How to "use" clipless pedals properly?
 

Is this concious or what? I'm not sure if i'm actually going faster or what not. I always feel like i'm pushing down (obviously) but i don't know if i'm pulling up? I hope you guys don't think this is a ******** post, but i'm just wondering if there's a "proper" way of using clipess pedals.

Oh and one more thing, my pedals are flats on one side and clipess on the other, and i always find it a pain in the ass to clip in beacuse i have to look down and flip 'em. Is their a technique or something i can do to make the clipess alaways up? (Or is my only choice to buy new ones?)

It takes time to adjust to clipless pedals. One thing you can do is try unclipping one leg pedal with the other then switch. This is best done on flat ground, and in easy gears so you don't put too much strain on your knee.

Yea i find i waste like...............most of my energy looking down and peddaling "ackwardly" and wasting energy like that...

it takes time to learn to spin effectively...I thought I was spinning for the longest time, then realized it was just that I was mashing at such an insane RPM that I thought I was spinning...

...once you actually get a perfect spin, you WILL know it, it's a very alien feeling at first, it's almost like floating in air, but the bike is maintaining speed, and you don't have any of the indicators of running too low a gear. when I first had my "holy crap, I'm spining!" moment was while doing a flat out here...I realized that there was NO resistance on the pedals, but no slack either...well I was flying once I kept that going.

Sadly I can't seem to do that very often, but it is more common than it was now. Basically it's jsut a matter of getting used to it. I found if you try to pedal is if you were slightly further into the rotation than you are, it makes spinning slightly easier. I try to act as if I'm 1/4 turn farther into the rotation than I am once I get to a decent cadence.

Once you've learned to spin and had a while to get used to clipless, try going back to platform. Try not to crash when you loose one from not being used to constantly pushing down all the way through the pedal stroke. :D

Imagine that you're pushing down on the down stroke, the you are pulling back, like scraping mud off the bottom of your shoe, then you are pulling up as the other foot pushes down, and then the other foot is scraping mud off of the bottom.

Just think about the stroke as a perfect circle you want to keep as smooth as possible. It'll come.

well so you dont feel like all your energy is going down, try standing up and lightly push down but with force pull up. Just pedal really hard on a cadence thats way to low and you wil feel yourself working and pulling up. It gets rid of that feeling, then go to a normal cadence and you will be a happier rider

Easy way to test this is to unclip one foot and pedal with the other. You'll find out real quickly if you're pulling up on the stroke. Do this for both legs.

I'll never go back to platforms. At first I too was like, what's the big hoopla about clipless it doesn't seem any faster and now I have the added burden of making sure I clip out.

But now that i've gotten used to them, I can push/pull the entire circle uphill, downhill, on flats without every worrying about my foot placement...!

Bonus is you can never slip off the pedals, i.e if it's wet.

And, of course, don't worry about falling down. As you are learning, you will approach a stop and forget to unclip, and then slowly fall to the side. If you're lucky, few will see. When it happens, smile and know that you have been initiated.

Just make sure you fall on something soft, like a grassy shoulder. Don't fall into a curb and a hydrant like I did last week. The curb left a huge scrape on my chainring, and the hydrant left a big welt on my lower back. Oh yeah, and I did this right at a busy intersection in rush hour traffic.

I ride clipless on both bikes, but I'm in a park area with no stop signs and intersections.
I think they are great, but in cities, there is a place for toe clips or platforms as well.
As far as spinning a dual-function pedal, I believe there are clip on platforms for clipless pedals. If there are, I would suggest scrapping the flipovers and getting some mb two sided clipless and a pair of clip on platforms-if they work together.
On the topic of round spinning, I am not sure that it ever becomes automatic. I find I have an "oh yeh! type of realization that I am mashing before returing again to a more circular pedal stroke. For me, it requires focus. I find it more automatic when on a prolonged gradual incline, and I can usually tell it's working by the burn in the quads. Also, when standing to clear a hill, I usually revert to what feels like total upstroking for a change of style.

Don't worry about pulling up, or across the bottom, or pushing across the top. All you really need to worry about is unweighting the pedal during the upstroke. It may come more naturally to think in terms of lifting your knee during the upstroke. As you become accustomed to it, and if your cadence is in the 90s or above, and you aren't mashing, just follow the pedals, and "feel" them for the entire revolution. Seat height can affect your spin, mainly if your seat is too low or too high. Probably not your problem, tho.

Your trouble clipping in is due to the kind of pedals you are using. Double sided clip-ins, well, it doesn't matter. One sided, dedicated clip-ins typically nose-up at rest, so you snag the nose with the tip of the cleat when you go to clip in. No looking down necessary. If your pedals tend to fall to any particular position at rest, you can assume that is their position when starting out, and learn to manipulate them into position w/out looking.

I notice I do "pull up" slightly because I tried riding in regular tennis shoes on my mallet pedals and on the backstroke my foot kept coming up off the pedal, it was driving me nuts. I won't be riding clipless again anytime soon.