Now that I'm good and sucked into the sport, I find that I've gone from hating sports on TV to trying to catch races whenever they're on. I find it highly motivating, and I keep telling myself (and my husband, who'd rather watch 'insert any other sport here') that I might pick up some useful techniques or tricks.
I've noticed that many triathletes do a thing where their cycling shoes are already clipped in to the pedals and they run their bikes barefoot to the mount line. The cameras never show the part where they put the shoes on, so I have no idea how hard it really is.
Is this a thing? Should I be doing this? What is the logic here? My best guess is that it's faster to run without cleats, and maybe not wanting to damage the cleats with running on them. I could also see that a long cleat-walk might facilitate blisters.
Is this a transition tactic I should practice? Or is it kind of like the socks/no socks thing, where if you're not going to be competitive then don't worry about it?
4 comments:
I think it's a personal preference thing, and it takes a lot of practice. In other words, I can't do it without falling (yet), so I don't know. ;)
If there is one thing that I am good at in multisport, it is transitions. For me having the shoes in the pedals pre-transition depends on transition area ground surface, length of area, how crowded the bike mount area may be, etc. However, all that does not matter unless you have a tri shoe that you can keep nice and open so you can just slip your feet into. If they don't open up and if they do not balance well in the upright position, don't even try this while on the bike. Put them on in the transition and just run with them to the mount line. Then you can hop on the bike and drop those people struggling to open up thier shoes as they nearly collide with others doing the same.
I've never done this. I figured with my luck I would stick my toes in the spokes,crash and burn right there in front of my family and friends. I also don't get one foot out of the pedal and swing my leg over the bar and then coast in ready to hit the ground running. Another potentially embarising moment in front of the fans. Me, having fans, now thats funny. Okay, my support team. That sounds better. What ever you do, practice it. Good Luck
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