[elw1977]

I'm new to the biking world. Regarding shoes - my main purpose of getting a nice bike is to do triathlons. I know there are tri specific bike shoes and the pro's keep their shoes on their bikes during transitions/run barefoot in transition. What would you advise? Some people have told me to get more of a mountain bike shoe so I can run in the transition with my shoes on. Others say it just takes a little practice and I should get a road/triathlon shoe and run the transition barefoot and strap into my shoes once on my bike. Thoughts? I want to get a shoe I can have for awhile. Thanks ahead of time for the advice.

EW

 

[pretender]

I'm new to the biking world.

Well if you want to get it right, call it the cycling world. "Biking" gets mixed up with Harleys and leather chaps and such.

If you are getting a road bike, get road or tri shoes. Until you get comfortable getting into them while riding the bike, you can clomp around in them in transition without much trouble. Don't get into them on the bike during a race until you are very certain you can do so without veering all over the place.

I use mountain shoes and pedals on my "road" (cyclocross) bike, but that's because I only race mountain, cross, and off-road multisport. If I raced road or road tris, I would use road shoes and pedals.

 

[pretender]

P.S. Even in Xterra tris, the pros run through transition barefoot with shoes on the pedals. I've seen photos of Conrad Stolz, I think Specialized makes him a special shoe that's a mountain shoe with a single or double strap.