Honestly, I'm tired of cycling shoes. I've never liked the idea of having cycling-specific shoes and I've been using them for years. I'm aware of the benefits of stiffer soles but I'm not really one for purchasing modest efficiency at the cost of practicality. I've considered shoe covers but that would only add to that. There's also the complaints of lack of durability of shoe covers and I'm hard on equipment.

Regarding off vs on roading, I do both. I've decided to set up my bike for it: a drop bar 29er after playing around a bit with a CX-esque road bike. I ride some pretty rough trails, in addition to the road and the latter bike hasn't been up to the challenge.

I got myself a pair of modern flat pedals in the mail today and I will give them a test run this weekend. If I find the foot traction adequate, I may eschew clipless for quite a while.