Clip ins

It would depend on the pedal because the platforms with clips are meant for that reason. Personally I would stay clipped in all the time and actually find it annoying and feels dangerous if I start a technical section and miss the cleat and do it not clipped in.

frags, don't worry mate, i don't think there's a rider on nobmob that hasn't gone through the interesting transition of the pedal situation, i made the switch around four months ago and am now pretty confident and all the previous scratches and bruises end up paying off ten fold, as for unclipping at the techy bits thats a definite no no, it's only gonna create bad habits and slow the whole getting comfortable process down, the only other advice is that confidence is everything. Hope this helps mate, enjoy

Clip-ins do take a bit of getting used to. I was going to suggest running them at their loosest setting, but that doesn't apply to Crank Bros.

I found much the same when I started - tentative through tech sections, which got me into a lot of trouble: I was tense and focussing on what I was going to hit instead of where to go ... so guess where the front wheel went. Learning to ride off-road at the same time probably didn't help.

Commuting to work by bike, and practicing emergency unclipping in the park helped push me along to the point where doing a race permanently rewired my brain and got me over the fear. I'm now at the point where not being clipped in makes me nervous.

If I'd known about the TH trails and had joined nobmob earlier, my journey to competence might have been a bit less painful!

Yep we have all been there mate. You will have the silliest crashes usually at low speed when you simply forget to unclip or aren't fast enough. Once you get used to them you will never look back. Doing a technical section unclipped will become history for you.

I had Candy's crashed a few times and bought adjustable XT's as I was rattled as chainrings = blood loss. I used to un-clip one foot going into the Hydro plant drop with those planter boxes of death and again funny enough after the big rock at the Golf course that slow right hander as I crashed and lost blood there too.
Now, many months later I freak if I accidently un-clip - Keep going, get used to them if confidence wavers get adjustables like XT's. I still use the XT's but have tightened them up.
Re Terry Hills - Note: I fell over going up the sand dune on the Long trail the other day still set a PB time - sometimes it still happens!

Good advice. I have been using candy c's for about a month now. I rode Terry Hills exclusively for 2 weeks before I went back up to Red Hill. I found the bike time up on the fire trails a useful time to get used to clipping in/out without having to worry to much about tech sections. Back up on the Hill I found I could clip out when you needed to, but you also had to give that little more commitment to the nasty sections :0 I think a month or so down the track clipins have made me a better rider.

The simple fact is that being clipped in gives you more power & more control. The bit that sucks is that initially it feels as if you have less control if you do not have the instant ability to whack your feet on the ground if you get in a spot of bother!

I have only been riding for a matter of months and generally clip in. I find some skills really difficult so I find myself partially unclipping without even thinking about it which puts my feet in the wrong position & means that I have no chance to complete the section. Example, steps going up hill. I start to unclip approaching the steps, lose power & have no chance of getting up them.

I have taken to changing to flats to get the confidence up. It has given me the confidence to get through the sections & once I realise that I can make them, being clipped in is just as easy, if not more so. I say, if you ride with clipless stay clipped in. If you're not sure then either swap to flats or ride easier tracks until the confidence is up to the task! You will get there.