Training Help!

[alpinerabbit]

my feet were going numb in the regular toe clips so I decided to order the clipless, haven't tried them yet though, I'm a little nervouse, any tips on learning how to ride clipless? I did buy the tension adjustable shimano clipless pedals that I will be adjusting when I put them on the bike, I have read a few horror stories though of people falling over?

I see then the numbness is probably from soft soles, cycling shoes have stiff soles for that reason.

As written elsewhere, I have never fallen on a road bike with clipless pedals, not when I first borrowed a friend's 15 years ago, not since I started riding 4 yrs ago. I did take a splat last year on my new MTB when I was doing something silly.

You have plenty of time now to practice getting in and out indoors, so you'll have that down once you get out on the road.

Once you go out, try clipping in and out a couple times when you are holding on to something (to check the tension), then just try it. Start with one foot clipped and just take off. If you don't hit the pedal right, stay on the pedal with the foot unclipped and spin lightly (to avoid slipping off), and try again while riding on, just don't panic.

[ehirsch83]

My advice would be to get a heart rate monitor. You can get affordable ones, $40.00, you don't need anything super fancy!

Going by feel is great, once you know what you are feeling, but if you are just going by feel without having actual numbers to compare to- you have no idea what you are doing!

There is a good chance that you are working a lot harder then you think you are, or you do just need to lower your resistance. You can only push a big load for so long before your muscles fatigue.

I advice getting a HRM so you can actually see what you are doing and when, and monitoring your resistance and trying to keep a higher cadence.