Clipless pedals

Here is a term that makes no sense to me. When I bought my new road bike I bravely agreed to get real bike shoes and clipless pedals. The grammarian in me says that term means they are without a clip. However, the truth is they are pedals that you lock into. The clip that the pedal is without actually refers to a toe cage or toe clip that used to be on pedals. Since the pedal doesn’t have a toe cage it is clipless.

Most of us have ridden a bike with a flat or platform pedal. And most of us have had a foot slip off at least once. That’s not a huge deal when riding around the neighborhood so there is no money spent on expensive shoes or pedals to keep it from happening.

For many mountain bikes and road bikes, the rider is willing to accept the expense of special shoes and pedals. It isn’t just to keep the foot from slipping off, though. There is some real advantage to having the shoe and pedal attached to each other when climbing a hill on a bike. You can exert more pull on the back up stroke which helps even out the effort.

With clip-in pedals starting out looks like this:

• Stand on the left side of the bike.
• Position the right pedal at 6 o’clock.
• Put the right food on the pedal and click in
• Now bring the pedal back up to noon o’clock (that’s toward the front). This means I can push off and get some momentum. Speed is my friend (yeah, crazy, but I keep repeating it thinking maybe some day I’ll believe it)
• Now, while the bike is moving (with me on it, sort of) get that left foot up and clipped in
• If the left foot doesn’t clip in right away, pedal normally to keep up the speed (remember, speed is my friend) until I can get that foot clipped in

Now that I’m moving, stopping requires a lot of planning as well.

• Get up some speed (yep, speed really is my friend)
• With the left foot at the top of the stroke (12 0′clock) jerk the shoe out of the pedal clip. I still have some difficulty with this so I start preparing to stop long before I really need to stop. I can walk the bike the last few feet if I have to.
• Now start braking and lean to the left to put the left foot on the ground when I stop
• Then unclip the right foot

In my time on the bike so far, I have fallen 3 times. All have been because I was starting or stopping and had difficulty getting the shoe in or out of the lock. I have successfully stopped and started many more times. I have been reassured that this will become second nature to me.

Popularity: 75% [?]