when i actually used to ride regularly i had Time Atacs too, fell over a couple times when i plain forgot i had clips on but only on the first real ride using them, was fine after clipless are win!
That's my beef with flats, the endless tradeoff between grip and scars. Could be worse, you could have been using the terrifyingly aptly named BMW Shinburgers: My worst flats experience was just after adding four extra-long Terror Pins to each side of my DMR V8s, then getting my foot trapped on the ground as the bike rolled forward and the pedal bit into the back of my calf. Four matching extremely painful (with extra-stingy sweat to make things even funner!) gashes I now use Mallets on the mountain bike, eggbeaters on the roadie and Gusset flats on the commuter/silly stuff bike.
I think it's really just a little more versatile than downhill, and a little more exciting than XC . Pretty much just going out there and having fun, not having to have some ultra aggressive downhill bike or a super light XC bike, just a mixture, letting you really just get out there and do your thing. That's how I've always thought of it anyway. Wikipedia pretty much agrees...
Well fancy that. I'm guessing you know Spode rides trials, he's pretty good. I haven't ridden my bike much in a while
