For me, I was lucky, got them at Christmas time, so no pressure to go out and ride. I had a large carpeted area inside, so I practiced there and on my trainer. The trainer was very helpful!

If you fall, (I won't say when, although I fell a few times) don't wiper off the blood from your knee. After a few miles you'll stop bleeding, it will dry on your shin, and you will look bad a**.

I practiced on an indoor trainer. My 1 fall so far was when I got done my ride and un-clipped pulling up next to my truck and the bike went and leaned to the other side as I stopped. I now use what I do on my motorcycle at the track and push on the bar on the side that is un-clipped, thus making the bike lean to that side.

I've been riding mtn bikes for years and use the SPD pedals. I recently got into road cycling and am looking at the spd-sl pedals. How much harder are they to hnclip from?

I'm sure many of you have already said this, but really the only way to practice initially is to do it in your driveway several times standing over the bike so it becomes muscle memory on each foot. Then try getting in and out randomly when you are actually riding when there are no stops to get the feel of what it is like to clip in when moving. I try to anticipate stops as best I can, but sometimes it's unavoidable and you have to trust your instincts to clip out. My dad rode with me one time from my apartment and we decided to try a different route that involved us having to ride through many stop lights and intersections. He told me after the ride since he was very new to clipless pedals after I convinced him about their advandages that he had more practice that ride than where he normally goes. Consequently he said he felt much more comfortable getting in and out of his pedals with the real-time scenarios that forced him to clip in and out frequently. I like to push off with my non-dominant foot so I can get into my pedals better as my right leg is my dominant one.

I don't have any real experience with SPD, only a couple times I tried it and found that they are more finicky with dirt and whatnot as it's a smaller cleat. I love my SPD SL cleats, but they only downside is that they are almost always single sided entry. The cleats wear out in about 1500-2000 miles for me, so it's not too bad when they are only 26 bucks each. The ease of clipping is adjustable on SPD SL on my 105 pedals for tension to achieve desired effort. I personally like the wide platform that SPD SL offers so I got less hotspots on my feet.

You will "fall over." (Who around here said that, wasn't me, so no credit here) As soon as you get over confident, and try to track stand at an intersection.. LOL.

Not to be the renegade of the thread but I've had clipless on my bikes for 20 years and I always unclip with my right and never got a greasy leg. Although, I have a weird genetic issue with my left leg so I favor my right leg more. It's habit.

I was ambitious on my first ride and wanted to see how much more efficient it is climbing a hill. Lost momentum and that's when I fell. Luckily it was at a park near my apartment. Glad I didn't fall into some dog poop.

I'm the same. I'm more comfortable unclipping with my right foot than my left. I also don't get a greasy leg.