Pedals/cycle shoes

[sfa]

I use toe clips (not to be confused with clipless pedals, which you actually clip into. Who came up with this terminology?) and whatever cycling shoes fit and aren't expensive. I use them without the cleats, obviously, but they work better than regular shoes, if only because they are narrower and stiffer and thus easier to slip into the toe clips. My current favorites are the Keen commuter sandals. SOOOOOO nice today when it was 90 degrees!

I can't say clipless pedals scare me since I've never tried them, but I do wonder about a system where part of the learning curve includes slow speed falls. The toe clips (cages, whatever) are easy to slip in and out of and I've never had a fall, slow or otherwise, because of them. They give you nice contact with the pedals and position your foot well on the pedal and you don't slip off like you might with just platform pedals. But with running shoes they don't work so well--the base of most running shoes is pretty wide so they don't fit into the cages well, which is probably why you're having problems. I guess it depends on the size of your foot, but for me I put my foot in the cage so that my toe touches the end of the cage, which positions most of the ball of my foot over the pedal.

Sarah

[SadieKate]

Try mountain biking in cages. You will become a clipless convert. It just doesn't work when you're trying to put your foot out to the side and it's trapped in a cage.