-clack over the tarmac like a bad-tempered ballet group when stopping for a cappuccino, I sit relaxed in a street café. Sneakers instead of carbon soles. Life instead of dress code.
Blasphemy on gravel
Now I own a classy Cervélo Áspero. A gravel bike that looks like it's having breakfast on a watt-precise training plan. And underneath: Flat pedals.
The reactions range from irritated to outraged.
How can you do that?
You don't do that.
It's like ketchup in a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Flat pedals on a gravel bike are apparently considered a break in style. As if I had welded a trailer coupling to a 911. Or turned up to the opera ball wearing a hoodie. Gravel biking, it seems, requires clipless pedals, high socks and a certain seriousness in the face.
But I want to drive. Not be part of it.
The myth of efficiency
Of course I know the argument of better power transmission. "You also pull upwards." That sounded like a law of nature for a long time. We now know that the effect is smaller than we thought. And even if it were, I would neither crack the Tadej Pogačar values nor win the Tour.
Fast enough" is enough for me.
I don't need a final optimisation if I can trade quality of life for it. No click-clack at the bakery. No limping over cobblestones. No scene code that dictates what seriousness should feel like.
Not for me
Maybe that makes me the commuter among the gravelers. The mountain biker in disguise. The aesthetics denier.
But I've always thought that scenes that are defined by accessories look a bit insecure. Tight jerseys, shaved legs, cap under the helmet - if you love that, please. Seriously.
I love gravel, freedom and being able to put my foot out at any time.
Flat pedals forever.
Dimitri Lehner
Editor
