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I know that toe clips aren't popular these days, but being the retrogrouch that I am, I still use them. On an upgright bike they work extremely well for me. I can get into them faster than most people I know can lock into their cleats.

On the recumbent, however, they are a little more problamatic. They are a lot slower to get in to because one has to come from ``underneath'' the clip; the traditional method of catching the rear point of the pedal on the sole of the shoe doesn't work well when you are behind the pedals rather than above them.

On the other hand, my chiropractor, who also has a great interest in sports medicine, examined my recumbent and said that he felt the twisting motion needed to get out of clipless pedals would be harmful if used from a recumbent, rather than the normal upright, position.

On July 15th, 1995 there was a message posted on the HPV mailing list by John Gilchrist (gilx@xmission.com) in which there was a description of a rather grisly accident caused by someone's foot falling out of a toeclip at high speed and striking the ground. Gilchrist said that this accident could have been avoided had the rider been using clipless pedals.

It struck me that the problem was likely as much due to the shoes as the lack of a clipless system.

When you are using toeclips, the type of shoes you wear is quite important. My first test rides on my recumbent were in street shoes, and I couldn't keep my feet in the clips for any length of time. (If I didn't actively push my feet up when in the clips, they would just fall right out.)

In my touring shoes, which are designed for toeclips, I don't have this problem. I've got a pair of old Sidi touring shoes, which have about 3 mm deep left-right grooves in the sole under the ball of the foot. On an upright bike these help to catch the hook on the back of the pedal to help one clip in. (They work very well: on my upright I can get back into clips faster than most people I know can cleat in. I sometimes find myself looking down to find out why I'm having so much trouble getting into the clip to find that my foot went in so smoothly and quickly that I never noticed it.)

On my recumbent (and presumably on my upright, though I didn't notice it as much) these grooves act like small cleats, and help to keep my foot locked into the pedal. I keep my toe straps quite tight. I thought this would make the clips more difficult to get in to, but it doesn't, and it takes a good solid tug to get my feet out of the clips. (But I've got no problem doing it; I do it at every stoplight.) I can relax my legs completely and my feet will still `hang' in the toeclips.

I have also tried a pair of old racing shoes (designed for toe clips and straps) with cleats on them. They really lock your foot in nicely, but it wasn't as easy to get the foot out (though it could still be done without any inordinant amount of difficulty). The biggest problem with these was the very smooth, hard sole, which made walking and even standing very difficult. I actually fell over on my recumbent at one point after I had put my foot down on the ground because the shoe just slid out from under me. The touring shoes never have this problem.

Sad to say, proper shoes designed for clip systems are awfully difficult to find these days. Modern cycling shoes can be bought with a little rubber plate in place of the cleat (one would normally remove this to install the cleat) but I've not seen any shoes recently that have the grooves my Sidi shoes have.