Watched two GCN videos on youtube about flat vs clipless, my takeaways:
Clipless are a must for quick sprints, competition or other aggressive style of cycling. No discussion here, they are just more effective. Climbs is bit more interesting subject:
- Long climbs - the power will be limited by the cardio system, the Wt differences are insignificant.
- Short climbs - clipless measure a better power than flats with cyclists that know how to use them properly
However, even in the case of the long climbs the cyclists noticed that clipless feel easier to cycle, because they distribute the load across multiple muscle groups (i.e. push-pull), while flats only exercise the "push" movement.
So I just bought Zefal 45 Half Toe-Clips to try, let's see how it goes.