CliplessPedals

I started transitioning to clipless about a month ago. I've fallen once (and tipped over against a wall once). I now have road pedals (Shimano SPD's) on my roadie and mountain pedals (SPD-SL's) on my commuter. I highly recommend them.

I am not sure that I get a great deal more power to the road. I've even seen a few articles and trials that suggest that while they help with sprinting, they have a negligible impact at cruising speed.

What I do like about them is that they keep my foot properly placed on the pedal. Before using them, I had heard of this and fully discounted it as having value. Now that I am used to them, though, I am a huge fan. My mountain pedals are dual-sided. Whenever I wear regular sneakers and use the flat side, my feet don't feel planted.

My one fall was onto coarse gravel. Short of falling down a hill or into the street, it was about as bad as simply falling off a bicycle could be. Still totally worth it.

My big lesson from that fall: I need to regularly practice clipping out with my right foot first. I land with my left foot. When I started overbalancing to the right at a traffic signal, my right foot simply didn't have enough practice with clipping out quickly.