I have trouble understanding how the pedal ripped the cleat out of your shoe, without wrecking the shoe. I have my cleats set pretty loose, but then I dont pull up hard on the pedals, or do big bunny hops. After a while twisting the foot sideways becomes the natural way to take your foot off the pedals, like up and back was the way to do it with toe clips. Then you dont need to think about unclipping before you stop. If you feel your self falling when you have one foot clipped in, a quick twitch of the handle bars will make you fall to the unclipped side.