Pedal wise I was going to suggest toe clips and then I looked at the picture again and noticed that they are already there. I think that when your trying to ride with any kind of power at all that having you feet slip off the pedals in one of the most dangerous things of all. Toe clips WITHOUT cleated shoes is a nice middle ground because they stop you feet sliding off under power but you can pull your feet backwards quickly when required.

Back in the day we used toe clips with slotted cleats which were slower to get into and out of than SPD's so I think SPD/SPD-SL cleats are easy to deal with

Anthony