Originally Posted by choddo

Yeah, that’s a good idea but take care, slipping off can cause some nice shin scrapes if you suddenly discover you need to hurry up. You’ve made me think about how I clip in now and I think I gently toe the pedal, at noon, forward to get it horizontal and then slide the shoe along it to find the socket and then gently push once I’m sure it’s in the right place so I’m putting some power to the chain as it snaps in. Never had the shoe slip backwards doing that although I have, as above, had it go off the side if careless or even misalign and get my shoe up against the crank and had to start again a few strokes later. Usually this is all by feel although I might glance to check the pedal is “spring downward” when I start.

and I do all of this in a big gear because it buys me more time to clip in.

What sort of pedals are you using?