cleat and clipless pedals

Hello everyone! I'm new to riding....got my first bike in 20 years for Christmas this year. It is a Trek 2.1 wsd road bike. Last week I road to 20 miles and found it frustrating that my foot kept slipping off the platform pedals, so I thought it might be time to upgrade to clipless pedals. I found a good deal online for the Shimano R540 SPD-SL clipless pedals as well as the Adidas Women's Karma road shoes, so I thought these would be a good start.

Here goes the total newbie questions......While I was looking at the cleats and pedals last night just to see how they worked I noticed that the cleats didn't seem to clip in at the back. Should I be able to maneuver the clipping action without the pedal installed on my bike or the cleat on my shoe? I'm worried that if I can't figure it out in my hands I'll never get it on a bike :confused:

Also, is it necessary to have a LBS install the pedals and cleats or can I do it myself?

Pedals - you can install them, but you need a pedal wrench. Other tools don't work as well (or at all sometimes)

Cleats - they need some adjusting, it's usually pretty cheap to have it done at by your LBS - I think it cost $5

Clipping/unclipping sansa bike - DON'T TRY IT!

I tried this, put the clips on the shoes, held the pedal in one hand, tried a little clip/unclip action - I could NOT get the shoe off the pedal! A male friend of mine could NOT get the shoe off the pedal! I had to take it to the LBS where they laughed at me while they pried it off with a giant size screwdriver and the help of a vise.

What comes off easily with a little torque when the pedal is firmly in place on the bike doesn't work so well when you're trying to hold it in your hand.

Before you make that big investment you might want to try these .
I have them on my city bike and love them so much I'm considering putting them on all my bikes.
Cheap, too.

You can practice clipping in/out on a spinning bike at your local gym. They support SPD cleats. Or install the pedals on your bike and put it in a trainer and practice that way. But you cannot practice clipping in/out without a bicycle :) -- the action of your feet/ankles is necessary. There are tons of posts about going clipless on the forum.

Thanks everyone for the tips especially yours ZenSojourner. My LBS guy already thinks I'm a little bit of a goofball from another incident that I will not mention, so the last thing I need is to go in there with my pedal and cleat stuck together. :)