The vast majority of trike pilots who use their three wheeled steeds for long haul journeys have a special way to keep their feet on the pedals. Since a pilot’s feet are behind the pedals, gravity tends to place a relentless pull on the feet and legs, which requires conscious caloric effort to resist for eight hours every day. And when gravity does its deed, and your foot slides off the pedal onto the ground, it could hurt, especially if traveling downhill at speed.
Most trikers use special cleated shoes that attach to a binding mechanism on the pedals, something akin to ski bindings, which can be adjusted for tightness. Does it matter how tightly these cleats are adjusted?
Consider this: What happens when a skier falls on the slopes if their bindings are too tight? It can result in a broken leg, damaged tendons, or a knee that never works properly again. This is because the ski, which stayed attached during the fall, applied tremendous twisting torque to the leg, hips, and spine. The whole idea of bindings is that they release in the event of a mishap. Trike pilot bindings are no different! We may get the erroneous notion that we won’t fall like a skier, being so low to the ground, but don’t be fooled.
Normally, this is not an issue, but what happens if an outside wheel runs off the pavement on a steep slope in the hills? Or what about a driver who is asleep at the wheel and accidentally forces you off the road? Going over even a modest embankment on your trike may well result in rolling it over, and while you may just get bruised and scratched because you are wearing a helmet, ponder what it would be like if one or both of your feet don’t release from your pedals! This could be very disastrous, even worse than a skier, because you have an entire tricycle with loaded panniers applying colossal force to your human frame, perhaps 100 pounds twisting and tweaking you in ways that result in breakage and severe bone and tissue damage. One ski is bad enough (ask a skier who knows), but a tricycle could be a nightmare.
So, tighten your SPD or other binding mechanism just enough to keep your feet attached under normal riding conditions, but loose enough that it is easy to remove your feet when you want to get up and walk around. If you crash, you most assuredly want that trike to go its own way!
