I had to stop while going up a fairly steep hill because of a truck and a trailer, and unclip... It never occurred to me how hard it would be to get going again with SPD-SL's on a hill. After about a minute of making myself look we-todd-did I just turned around, went down the hill, did a U-turn, and went back up.

happened to me once too. tipping over at a stop light is far more exciting tho

I've done that on really steep hills as well. I wouldn't call it a fail though, I'm just not good enough to flip the pedal over and clip in that quickly

Clip in, ride on the middle of your other foot until you garner enough speed to clip in. I learned the hard way too

This... even happens occasionally on flat land if I miss with my right cleat, sometimes get a turn or two with the middle of my right foot in my rush to get moving quickly again.

If I was riding mountain bike shoes with rubber soles, it would be easy, but hard, slick road shoe soles on top of hard metal clipless pedals make it pretty darn hard to pedal without clipping in.

This is one of the reason That I gave up on SPD-L pedals and switched to Speedplay. I live near a bunch of hills and when I first started riding, I couldn't make it to the top of the hill. On step hills, my pedals would almost hang upside down. Speedplay pedals are extemely easy to clip into on hills.

Didn't we just discuss this? Pedal full circles with the other foot until you're in. But you're right, something/one failed.

Pulling out of your pedal in mid sprint is more of an epic fail. This one is more annoying than anything.

the downhill then u-turn is what I do.

track stand

Clip in moving sideways, then turn forward again and head back up the hill

You can also aim across the hill and get clipped in on "flat" then aim it up the hill once you get clipped in.

I've used SPD and LOOKs. Quit using the LOOKS and went back to SPDs. I'm not racing and I find the SPDs more comfortable.

That works splendidly on a sand covered 20% grade. *smacks self in head*

I was also in too high of a gear to pedal up a hill starting at zero.

You know this is the ROAD cycling forum, right?...

You can't do this in the space of one lane, and I can't do a track stand with platform pedals, much less clipless...

That is a valid method if the road is empty and not covered in sand.

Ouch.

Yeah gravel and sand aren't fun on any grade

Yes... do you?

might have to try this on my ride in a few minutes... sure you gotta wait for a break in traffic.. but you have to do this to go down the hill and back up it also. so at some point you have to be across both lanes, might as well be on your bike going upward. you do know you can shift into a low gear while standing next to your bike.. so the whole wrong gear thing is silly.

lift back wheel, shift, rotate pedals.

ftfy

just, put the front brake on and push the bike forward to lift the rear wheel, or one hand on brifter, one hand on seat.

Not relevant since I wasn't trying to do a trackstand or pedal full circle anyway. I know you can change gears off the bike.