First ride clipless.... now I have Questions

I accidentally just took my first ride with clipless pedals. It was an accident, I swear! I was just going to go to the lot across the street and fiddle around, I didn't mean for it to be an 11 mile round trip! :p

I didn't fall over once! Hooray!

I chalk some of that up to good habits made by using clip-and-strap type pedals for ages, so I am already used to always putting down the same foot and leaving the other on the pedal. These are campus pedals, so there's similar need to flip the pedals sometimes, but now it's harder to know which side needs to be up. There's some bad habit there, too - I"m used to kind of scuffing my toe into the pedal, and that was just not working out with getting clipped in.

Now I have questions for some of you with more experience with clipless pedals. I took the time the other day to loosen up the springs to a comfortable tension and practice popping the cleat into the pedal on each side a bit, and I'm glad I did that - but when actually riding, I was having a TERRIBLE time getting into the clip. Once I found the right spot, it clicked right in, but it did not feel natural at all. The side that I stay in I wasn't having a bit of trouble with, but the one I need to constantly clip and unclip was the devil. I'm not sure how to adjust the cleats to help - or well, I know how to move them around on the bottom of the shoe, I just don't know which way to move them.

Additionally, I was having a little foot numbness towards the end of the ride; this subsided instantly on getting off the bike. And by the time I got home I was feeling crampy in the arches of my feet (some of this is likely just "too much of a new thing" but I can't say how much). The question is the same, I guess - how do I know what adjustments I need to make to ease the numbness and discomfort?

Finally, I'm still scared witless of the clips - how long did it take for all y'all to get accustomed to them? I know that it's different for everybody, but I'd like to hear what other people's experiences have been like.

I've had my clipless pedals for a month, so I'm still very new. But here's my experience, for what it's worth.

I went straight from platforms to clipless. I still have to tell myself to unclip at times, but the more I ride, the more natural it's becoming. I had some difficulty getting into the pedals at first (there's a thread 'round here somewhere). It got much easier. Occasionally there's still a bit of "hey, where are you? Clip in, dammit...Okay, thanks...Oh, a stop sign. Grrr." on my rides. (Yes, I talk to myself while riding...) I attribute this partly to my getting used to where the "spot" was, and partly to the newness of both cleat and pedal wearing off.

What kind of pedals do you have?

I have Look Keos FWIW. It took a fair amount of time to get the feel of clipping in down, and I still have days where I seem to fumble around a bit. It's easier if I hoist myself into the saddle at the right time as my pedal is moving forward. For the time being, I would suggest going to a parking lot and just practicing clipping in over and over again. It does get easier. It sounds like you're already well ahead of the learning curve b/c of your past use of toe clips.

As for your foot numbness. It may be a function of your cleat placement or a function of your shoes or both. My fitter set my cleats up as part of my fitting, but I still get a numb big toe on long hot rides for whatever reason. We'd done any number of things to address it, with limited success. I've decided that it has something to do with some past injuries to that toe.

Anyway, a lot of shops offer a cleat fitting for a somewhat minimal charge. It's not a bad thing to look into because if your cleats aren't positioned correctly, you can encounter knee problems.

Oh! I barely even mentioned my equipment, did I?

The shoes are Sidi MTB shoes, the bike is my trusty Specialized Sirrus - and the pedals are some relatively inexpensive SPD-type campus pedals.

My intent when I left the house was to do just what Indysteel said - go to a parking lot, fiddle around a bit, practice using the clipless side of the new pedals. Usually the lot across the street's cleared out by 7, but it was full. So I wound up on the Burke-Gilman trail, and rode all the way from the University District up to Magnuson Park.

I think there might be a bike fitting in my not too distant future....

In my experience, SPD pedals are somewhat easier to get used to than others. My Keos pedals, for instance, sort of pivot around in a half circle when you're not clipped in. From a newbie perspective, that just seemed like all kinds of wrong. Now I get it, of course, but at the time it was really different from the SPDs I started with.

In fact, my first two rides with the Keos were so frustrating that I went bakc to the LBS nearly in tears. They talked me down from the ledge, and I've been relatively okay since. From there, I went straight to a quiet parking lot and practiced until I was blue in the face.

So, don't fret; there's hope! Just keep practicing.

SPD-type pedals with only one side available for clipping in do take more time and practice. I've had my spd road pedals for a month (only one side clips), and I still need to look down and flip the pedal over about half the time.

My feet were going numb as well. Changing shoes to a wider forefoot model, and then moving the cleat back in the shoe, fixed the problem.

Good luck! I had no problems putting clipless on my road bike, because I had never ridden it with platform pedals. But I just put clipless on my hybrid, and immediately spaced out and fell. After 8 years riding that bike with platform pedals, I had certain ingrained habits that I need to think consciously about and then relearn. Minor ouch!

First of all,

CONGRATS!:D

You did what I could not do at first. I flipped over several times in June when I got my clipless pedals. My bike suffered a few scrapes, but life is pretty good.

SPD's are somewhat better than the Looks for learning. I almost wish I would have gotten SPD's, but I am used to them now. The bike is really easy to get into now, but if I get the wrong side once in awhile, I will need to readjust. It will get MUCH easier the more you do it.

As for numbness, if you have a past injury (as mentioned above) your shoes/clips may exaggerate it. Because of heavy lifting that really screwed up my feet, I have some nerve damage in a toe. I think my pedals sometimes make it worse, but overall, my feet feel TONS better with the pedals.