Originally Posted by Digital Gee
This thread is not reassuring me about going clipless. It seems overwhelming in terms of choices about pedals, how to adjust them, and so on. How can something that should, it seems to me, be pretty simple get so complicated?
Now I'm (still) worried about falling over, and worried about making my knee problem worse, and buying/regretting the "wrong" pedal, and I'm getting overwhelmed with all the well-intended advice and opinion. (This is about me, not you...
)
I have a headache.
Maybe that's why I like platforms so much. They are no-brainers. Kinda like me.
Don't fret, DG- it's not as bad as some are making it out to be. I switched from platforms to 520s about 2 months ago and absolutely love 'em. Have I fallen? Yes, twice. No big deal, I promiose you, except the first time was in front of about five young women taking a drink break, all in full kit with carbon. Ugh. Zero (forward) velocity, and a painless (physically) fall. Not even a scratch on my brifter or a scuff on my bar tape. Embarrassing is the key word here, but the women were very understanding and of course offered to help me up (thereby doubling the embarrassment
). Second time I was by myself, sono embarrassment- again, no forward velocity, and a painless fall. Little scrape on my knee- that was it. Both of these falls were because I forgot that I was clipped in!
Speaking of knees- I find that my knees don't bother me at all, even on hilly metrics, since I switched. Something about the plane of motion through the pedaling stroke and the reduction in shear forces when you use clipless.
I would suggest practicing- I don't have rollers or a trainer, so I did mine in a very slow circle on a wide path, with one foot clipped in at a time, then alternating, then both, practicing clipping in and out. I had it down in about 10 minutes, and that was that.
Just do it, DG- you'll be fine!