IMHO, I find cages to be more dangerous and annoying then clipless. For someone starting out, I would recommend double-sided bindings on the pedals and shoes you can walk in. There aren't that many road-specific pedals with double-sided bindings. Some of them include Bebops, Speedplay and Crankbros. Most of the MTB pedals are double-sided however. While I myself wear Sidi road-specific shoes, as far as shoes go, most road-specific shoes (including mine) aren't very walkable and the road-specific cleats (Speedplay Zeros) don't help. Most MTB shoes are however walkable. The problem is that most MTB shoes only come drilled for 2-hole SPD-style cleat mounting and many road shoes come only with 4-hole Time or 3-hole look mounting patterns. You may be able to find some shoes that are both walkable and drilled for a variety of mounting patterns. Lake makes a large variety of such shoes. You might want to check them out. The Lake CX120 is a great compromise shoe that is fairly lightweight and stiff for road riding, has enough tread and stability for walking and comes drilled for SPD as well as Look style cleats. The cleat area is surrounded by tread for walking yet is large enough to allow you to use them with road-specific pedals.