Proper loving the thread.
North wind has it though, there is no right or wrong, just different.
I went from flats to spds after a year of riding properly, then after another 3 years of doing races and XC stuff I went back to flats and my technique is massively better.
*I* can’t see how I would be able to control the bike properly with spds, as I really use my feet on the flats in different positions to dynamically weight and unweight the bike.
*However* others will say the exact opposite. And thats the right answer for them.
With that in mind, I’d recommend some secondhand shoes and pedals. Worn cleats and pedals are easier to exit and clip. And if you don’t like it (you’ll need at least a week riding in them) then its not much loss.
🙂
Oh.. And you’ve got dirty cable outers, or a kink in your cable inner. Its getting stuck. Simple solution is to replace the cable, with a few squirts of wd40 in the outer to clear it out.