Originally Posted by
USAZorro
I could imagine myself using them if I were a track rider. I grew up riding on the road and even though I never entered a formal race, I had a very competitive mindset, and didn't get passed often by cars on city streets, and 52/14 was my default gear (10th speed) unless I hit a hill. I had cages and straps, and never once did it cross my mind that I was losing power. Certainly, as a racer, you're going to look for every competitive advantage you can afford (like finding light spikes as a track runner). That said, I can't imagine using them on an 'Eroica ride, given that you almost need a support team to get out of them when you stop - let alone what might happen if your chain slipped on a climb.
I made the switch to clipless after using crappy plastic full cages that I didn't tighten on a commute. I was going ~40 mph down a hill in traffic (trying to keep up) when my foot slipped out of the cage. I freaked out, accidentally jerked my other foot out of its cage and now was going down the hill in heavy traffic with both feet out of retention. The way the pedals were set up, the non-cage side was awkward to use, but I was focusing on controlling the bike and traffic so that I wasn't able to slip back into the cages.
Sure I ended up just fine and was new-ish to getting back to riding after many years away and didn't have the experience to make good choices, but wanting a more secure way of locking into my pedals in traffic led me to clipless. It wasn't a power thing, it was a keeping safe thing. Once I put them on, it became second nature and I feel weird riding a bike that doesn't have them.