Thank you , MM, it's good to be back! And yeah, Speedplays are great, easy release. They tend to be pricey, though, and a lot of newbie/ intermediate riders tend to balk at big cash outlays for stuff they don't understand. And you don't really understand clipless 'till you ride them.
It may be just dumb random cosmic chaos- some people will slide onto clipless and some have to work at it. And I think pedal choice is a lot of it, but who sells them to you ( picks them out!) and sets them up is the random factor.

missliz