Once you get used to them, clipless pedals can make a huge difference in how much easier and more fun it is to ride your bike.
If you are relatively new to cycling and are starting to really get into it, one of the key riding decisions that bicyclists eventually come across as they progress is whether to upgrade to clipless pedals. Not all bikes come with pedals that have clips, so it might be a bit confusing using the term clipless.
While most children's or basic adult bicycles have a standard platform pedal with identical platforms on both sides, some adult pedal systems include what are called "toe clips", which are what can be described as a small metal or plastic basket on the front of the pedal. A rider can put the toes of their shoes into the toe clips and by pulling with the toes on the upstroke, gain a bit more power when pedaling.
Toe clips are an antiquated system but they are still available with some bicycles and they don't require a special type of shoe to use them.
All things being equal in a modern quality bike, upgrading to clipless pedals is probably the single easiest way to significantly improve your pedaling performance. We'll get into that a little later.
So What is a Clipless Pedal?
Clipless pedals are a system in which each pedal has a mechanism that locks onto a cleat mounted onto the bottom of special bicycling shoes.
There are several different designs of clipless pedal systems from a variety of manufacturers like Shimano, Look, Time, Crank Brothers, Ritchey, and Speedplay. We'll have to make a distinction here between systems designed for road bicycles and those for mountain bikes. 
Most pedal systems for road bikes offer a cleat entry only on one side. Whereas mountain bike pedals typically have a two-sided cleat entry system, mainly because mountain bikers have to disengage and engage many times while riding the trail, and having a two-sided pedal makes it that much easier to engage your cleats.
For road bikes — especially in competitive cycling — everything is about weight, so that extra side of metal has been eliminated in the road bike design. Touring cyclists can really choose between either single-side cleat entry mechanisms or two-sided. Either design will work as long as you can find a pair of cycling shoes you like that will accept the cleats that come with the pedal.
Combination Pedals
There is a third type of pedal design that combines a standard pedal platform on one side with a cleat entry mechanism on the other. This design will allow you to use your street shoes for quick trips to the corner store or riding over to dinner in your dress shoes when staying at an inn, as well as using your cycling shoes while touring.
Make sure that after installing your pedals that you do some testing with the release settings to make sure that they are easy enough for you to disengage. Put on your cycling shoes and get on your bike and practice disengaging. Adjust the pedals until you can click out fairly easily according to your own strength and weight. If you have the tools, you can adjust your pedals yourself in about 10-minutes, or have your local bike mechanic adjust them properly for you.
Cycling Shoes
There are shoes designed for every sport these days, including cycling. As a touring cyclist, you may find that using mountain bike shoes and pedals makes the most sense. Mountain bike shoes are built with a cleat system that sits below the surface of the soles of the shoe so that you can easily walk around when having a nice lunch or walking around a quaint village or shopping area. A road shoe on the other hand, typically does not have much of a sole at all, just a small rubber patch at the heel, and the cleat sticks up on the ball of the shoe making walking long distances impractical. Mountain shoes usually resemble a light hiking sneaker and look pretty cool. Much more practical for the touring cyclist.
Tipping Not Allowed
While getting used to your new clipless pedals, there may come the time when stopping at an intersection or stoplight, that you forget that you're locked into the pedals and tip over on your side. This is called the "clipless tip". The best prevention is to train yourself to disengage whenever slowing down. Add "disengage a pedal" to your usual stopping checklist, i.e., downshifting, breaking, disengage a pedal, observing hazards, etc.
Most people only disengage one foot while slowing down for a stop. You can extend that single foot to the ground for balance and then still have the other foot engaged to start pedaling forward again when it is safe to do so. Get a little movement going and then engage the other cleat and pedal on.
You may have seen other cyclists perform amazing feats of balance at stop lights as they challenge themselves to not disengage their cleats and attempt to remain poised balletically, adjusting their weight so as not to have to touch their feet to the ground.
Newer clipless pedal systems are designed to disengage when the foot is moved in certain directions. Some release only when twisting the foot outward to the side, others in multiple directions, such as a downward-sideward motion, or even in an upward-pulling motion as if flying off of the bike. In a real-life test, Shimano's multi-directional system released for me just in time as I was veering into a curb at the edge of the road. I had the natural urge to put my right foot down onto the grass to stop myself from crashing as the bike tipped. The instinctual motion of pushing my right foot downwards and off to the side of the pedal disengaged the cleat letting my right foot step onto the ground. The other pedal also disengaged as the bike flattened out away from my left foot and I basically walked over the bike. That initial step had to be a fairly strong and deliberate one, mind you, but since my weight was going onto my right foot, it worked — amazingly! My companion was surprised that I didn't get injured at all. My lesson from that is that if you know you're going down, try to step step off of your bike onto your feet. The pedals may release and let you protect yourself. Of course, you do that purely at your own risk, but it worked for me.* The best strategy is to ride safely.
Performance and Safety Benefits
The primary advantage of switching to clipless pedals is that they engage the muscles of your hamstrings and gluteus on the upstroke of your pedal motion. This in turn allows you to transfer much more of your power to the pedal crank, which can result in greater speed for a racer, and in less waste of energy for a touring cyclist. Over time, your legs will become stronger, toned, and more balanced and your riding much more efficient and enjoyable.
Clipless pedals also enhance safety by providing a secure platform for foot/pedal engagement preventing most unintentional disengagements.
Manufacturers
There are quite a few clipless systems out there that combine cleats of varying designs with their matching pedal engagement mechanism. While many road shoes will accept the cleats of mountain bike pedal systems, the opposite is generally not the case. Some road cleat systems simply will not fit onto a mountain bike shoe because they are too big to fit within the treads of the sole. 
If you agree that having a shoe that you can walk around in makes sense for a touring cyclist — especially a vacationing credit-card touring cyclist — then you might consider selecting a mountain bike style shoe and then find the compatible cleat and pedal system that fits the shoe. One of the most prevalent cleat systems available in most bike stores are Shimano's SPD (Shimano Pedaling Dynamics) system. It's easy to find compatible shoes for the SPD system, and, as I mentioned above, the Shimano pedal I have has some really good features. It's called a Multi-Purpose Pedal, model PD-M324 (Click the link for a neat 3D Pictoview.)
You can find a less expensive version in the Forté Campus Pedal from PerformanceBike.com. Depending upon the reviewer, it may or may not be may as durable as the Shimano version.
Availability of certain brands in your area could be different, so see what you have available from bike shops or suppliers that you frequent and decide what is most convenient for you. If it's comfortable, well-made, and the cleat release works well, then you'll have more fun while being safer.
Some experts recommend that newbies to clipless pedals start out with dual-sided clipless entry pedals. I leave that entirely up to you. The one-sided entry Shimano multi-purpose pedal is a great option and many have recommended it as a good first clipless pedal.
But there are many dual-sided entry mountain bike pedals available out there — just make sure you get one of the large platform types, which can sort of be used with street shoes in a pinch.
Getting the extra strength and power while pedaling that comes with being in clipless pedals will make a big difference in your riding and before long you'll be wondering how you ever made it as far as you did without them.
Happy cycling!
*The author provides this information purely as a description of his own experience and cannot be held legally liable to others who try to this technique and are injured.
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