I talked to Adam, my wrench/ LBS owner/ coach/ guru, he said not to waste time on TIME road pedals. He's seen a lot of the problems with with women getting out of clipless pedals discussed here, especially LOOK, and guess what it is?
I'm just dying this is so interesting, send fond wishes Adams way girls, he was really concerned that women 2000 miles away are having trouble. The Bicycle Nation is a wondrous thing.
So what happens is that womens feet are shorter, and we don't get the leverage with a short foot as we twist it to pop out that a guy with a bigger longer foot does. I have an 8 1/2 foot, and never had much trouble, but apparently at around size seven or below the ankle is so close to the center of a LOOK cleat that getting enough leverage is a real issue, a genuine mechanical problem. They were designed for giant guy feet and this could explain some of the trouble y'all are having. Loosening the tension can help, but A reccomends Speedplays or Mt bike pedals, the cleats are so much shorter that the whole leverage issue is lessened or negated. You can put Mt cleats on your road shoes. Klein has started speccing some pretty serious race bikes with Mt pedals, so it's really cutting edge fashion ladies . And if it's easier to deal with, it's more fun to ride, right?
There's also a Shimano road pedal that's smaller than a LOOK and Adam said some small footed women liked.
Cool, huh?

I also got a very technical education on the design problems of very small bikes for women, Adam is outfitting a lot of very petite tri girls and has seen the whole deal up close a lot lately. My head is spinning from it!

missliz

Adams shop address is at <www.adamsbicycleworld.com>. Tell him thank you if this helps anybody. he'll be SO tickled. This is one of those unusual shops that love women athletes.