But the professional riders are quite probably correct that clipped shoes are quicker than flats. The only question is one of proof.

Testing such assumptions is difficult now that the riders and the industry has followed each other. Adaption has taken hold of the riders so much so that it’s difficult to turn back, if you want to win then you have to be locked in, this is what riders and the industry are telling us. And besides clipped in riders trying to ride flats will need to massively change their muscle memories.

But there are still people who break this rule. Why can Sam Hill win an Enduro World Series on flat pedal shoes? Some people say its probably because he’s so much better than the other riders. And how can he possibly be in contention on the longer stages of these events? Sam Hill continues to break the rules, Chris Kovarik broke all the rules. The greatest runs of all time have happened on flat pedals. The biggest wins of all time, done on flats.

And what about the theory that clipped-in is better for pedalling through roots or indeed the fastest way to pedal a bicycle? Well I guess Aaron Gwin winning Leogang without a chain kind of questions that theory. Why pedal when freewheeling without a chain can sometimes be faster?

It seems everywhere you ask it’s all about the feeling, one of personal preference and perception. For many there is also an element of confidence derived from switching to clips, being part of the crowd, and you have to ask how much does the subconscious affect a rider when the competition are all on clips? And that’s fair enough. But where can we find facts?

In short, it’s difficult, but there’s plenty of bullshit.

Commentators have desperately tried to engineer a reason for clips being faster than flats.  For example, one editor of a well viewed website believes Hill’s method of riding is “to adopt a rearward stance that creates an imaginary line from the rider’s center of mass, through the feet, and through the bike’s center of gravity so that the bike and rider are aligned with the vector of acceleration created as the bike smacks into bumps or is braking hard.”

It’s a nice theory however he goes on to comment that adopting an exaggerated position has a number of drawbacks and wastes precious time as the courses change. He doesn’t go on to say what these are and doesn’t provide proof of this rearward weight bias.

He also says that the days of riding flats are gone due to changing geometries. He does this by making massive generalisations on frame geometry, failing to recognise that front and rear centres, bottom bracket and reach will have massive differences between brands thus affecting rider stability and crucially failing to point out that often many of the pro riders failure themselves to understand balance and position.

Suspension, geometry, materials, rider size, centre of gravity, rhythm of the track, so many variables and so may people using theory instead of trying it for themselves.

Maybe, just maybe, the reason many people like to be clipped in is because their suspension isn’t working that well. Take a ride on an emtb because it really hammers home how important suspension working correctly is. The reason an emtb feels so planted might not be because of the weight but because of the suspension working well.

On a personal level I feel that I no longer have feet off the pedals very much during a run particularly on a dry day. But they are rare and in the wet I cannot ever seeing me riding clips as you simply have to make immediate body changes which transfer weight or save a slide.

Maybe the question is more about where and when we are racing than what shoes we are wearing. Lourdes and Fort William have already proved that racing could in fact be way more interesting if wet and technical conditions were thrown into the mix. We are seeing more and more tracks with catch berms, less and less raw mountain. Manufactured terrain is becoming prevalent, and some tracks offer no real change of challenge even in the wet. Are we bringing up a new wave of rider where skill in off camber root is less important than doing a whip?