I have a pair of Shimano PD-M646 pedals on my XC bike. They have a nice wide platform surrounding the clip-in part, so they feel very stable under my feet and give me more confidence. Also, if you don't clip in right away, you can just pedal as you would on platforms until the shoe snaps in (usually very easy). The downside is they are heavy. But my first pair of clipless were standard-sized and I never fell when I started using them. It came pretty naturally to me. Then it finally happened a few weeks ago, I was just being careless and fell over. This after using clipless for 4 years.