The thing about being a new rider...

[Blue_Fedora]

{snip}
I went clipless because when I am not clipped, I feel like I'm losing 80% of my power. {snip}

Thank you! That was pretty much my point of why I'm disappointed in myself for going back to cages. I know I'm losing a crapton of power and it impacts my performance.

[KnottedYet]

Here's a fun rant on pedals: http://www.rivbike.com/article/clothing/the_shoes_ruse

A little science: http://jn.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/83/6/3351
this sounds like a good one, but I can only see the abstract: http://www.jelectromyographykinesiol...181-2/abstract
proof that whatever theory you want to support, you can find research that will support it: http://www.fredericgrappe.com/CV/bibliographie/D7.pdf
And you can have it both ways: http://www.springerlink.com/content/n453621502u03657/

Or you can ask yourself if you would trade net mechanical efficeincy for increased pedalling effectiveness: https://www.thieme-connect.com/ejour...s-2008-1038374 (in other words, clips are great if you are sprinting)

Why do we women feel this urge to beat ourselves up, tear ourselves down, and be disapppointed in ourselves? Why all this deep and heavy emotional baggage and guilt over a pedal? Don't worry. Ride now what works now. Try again what you think should work better in a month or two. Get strength and bike handling skills up the wazoo, take a break from the emotionally fraught and overwrought clipless experience for a while, and then toss the clipless back into the mix.

(and ride your clipless every which way in a big grassy field. That was the best clipless advice anyone ever gave me!)

[AMP]

I'm only a couple of months back into cycling after a long--15 year-- hiatus. I love my new bike, cannot believe the efficiency of the SRAM red, how light weight the bike is, how easy, or easier the hills are.
Then I get to pedals. Sigh. I am gamely soldiering on with clipless. Two sets, two pairs of shoes.
But while on a ride last evening over rolling hills, I just couldn't enjoy the speed because I kept worrying about crashing and not getting my foot out/off the pedal.
Also, when I do clip out on the paved road, my clip on my shoe--I have speedplays now--skids like crazy, and I'm afraid I'll fall that way.
I miss my cages, and I miss not being so afraid.
I do get the power tansfer...I get up hills more efficiently...but now I'm too afraid to gather the momentum on the downhill to get up the next one. So each hill is its very own little mountain.
I'll give it another month and see if I can get the fear factor under control. If not, I'm going to have to go back to my other pedals.
For being new to cycling, I'm noticing this exact discussion on so many forums. It seems the technology is not "elegant" enough not to cause anxiety.

[KnottedYet]

I miss my cages, and I miss not being so afraid.

Ride what you like.
Not much point in being miserable on the bike.
Everyone has their own preferences. And they do better on their own preferences than on someone else's. Don't be afraid to be yourself.

I managed to find a pedal wrench with a super-long handle (and a hollow handle so I can add a pry bar to make it even longer!) so I can switch pedals willy-nilly as the mood strikes me. It's lovely! Freedom and power and leverage to beat the band!

[trista]

Here's a fun rant on pedals: http://www.rivbike.com/article/clothing/the_shoes_ruse

I loved that article! I do use the upstroke on hills, but I can't sustain it, and I have always thought it must be my inexperience or lack of strength - that all cyclists must be able to pull up AND down at the same time on both feet, all the time. After reading that, I feel a little differently.

Maybe I feel like I lose power when going clipless because I've been TOLD that so many times. Sitting here at my desk, I can't say whether I actually do. Two falls in 1 month BECAUSE of clips has me thinking, maybe I should go without for awhile....

[malkin]

Between cycling, my natural clumsiness, and my work with kids with autism I can't keep track of where all the bruises come from.

[Veronica]

I get a bruise every time I ride. I don't know where they come from... they just appear after every ride.

I wear mountain bike shoes when I ride. They don't skid on the asphalt and I can wear the same pair of shoes no matter which bike I'm riding and Crank Brothers eggbeaters on all my bikes.

Veronica

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Why do we women feel this urge to beat ourselves up, tear ourselves down, and be disapppointed in ourselves? Why all this deep and heavy emotional baggage and guilt over a pedal? Don't worry. Ride now what works now. Try again what you think should work better in a month or two. Get strength and bike handling skills up the wazoo, take a break from the emotionally fraught and overwrought clipless experience for a while, and then toss the clipless back into the mix.

Well said, Knot.

