Why should my feet be attached to the pedals?

[OakLeaf]

As far as clipping in, I'd say "whatever works for you," with the exception of climbing steep hills, where you do pull up quite a bit on the upstroke, and where your foot slipping off the pedal is extra likely because of the forces involved, yet could be disastrous.

But as far as the benefit of stiff soles, that article is way off base. Rhumpty-mumble years ago, when I got my first pair of cycling shoes, it added 1.5 mph (about 8%) to my average speed over a particular course, doing nothing else different - and that was a flat course. A pure 8% efficiency gain, just from the shoes. Your feet can't support themselves cycling as they do walking for the simple reason that your pedal is not the size of your whole foot. When walking or running, your points of attachment to the ground are the two corners of your heel, the heads of your first and fifth metatarsals, and your big toe. There's no bicycle pedal in the world that big, and there are reasons for that. (I'll leave the barefoot/foot pathology discussion to the running subforum, there's plenty of it there).

[SadieKate]

But as far as the benefit of stiff soles, that article is way off base. Rhumpty-mumble years ago, when I got my first pair of cycling shoes, . . . Your feet can't support themselves cycling as they do walking for the simple reason that your pedal is not the size of your whole foot. When walking or running, your points of attachment to the ground are the two corners of your heel, the heads of your first and fifth metatarsals, and your big toe. There's no bicycle pedal in the world that big, and there are reasons for that. (I'll leave the barefoot/foot pathology discussion to the running subforum, there's plenty of it there).

I agree. His statements about stiff soles are "a bunch of hooey." Otherwise, why would I need my stiff orthotics not only for cycling but for skiing where I have nearly the world's biggest platform? Your feet are very dynamic as they are pressed downward, sideways, etc. There's more to foot "bending" than just the forward motion of walking.

[velouria]

Another newbie here, on a bike after decades off. I'm still trying to figure out how to get both my feet into the straps/cages . Gravity dictates that their natural position is hanging upside down. I can generally get one foot in before take-off (still a bit awkward, but hey, I'm beyond using my hand now), but for the life of me, I can't get that second one in! I'm not going to stress about it too much; too busy familiarizing myself with more important things like brakes and gears and not running over pedestrians. It's just funny how, even though my general ability to ride a bike has remained intact after all these years, the "naturalness" of it hasn't quite come back yet.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Another newbie here, on a bike after decades off. I'm still trying to figure out how to get both my feet into the straps/cages . Gravity dictates that their natural position is hanging upside down. I can generally get one foot in before take-off (still a bit awkward, but hey, I'm beyond using my hand now), but for the life of me, I can't get that second one in! I'm not going to stress about it too much; too busy familiarizing myself with more important things like brakes and gears and not running over pedestrians. It's just funny how, even though my general ability to ride a bike has remained intact after all these years, the "naturalness" of it hasn't quite come back yet.

Like you said, you get the first one in before you start forward, and use it for the first hard push to get rolling. I just put my foot on the other pedal any old way for the first few strokes to pick up some speed....and THEN I can stop pedaling for a second while i flip the other pedal and slip my foot in. (I use PowerGrip straps). Sounds more complex than it is though- only takes a second.
My husband uses cages but he has them adjusted so that he doesn't have to adjust the buckles to get in or out.

[alpinerabbit]

No one has yet explained why you get more power:

because you can get more muscles to work, hamstrings, glutes, core - you simply have twice the muscle. This doesn't necessarily translate into twice the speed, but maybe twice the endurance (or almost twice).

[KnottedYet]

When I switched from cages to Speedplay Frogs it made an immediate difference of 1 mph on my commute. I was chortling with glee as my 5 mph hill became a 6 mph hill.

That seemed to be the only difference they made speed-wise, but boy was it gratifying!