Bike to Run Transitions

I let my shoes just drag... no other way around it. Also, for the first race, consider doing a bit of a hybrid... have your shoes attached to the pedals, but step over it and into one shoe, push off and get up to speed before getting the other foot in. Before getting to dismount, open up your shoes, riding a bit with the the foot in, but not strapped, lift your heals out before getting to dismount, take one foot out, stop and step over the bike and on you go. It's almost as fast, but quite a bit safer until you feel very comfortable with flying mounts and dismounts.

I do as described above. That way you can make sure the pedals/shoes are in position not to drag when you dismount.

I dismount at a pretty good clip, and I let them drag. Here is something very scientific I did with my shoes summer before last. I put duct tape on the heels. Eliminates the damage from dragging and what could look more cool than a guy with red and black shoes with silver duct tape on the heels??

One thing not really related to this is my first couple tri's I found that I may have dismounted carrying a little too much speed. It was almost a disaster but I was able to run those first few steps fast enough to slow down. The legs don't work real well those first few yards, so error on the slow side as you dismount. Also, if it helps, I place my right hand on my seat and run with my arm away from me on the seat. I can balance the bike this way, steer it by a slight lean on the seat, and I don't trip over it. I have seen some people almost running sideways with one hand on seat and one on the bars, and they are clanging shins into pedals etc. Keep the bike away from you.

Also depends on the length of transition. Some of my local races has a long skinny transition area = more chance to drag shoes or have them pop off.

I either loosen the shoes right before dismount and run with them on and slide them off as I'm racking the bike or slide out at dismount, leave them on and take my chances for the shorter transition areas.

Thanks for the advice!! To
Me, it seems easy to literally take two seconds and just level out my pedals after getting off the bike. All it takes is a quick lift of me seat and pulling up on the pedal/shoe 1/4 rotation. I’m not the kind of guy that will be on the podium by any means, but I won’t be at the back of the pack either. I’ve practiced this a few times since my original post, and honestly seems way quicker and far less frustrating than dragging shoes and having a bike bouncing around as I’m pushing the bike.