Barefoot Bicycling: a couple of suggestions

i am one of the few ones still using a bike with gear levers on the frame rather than on handlebars , and usually operate them with feet . days ago i was speeding home and while attempting to engage the higher gear with my left hand while accelerating, my right foot probably slipped from the pedal, resulting in a disastrous headlong fall. damage: a beautifully grazed right foot, a few bruises, a jolly good head butt on the pavement. i suppose that my right foot probably slipped because the fall was so sudden that i just cannot remember what happened. probably as a result of the head blow, lol. to be honest i am very surprised that spite of the violence of the fall i got away with that just with a big bruise on my right hip, i think i must be built around a very sturdy frame.
while being shod would have undoubtedly spared me the grazed foot, in my experience shoes, sneakers first, make the pedal slip away from the foot a lot (usually the pedal makes a half turn and hits your achilles tendon causing outbursts of swearing, that's one of the reasons that make me hate sneakers) , thing that does not happen when pedaling barefoot using the arch of the foot. it happens instead when one pedals using toes and the ball of the foot , like when i fell. i am almost certain that since i found myself with both the left hand and the right foot out of place at the same time and i was applying my weight on the bars my right hand caused the wheel to tilt left when my right foot touched the pavement . also i found that the steer column got sloppy into the ball bearing tube , this probably worsened things.

so my advices for barefoot bicycling are:

1) ban old gear levers mounted on the frame and keep those hands on the bars, or

2) when you keep only one hand on the handlebar because you're shifting gear, remember to pedal using the arch, not the ball of the foot.

3) using something better than a 40-years-old bike taken from the garbage bin and rebuilt using pieces from various wrecks found in other trash cans, so that the result looks like a curious hybrid of different eras of cycling can dramatically improve your barefoot pedaling experience .

 

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Cheers Glen.

 

lucky that i never found a penny-farthing in the garbage

 

SBL member Goat biked from Alaska to the tip of S. America BF. Read the account, see video and photos at ridingthespine.com . His bike is a hybrid xtracycle. Great adventure the fact he did it barefoot is epic.