how do you go about transitioning with shoes on the bike? does anyone have a video of how to do this? if it makes any difference i have specailzied trivents
No video, but I think that your best bet is to get out on the bike, get your feet on top of the shoes, go a minute or two before trying to put them on, that way, you will have less of a chance of crashing into somebody if you try to put your feet in straight out of transition.
Just clip in your shoes on your bike, use an elastic band to keep them in place (3 and 9 o’clock positions), and crow hop or jump or just get on normally (this is personal preference, I’ve seen an itu guy jump from behind, over the back wheel, and land sitting on the seat) and ride away. When you’re done get out of the shoes, pedal with your feet on top, put your weight one foot, swing the other behind the rear wheel, so you’re on one side of the bike, slow, and run. Go to triathlon.org and look for the flying mount video and learn how to do it the way no man should ever do it! Practice on grass.
EDIT:
GO to triathlon.org
find the videos drop menu
click on training tips
watch the clips under equipment and under transitions
those videos will give you everything you need to know.
one thing i’ve noticed, the faster you are going, the easier it is to slip your foot in and tighten your shoes. give youself a ways to get up some speed so youre not weaving all over the place.
going to add one more point - DO NOT MOUNT AT THE LINE…run 5-10 yards past the line, so that A. you’re clear of all the traffic that mounts right at the mount line and tends to fall over while doing it, and B. you don’t become one of those people
and make sure you get some speed up before you get the shoes on. riding on the tops is just like platform pedals, it’s doable for a long time. try and mount w/o speed and you become a hazard, to you and those around you.
make sure you are running and just hop on, get up to speed, and then strap in. Practice, practice, practice. Don’t try it in a race until you are comfortable. I use a little thing called the Transition hook, works awesome, and is very inexpensive. http://www.mdwsports.com/product_overview.htm
what they all said, and practice a LOT. Even better, NEVER take your shoes off your tri bike, just leave them clipped in all the time so you practice your dismounts and remounts everytime you go ride. Plus it’s one less thing to carry around when transporting your bike:)
quick how too:
-click shoes into pedals
-open shoes all the way, think the trivents lock open by a velcro tab on the strap or something don’t they, maybe a notch?
-lube opening on the shoes with body-glide/petroleum gelly etc (bonus usually for race only)
-sprinkle some baby powder in each shoe and shake around (bonus for race only again, mabye easier before putting shoes on teh bike)
-with the cranks level, left shoe is foward, right shoe is back
-run a rubber band through the loop on the back of the right shoe, attach the other end to the end of the QR or somewhere back there, just stay away from the cassette, this should hold the shoe level or better yet a bit heel up
-use a rubber band to somehow hold the left shoe level with the crankarm
(I use electrical tape versus rubber bands, works better for me, just gotta tape the right shoe way up the seat stay so that when the tape breaks it doesn’t go into the cassette…)
mounting:
-run at an easy pace, practice jumping on the bike, just kinda jump on and try to get your leg over the saddle hitting the saddle with your inner thigh and sliding on from there
-if that doesn’t work some people step on the pedal and hop on but that seems harder to me
-hopefully you can run on the right of the bike, jump on left leg over and land it on the foward facing left shoe.
-get both feet on the shoes and start pedaling, they should break free
-GET UP TO SPEED AND WHERE IT IS CLEAR, before reaching down to put each shoe on one at a time, I often will ride to 1/2 mile or so until I hit a good flattish stretch where I can maintain speed and where there isn’t a mess of riders
-put one shoe on at a time holding the back loop while you do it, might have to pedal in between
off the bike: (crap this is getting long…)
-about 1min out or so reach down and take each foot out of the shoe and place your foot on top of the shoe
-before the dismount and within coasting distance, swing one leg over (I swing my right over and keep standing on my left) and place it next to the other one
-jump off running at moderate speed
-don’t fall!!!
If you have speed plays watch out that your shoes don’t wack the ground when you are dismounting and fall off, I use Shimano pedals cranked down to max tension just for this reason. Also make sure not to pivot to much when coasting on one foot to the dismount, as again you can unclick your shoes which will assuradly provide a LOT of entertainment to people watching:)
Stand at the exit of T1 at any large race, and you will see hundreds of reasons you don’t want to do that. It is pretty much a waste, as the negatives far exceed the possible but unlikely time savings. Save you feet, and your race, and put on your shoes in transition and make the mounting easy. I know the macho types will slay me here, but the facts are that the downside far outweighs the up.
i have the same shoes that you do and cut some of the leather off on the strap and made the hole about 1/4 inch bigger and i get my feet in much easier now.
that could be true for people who don’t practice.
Eric
Disagree. Its good to practice but I don’t think its any more dangerous/harder.
I actually think walking/running in cycling shoes and esp. getting off you bike (with shoes on + a little speed) is more dangerous. Cleats do not have good traction.
dave
$8 for the kit and then $2 for the bands buys a LOT of dental floss…
Watching people who suck at something fail, generally gives the impression that the given activity is harder than it actually is…
It *really *isn’t difficult.
I’ve lost time wearing my shoes out T1 and falling – those clips are slippy – and I’ve lost time (once) when my shoe hit earth and unclipped. (Beware the speedplay!) But mostly, the flying mount works…
And I suppose I would rather suck and fail at something that’s actually worthwhile (flying mount) than suck and fail at something that is already a losing idea (wearing those slippy shoes out to T1).
If it makes you feel any better, I can’t hit a free throw to save my life. Watching me try, you’d think it was nuclear physics. But I can transition.
Guess which one I practice?
At one point in my life I figured I’d done 10,000 flip turns, but I would still miss the wall 1 times out of 100. If the rest of my life held to those percentages i’d be pretty happy.
(And I’m a lousy free-throw shooter. Even after 1000s of iterations. Me and Shaquille.)
I wonder:
What, if anything, is “aerodynamic” about this?
Weather"proof"… bold claim.
What, exactly, is “special” about that hook? Was it really “designed”? because it sure looks like 2 rectangles stacked on top of each other to me. Als, it looks like a bathroom hook I got at the dollar store.
Not saying it doesn’t work, but it seems to me to be a product in search of a problem. I mean, why couldn’t you just extend this same rubber band aroud the stay where the “specially designed hook” is?
I used to think that as well, especially as I had a mean case of PF in 2005, and am highly protective of my feet. After almost eating shit coming out of T1 at Rockman, I’ve done a very little bit of practice, and its quite easy. The key is to get your speed above 18 MPH or so before even attempting to strap in. The speed will keep you stable.
MY bike comes standard with TWO transition hooks right on it!!!
1 - The rear quick release, and 2 - the front deraileur cable bolt.
They both work just swell for hooking a rubber band to, and cost exactly nothing, and add zero to the aero profile of my bike, since they’re already on it.
Sheesh - triathletes will spend $ for almost anything.
I forgot rubber bands for the club sprint last week, so I went without.
They are pretty much optional, I had no difficulty doing the mount sans rubber bands.
(they are nice to have so yer shoes don’t scrape if you hafta run a ways w/ yer bike however)