Transition: Bike Shoes on or off?

[Jim Gosse]

I know this has been raised hundreds of times before, but I
really want good advice.

I have searched a couple dozen sites on transition advice,
and the best I have been able to get is "Decide if you will
attach your shoes to the peddles, or put them on and run to
the mounting area."

I am looking for specifics. How do you set up the peddles?
Where do you put the elastic bands? Do you use tape? Do you
jump on and ride for a while with your feet on top of the
peddles? I really want advice here guys. I do plan to try
some methods, and practice them.

--
Jim Gosse
OERC Wave Tank
Memorial University
(709)737-3221
[email protected]

 

[Black]

Personally I put the bike shoes on at T1 and run to the
mounting area. At the end of the ride I leave the shoes on
the pedals and run barefoot into
T2. Works for me anyway.

"Jim Gosse" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I know this has been raised hundreds of times before, but
> I really want
good
> advice.
>
> I have searched a couple dozen sites on transition advice,
> and the best I have been able to get is "Decide if you
> will attach your shoes to the peddles, or put them on and
> run to the mounting area."
>
> I am looking for specifics. How do you set up the peddles?
> Where do you
put
> the elastic bands? Do you use tape? Do you jump on and
> ride for a while
with
> your feet on top of the peddles? I really want advice here
> guys. I do plan to try some methods, and practice them.
>
> --
> Jim Gosse OERC Wave Tank Memorial University
> (709)737-3221 [email protected]

 

[Trevis]

you can use dental floss to tie the shoes horizontal... so
when you jump on they are in the right place and not
flapping around... then ride with feet on shoes until your
going fast enough to be in control enough to reach down and
slip your foot in and fasten.... then at end of bike, slip
feet out, peddle wtih feet on top of shoes and return to
transiton barefoot

"black" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Personally I put the bike shoes on at T1 and run to the
> mounting area. At the end of the ride I leave the shoes on
> the pedals and run barefoot into
> T2. Works for me anyway.
>
>
> "Jim Gosse" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > I know this has been raised hundreds of times before,
> > but I really want
> good
> > advice.
> >
> > I have searched a couple dozen sites on transition
> > advice, and the best
I
> > have been able to get is "Decide if you will attach your
> > shoes to the peddles, or put them on and run to the
> > mounting area."
> >
> > I am looking for specifics. How do you set up the
> > peddles? Where do you
> put
> > the elastic bands? Do you use tape? Do you jump on and
> > ride for a while
> with
> > your feet on top of the peddles? I really want advice
> > here guys. I do
plan
> > to try some methods, and practice them.
> >
> > --
> > Jim Gosse OERC Wave Tank Memorial University
> > (709)737-3221 [email protected]
> >
> >
>

 

[Harold Buck]

In article <[email protected]>,
"black" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Personally I put the bike shoes on at T1 and run to the
> mounting area. At the end of the ride I leave the shoes on
> the pedals and run barefoot into
> T2. Works for me anyway.
>
>

That's what I do.

BTW, DO NOT, under anny circumstances, try to put your shoes
on while riding the bike during a race until you are REALLY
good at it. It's too easy to swerve and cause a crash if
you're not great at it.

I practice it all the time, but I haven't done it in a race
yet. Someday. . . .

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Th-
en it was every other day. . . ."
- Homer J. Simpson

 

[Mark Cathcart]

Completely agree... you can become a real danger to other
competitors not just yourself.

I often tell people to find a quiet local road that is about
1/4 mile long and has a reasonable surface. Start off the
bike, run, jump on(without stopping), cycle, insert one
foot, cycle, insert other foot, cycle, feet out, move to one
side of bike coasting and dismount and run before the 1.4
mile is up. Repeat 10x once you can do this and not blow on
the distance you'll be safe. Its a great training session
and if you can master it will save you time.

Generally I would observe you are not safe to try to get
your feet in until you are cycling >15mph. ++Mark.

 

[Jim Gosse]

I really appreciate everyone's comments, and I am
practising it, and I do not intend to try it in a race
unless I am confident I can perform the skill without
causing an incident.

However, I would still like to get some details on how some
of the experienced guys set up the pedals, where to hook the
rubber bands, how do you keep the shoes opened up etc.

Jim

"Jim Gosse" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I know this has been raised hundreds of times before, but
> I really want
good
> advice.
>
> I have searched a couple dozen sites on transition advice,
> and the best I have been able to get is "Decide if you
> will attach your shoes to the peddles, or put them on and
> run to the mounting area."
>
> I am looking for specifics. How do you set up the peddles?
> Where do you
put
> the elastic bands? Do you use tape? Do you jump on and
> ride for a while
with
> your feet on top of the peddles? I really want advice here
> guys. I do plan to try some methods, and practice them.
>
> --
> Jim Gosse OERC Wave Tank Memorial University
> (709)737-3221 [email protected]

 

[Mark Cathcart]

Bands are not realy essential unless you have big feet.
Assuming your shoes do not fit the floor when you run with
the bike, then the trick is to keep the bike upright as you
run otherwise a shoe may hit the floor and come off.

Its really difficult to advise on location of bands as bike
vary in terms of where you can hook them up. However, make
sure you use small thin bands that will hold in place and
snap when required.

I have size-11 shoes and they do hit the floor, so bands are
mandatory. From memory since I'm in Montreal and my bikes
are in NY and the UK, I put a band from the heal loop on
both shoes, hook the left band over the front gear shift
mech on the seat tube, and the right shoe positioned to the
rear and the band looped over the wheel stay.

I run on the left side of my bike, when I've reached
terminal velocity I try to jump on the left pedal and throw
leg over frame and get on the right pedal and start pedaling
straight away at which point the bands should snap. Keeping
the shoes parallel with bands does help this respect. Based
on the course I try to get to 15-16mph before reaching down
and putting my left foot in first, the pedal some more then
right foot.

Of course none of this helps when it comes to dismount. I
ran the dismount line at the UK Wndsor triathlon this past
w/e after competing in the first wave of the sprint(7th out
of the water) you'd be surprised how many people dismount
badly, coming to a complete stop which is a really dnagerous
to fast competitors coming in... and you won't believe how
many shoes came off pedals.

The advice here is to get both feet out of both shoes nice
and early and then over onto the same pedal(left for me) as
you approach the dismount line and then jump off and start
running... trying to keep a straight line as best
possible... much simpler than mounting... overall can easily
save you 10-30 seconds based on your proficiency. ++Mark.