SPD Encouragement needed

[Catrin]

.....

Ride your bike. If clipless freak you out, don't force yourself. Get a pedal wrench and learn to use it, change back and forth, and do what you want and when you want. They are not required. They are not a badge of courage. They do not mark you in some mystic way.

They are only pedals.

Ride.

I am certainly riding I know they are not required and are not some mystic badge. What I really want to do is to get past this anxiety I have from my previous experience and evaluate them on their own merit. Perhaps, I will love them more than chocolate, or less than soy milk (which I can't stand), but I want that decision to be based on a real evaluation and not some remaining fear from a failed experiment tried much too early in my development as a cyclist.

For me, fear builds when I avoid something - the quickest way to defuse that is simple. Just. Do. It. Indeed, they are only pedals, and trying out the double-sided SPDs is my way of turning them into just that - pedals.

Murieen, I wish that I could dismount on the left side - but my body just refuses to do that - probably because of that foot surgery - it is either a flexibility problem or some unconscious way of protecting that foot & ankle.

Knotted - you have the greatest signature lines - just wanted to say that

[uforgot]

I had a rather long post, Catrin, but then we posted at the same ridiculous hour of the morning, and I see why you want to try it! Good luck.

Just want to note that I threw out the clipless pedals too. Just like Knotted. I rode them for 3 years, never had a problem with them, I just prefer to not use them and the special shoes they require. I'm having fun with my bike and I can just hop on and ride around town now whenever I want. I can also hop off and run after any amazing little thing I want to photograph.

Here's an interesting thread we had. Lots of different opinions. Like always.

[Catrin]

I saw your original post in my email box

In the end, I will decide when I walk into the door today whether the experiment will come now or later. I do have BMX pedals - and while my feet do stay on the pedals keep my legs torn up where they wallop me. The pedals are now looking pretty bad - so I will walk out with new pedals today - one way or the other.

The nice thing about the Shimano pedals is that I can use either kind of shoe with them - and I LIKE that - especially if the teeth on the platform side are substantial enough to keep my shoe on the pedal. There is a reason why I have put up with having my right calf torn up all summer from the spikes on the BMX pedals - my feet are quite stable on them - which is a great thing!

[uforgot]

Let us know how it goes.

[OakLeaf]

What Knott said, and ALSO, it's okay to put your right foot down first.

So do I. I know we're in the minority. Always have, probably always will. Bicis aren't "meant" to be dismounted one side or the other (unlike motos, which do require the right foot on the rear brake, and even after a 12 year hiatus from bicycling in which I rode tens of thousands of moto miles putting the left foot down, I still unclip right).

People say it's normal to put your non-dominant foot down first, but I'm right-handed and right-footed. What I am, though, is left-eyed (cross-dominant people are also in the minority), and I wonder if that's it. Think I'll post a poll....

[sundial]

Did the SPD thing and I've converted to platforms. I climb big hills better on platforms. I can wear virtually any shoe that I want to. I can change the foot position on the platforms and give different muscle groups a rest which is especially nice on a long ride. My knee is a lot happier too. Platforms help you connect with the die hard, competitive, weight weenie, hammerfest cyclists who secretly admire your courage to challenge convention. Give the SPDs a chance and if it doesn't work out, you have a myriad of choices for platforms.

[uforgot]

I always put the right foot down first too. I'm right handed, but what I like to call, left footed. I do left cartwheels, left splits and left kicks better. As a dance teacher, I find that there are always a couple of girls, even though they are right handed, do these things better on the left too. Opposite the majority. I also wonder if that is the difference, since we have had this discussion before.

[KnottedYet]

I'm left dominant (hand, leg, eye) and I always put my right foot down first. I always manage my water bottle with my right hand.

My dominant side stays in charge of the bike. I like the bike more than the ground or bottle, I guess!

[JennK13]

What Knott said, and ALSO, it's okay to put your right foot down first.

So do I. I know we're in the minority. Always have, probably always will. Bicis aren't "meant" to be dismounted one side or the other (unlike motos, which do require the right foot on the rear brake, and even after a 12 year hiatus from bicycling in which I rode tens of thousands of moto miles putting the left foot down, I still unclip right).

I'm right footed, and even when I ride a moto, I put my right foot down!! I always brake using my hand and my foot brake, but as I actually come to a stop, I'm shifting with the left foot, and I always have put my right foot on the ground. Guess it's just natural to do the same on the bike