I agree Tom. On my 5 mile commute I hardly have any stop ad go. Most times I only have to stop 3 or 4 times. For me the cleats are pure comfort. On a recumbent you cannot use your body weight to push down on the pedals. All the force has to come from the legs pushing forward. And with one of my knees occasionally flaring up and with cleats I can pull as well which helps my knees tremendously. And a small hill on a recumbent with a 20" rear wheel is feels like a mountain on bike with 700C wheels. At least it does to me when I compare the ride between my two very different bikes. So every one as he or she desires.