Is THAT what I was afraid of? (clipless)

[emily_in_nc]

Often times, switching to clipless is not as bad as some make it out to be. Yeah, some may have a little bit of a harder time getting used to them, but it's seems to be more of a mental thing in many cases (and I guess the idea of being clipped in could be a little frightening). It's defiantly got to be much easier and safer than toeclips (I refuse to use those...death traps ).

ITA. A friend just started riding, and I gave her an older pair of Eggbeater Candy C pedals off the MTB I recently sold (she also has a mtb but with urban tires and is riding on the road). She rode it a few times with flat pedals but then had her bf put the Candys on and just fearlessly got out there and rode with them. I gave her a short lesson, and she did just fine. She did fall once trying to get started at a stop, but was not hurt. She just got up and kept going. She has a wonderful attitude and is not nearly as fearful as I probably would be if I hadn't been riding clipless for years!

It's mind over matter, really. Good going, Grey - you rock!

[LivetoRide]

ITA. A friend just started riding, and I gave her an older pair of Eggbeater Candy C pedals off the MTB I recently sold (she also has a mtb but with urban tires and is riding on the road). She rode it a few times with flat pedals but then had her bf put the Candys on and just fearlessly got out there and rode with them. I gave her a short lesson, and she did just fine. She did fall once trying to get started at a stop, but was not hurt. She just got up and kept going. She has a wonderful attitude and is not nearly as fearful as I probably would be if I hadn't been riding clipless for years!

It's mind over matter, really. Good going, Grey - you rock!

To me, it's like my other sport of horseback riding: you're going to fall at some point. Clipless pedals or not, chances are that if you ride enough, it'll happen. To be honest, I'd be more afraid of falling while climbing with regular platform pedals that if I were to fall climbing w/ clipless pedals.

For those that are worried about making the switch, another thing that can help are the double sided pedals where one side is just a regular platform pedal and the other is a mtb style clipless pedal (TIME has a set, Shimano makes a few different models...).

And some perhaps are not aware that you can adjust the release tension of many clipless pedals.