[ny biker]

My trainer's advice before I got clipless pedals was: don't get them unless you can laugh at yourself when you do something dumb.

And yeah, do what makes you happy, otherwise what's the point? Forget about what everyone else is doing and what anybody else thinks. Just have fun.

[JennK13]

I'm a klutz, so I'm no stranger to falling. I fell on my brand new bike the day I bought it, in the parking lot of the LBS as I planned to ride home on her. Couldn't unclip the road pedals and fell. I fell 3 more times in the those pedals because I just couldn't get loose, so I took it back and switched to SPDs. I still sometimes forget to unclip and fall over, always in slow motion.
I also went down pretty hard going under a bridge crossing after storm. It was shaded by trees on each end and dark as it's an under pass. I didn't see the mud slick that covered the trail from one side of the underpass to the other. The trail turns and drops down into the underpass, and I was doing around 25 mph when I hit the mud and slid for literally 30 feet - it was like a slip and slide. I was covered head to toe in a thick layer of black, slimey mud, 6 miles from home. At least it was the last 6 miles of my 30 mile ride! Fortunately, the mud "broke" my fall, so other than being a little bruised on my elbow from hitting the ground, I didn't have any road rash. DH had to get the hose out and hose me down once I got home, peeling off the mud.
I have campus pedals on my commuter - SPD on one side, flats on the other. I also wear moutain biking shoes when commuting so I have more grip on the foot than my road shoes offer when I do step down. I also don't have to worry about missing my cleat when starting off because I have a flat base either way and can go. Makes it a lot more comforting.

[marni]

I manage to bash myself somewhere on my legs or arms every time I ride without falling whether from failure to unclip or hitting or running into something. I have had my share of stupid failure to unclip or leaning the wrong way, invariably in full view of an intersection full of traffic, or a parking lot with everyone sitting in their cars. I am a natural klutz with a very scattered attention span at times.

That being said, I love my bmx clips and my double sided pedals, because on long rides I can shift to free riding and move my foot around, and I can walk normally since the cleats are recessed in both my biking shoes and my biking sandals.

Do what makes you happy, keeps you comfortable and safe.

[Cataboo]

I was practicing reenter and rolls in my kayak this evening, so I've managed to scrape up and bruise the front of my thighs from my knees to my hips.

We were just about to go to the grocery store and I was in mid-calf shorts, and R said... "You cannot leave the house looking like that. Go put some long pants on"

I was going "wha?" And he was like "You look like someone's taken a baseball bat to your legs... " I told him "At least I covered up the arm bruises" and went and put longer shorts on.

[ny biker]

I'm only a couple of months back into cycling after a long--15 year-- hiatus. I love my new bike, cannot believe the efficiency of the SRAM red, how light weight the bike is, how easy, or easier the hills are.
Then I get to pedals. Sigh. I am gamely soldiering on with clipless. Two sets, two pairs of shoes.
But while on a ride last evening over rolling hills, I just couldn't enjoy the speed because I kept worrying about crashing and not getting my foot out/off the pedal.
Also, when I do clip out on the paved road, my clip on my shoe--I have speedplays now--skids like crazy, and I'm afraid I'll fall that way.
I miss my cages, and I miss not being so afraid.
I do get the power tansfer...I get up hills more efficiently...but now I'm too afraid to gather the momentum on the downhill to get up the next one. So each hill is its very own little mountain.
I'll give it another month and see if I can get the fear factor under control. If not, I'm going to have to go back to my other pedals.
For being new to cycling, I'm noticing this exact discussion on so many forums. It seems the technology is not "elegant" enough not to cause anxiety.

I'm not sure I understand -- why are you worried about crashing when you're going downhill? Did you have the same concerns with regular pedals?

[PamNY]

Why do we women feel this urge to beat ourselves up, tear ourselves down, and be disapppointed in ourselves? Why all this deep and heavy emotional baggage and guilt over a pedal?

I'm fairly certain men do this too.

It is an interesting discussion though -- I would love to try clipless at some point but just don't see doing it in the city.

[Crankin]

Is your bike skidding, or do you mean the cleat on your Speedplay is skidding across the road?
If I clip out early, in anticipation, I just rest my foot on top of the pedal. Yea, it slows you down, because you can't really pedal, but mostly in these situations, you are coming to a stop. Otherwise, you will ruin your cleats by dragging your foot on the road when you unclip.