For me the bottom line is that I started using clipless around 2004 and like everybody else, I bought into the hype and the claims and I thought - wow, this is great, I feel so much faster and more in control and this must be so much more efficient. And then when I took clipless pedals off my bikes after a couple of years, and I discovered that I didn't suddenly slow down, or have to work harder, or lose my ability to ride uphill, I realized that clipless hadn't actually done much for my riding after all. The benefits are hugely overstated. In racing and very steep uphills, they offer a worthwhile, but still quite small advantage.