As I keep thinking about doing the Empire State Trail another question popped into my mind. What kind of pedals? I'll be riding an old modded Trek 7000, with 26" Gatorskins (as I decided after reading the thread on the Schwalbe Marathon Plus), 3x10 gearing with a very wide range, NFW I'll be riding a Brooks saddle so I have to come up with something else, lights, bags, and a lock (as in my prior thread).

I use Assioma power meter pedals on my road bike, and I like having that measure. These are similar to Look but I haven't found the cleats to be fully compatible. On the touring bike I always used flat pedals with toe clips, on my other MTB that I hardly ever use I just have flat pedals. I also somewhere have a pair of SPDs, but no compatible shoes. Having a power meter will give me a better gauge of what I'm doing on a day to day basis. I'll have my Wahoo Bolt on the bars anyway so I may as well have power too. But the downside is the shoes. I always envisioned myself wearing regular shoes on the tour so I'm not clomping around in cleats, and I wouldn't have to carry extra shoes. I commuted for years with toe clips in NYC and it is just natural to me, as are the Assioma/Look. I never really liked the SPDs and swapped them out for the flat pedals on my 3rd bike. I have no idea where the shoes went.

What do people usually use? Pros/cons, experiences, disaster stories, foot pain? I'll have to load up the bike and test them both with longish rides.