Originally Posted by
raqball
You are giving up after only one ride?
One 40-mile ride, but yes, it still sounds a bit like I'm being a poor quitter by only giving it a chance during one ride. It will only be one ride because it was too painful (my feet, not the fall). If I were to continue trying to go clipless then I would change my shoes and go a size or two up, but I don't see the point in continuing to try. I went into it expecting that it would make cycling even more fun, that it would allow for a more versatile workout by working more muscle groups, and if I gained some increased power and endurance, then that would be wonderful (don't we all wish we could buy those, instead of working for them?
). In practice, the increased complexity of getting into and out of the pedals - while minor - took some of the fun out of things, I felt more fatigued than usual, and I discovered that the ability to utilize more muscles was actually somewhat limited. These things might be unique to me, but I wasn't expecting them at all.
I'm not trying to trash clip-in clipless pedals with this thread. As I wrote in my opening post, I will probably try them again some day (particularly if I get into road bikes). Maybe it's the way my body matches my current bicycle frame, or the way I cycle, but I just can't see myself gaining any of the oft-stated benefits even if I were to switch to better-fitted cycling shoes at this point in time. I also recognize now that it's not an upgrade that results in immediate results; it probably takes time to build up new muscle memory (and previously unused muscles). Yet for me - as I am now, and for what I want out of cycling - clipless just isn't a good fit, although I had to try it for myself to discover that.
Previously, the only negative things I had heard about clipless dealt with safety issues of clipping out. Increases to performance were a given. I hadn't heard anything similar to what I experienced, so I figured I'd share.