Originally Posted by apfaffman

It's amazing what happens here. After being shamed by several of the replies to this post into practicing clipping and unclipping (this is a conscious, focused, and repeated effort, rather than what it had been previously, which was merely out of necessity at red lights), I'm getting the hang of clipping in without incident. The main problem, which motorthings pointed out, is being patient enough to clip in when a light turns green before trying to accelerate.

To those of you scratching your heads about the shin-banging, it's because my left foot--which I always unclip when I stop and leave the right foot clipped in--slides backwards off the pedal, and because my right foot expected the left to be clipped in, the left crank arm cycles a bit too quickly and catches my left shin before I can pull my left leg back into position. Whew.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I always forget it pays to slow down and take it a step at a time. It's a lesson I re-learn with every new thing I try.