Originally Posted by
wildergeek
Not just push-pull. After a while, your legs will learn to spin your feet in circles, exerting force through the entire crank rotation. You have to concentrate to do it at first, but once you get it going, you'll immediately feel it.
Exactly, once you get used to the spinning technique and get all your muscles used to working through the entire cycle you will find you can go just as fast or faster in a lower/easier gear keeping up a higher cadence. There will be less fatigue than mashing along in a higher gear.
It's good for SCR. Spot your prey, spin along to catch up, gear up and mash on the pass and breakaway, then gear down and spin away at a high cadence. They will never no what hit them.
I've become so used to pedaling in circles that I have to deliberately pedal more carefully when I ride the platform side in sneakers so as to not slip a foot off.
Word +1, when I go from bike (n) strictly clipless pedals, to bike (n-1) combo platform/clipless in sneakers I catch myself doing the same thing.
Edit......
As for clipping in and out I haven't really had any problems, not to say I haven't looked completely silly falling over a couple of times. I keep the spring tension at the lowest setting. Never had a problem coming out while riding or clipping out at a stop. Just the few times when I was getting used to them have I fallen, oh yea and a few weeks back on a ped busy mup when I should have been unclipped and I got stuck with nowhere to go but flat