Road pedals

[nonsmoker3]

LaG? Wow, that is close. Did the Tour De Lakes last year. Beautiful area.
Thinking about it this year, along with the triathlon. Small world.

[ChickWithBrains]

Look and Speedplay are not your only options.

Many people say the "eggbeater" style of pedals are the easiest to learn for people who are new to these sort of clip-in pedals. There's no up and down to worry about (like there is with some clipless pedals, and certainly in pedals with a toe cage). There's also only a small amount of "float," the action that lets the pedaler point their toes in and out a little while pedaling. Lots of float (like some speedplays) gives the rider a very wobbly feeling on the pedals until they get used to it -- not the kindest introduction to this kind of riding.

Most shoes will accept most kinds of contraptions for various pedals, but shoes intended for mountain biking may be the easiest to get used to because the nubs hit the ground more than the plate for the pedal does. Makes walking easier and more stable. In any case, for systems with larger plates (speedplay), there are covers you can snap over the plate on the shoe when you get off the bike and walk around.

I'd suggest a setup similar to my first system: Specialized mountain bike shoes and Crank Brothers eggbeaters (I got some pretty little blue ones). I have since graduated to some pink speedplays and more aerodynamic, lighter shoes -- but I think my first setup was awesome for a newbie to clipless.

[northstar]

I'd like to second the recommendation of CrankBrothers pedals. I have Smarty's on my road bike and really love them. Then again, I've never ridden anything else.