How far are you riding in normal clothes. I did 63 miles in the Alps yesterday and I would have been in right state wearing my normal clothes.
When I first switched from fellwalking to cycling I just used all the clothing I already had, apart from wearing Lycra shorts. By the time I'd been cycle touring for ten years I was still using the same 'ordinary' clothes, except that I'd taken to using Ron Hill Bikesters instead of polycotton walking trousers. They took quite a lot of getting used to because they aren't windproof like walking trousers, but it saved sewing a gusset into the knees to prevent them riding up.
I was cycling day rides up to 150 miles, and tours up to 1400 miles with no clothing problems at all.
I am sure some folk can and will present rebuttals to all the above but just like wearing aero clothing, running gossamer thin tyres with ultra low rolling resistance, slamming the stem for a more aero position it's important to put these in context - a lot of this comes from racing.
50 years ago when I was a teenager we thought 'rat traps' were cool and fitted them to our Carltons and Claude Butlers, it didn't take long for all of us to ditch them - we all fell off at some point and the dam things always seemed to be in the wrong orientation after stopping !
This. Cyclists are full of what racers do and don't do because "if racing cyclists do it it must be the best", without any conception that what's best for racing isn't necessarily best for everyone else. Like going to Tesco in a Cortina with a spoiler on the boot because if Lewis Hamilton has a spoiler on his Ferrari that must be the right way to do it. (I got toe clips 50 odd years ago just to copy a mate, but I've kept them ever since because I like the security of having my feet restrained from slipping off the pedals. I don't tighten the straps though.)
If you're having to look at your feet your fundamental skills aren't there to begin with.
After 40 years of riding with toe clips I could get my foot in the clip first time every time without looking down, then in 2011 I fitted a new pair of MKS MT-Lite pedals, and all of a sudden I was fumbling around like someone who'd never used toe clips in his life. It was taking me 2-3-4 attempts or more, and in 8,000 miles of using them, nothing changed. I
never got used to them.
The problem's simple: they have bearings with unbelievably low friction, so they just won't stop swinging around all over the place. I always used to run my pedals full of grease, which helps damp them, but you can't access the MKS ones to put any in.
Starting is easier on a climb as the "pushing" foot is held securely in place.
That's not the point, the issue arises when you get to the end of the first pedal stroke and still don't have enough momentum to carry you whilst you get your other foot sorted.
I certainly don't bother changing into oter cycling gear for that ride, just my normal clothes with cycling shoes and helmet.
Ordinary trousers are no good unless I want them greasy, and cycle clips are no good because the trousers are half way up my calves with my knees bent. I either need trousers with Velcro straps sewn on the bottoms, or gussets in the knee so that they'll bend without rising up, and preferably both.
clipless stops you scuffing up the anodising on the cranks
I fixed that by re-routing the toe straps.
An extended limb can end up a broken limb
A non-extended limb can end up a broken something else more serious.
