Allison and Ryan's Beginner Mentor Group - FULL (Page 13)

dnoble - 2011-05-03 1:12 PM Question for the competent cyclists out there.  I am upgrading my mountain bike that I do most of my riding on and an older road bike that I got for free  to clipless pedals.  I never actually do any real off road biking, if it's not paved it's an easy trail, so I don't need actual mountain bike pedals and shoes.  I have a pair of Pearl Izumi road shoes that I'm using with toe clips on both bikes.  Finally the question, can I buy SPD pedals and cleats and have them work with my shoes and non shimano components?  A new pair of cycling shoes is not in the budget but the toe clips are driving me nuts.  It seems that SPD pedals and cleats are the easiest on the wallet.  Am I missing something here?  Should I just get SPD stuff and be done or is there another way to go that I'm unaware of?  Thanks.

You will need to check and see what your shoes are compatable with. The "Look style" cleats are attached to the bottom of the shoe with 3 screws in a triangle pattern. (screw holes about 2-2.5 in apart). "spd style" are attached with 2 screws inline(about an inch apart). Some shoes have screw holes for just one style, some have holes for both. Once you know what your shoes are compatable with, get cleats to match the shoes and the corresponding pedal to match the cleat. That was the Cliffnotes version of the dizzying array of pedal options. The classifieds both here and on Slowtwitch.com plus Ebay can often produce some bargains. Good luck and practice in the driveway before you hit the street. Took me a total of 30 seconds to fall when I first used clipless

Funny you should mention falling on the first use of clipless pedals...  today was the first day that I used them, was working great but I got overconfident and since I can do track stands on my work bike I can do it on this bike.  Yeah well not so much down I go cliped into the bike got some road rash and a bit more humility haha gotta get used to those skinny tires and the road saddle.

Got the Yankz and they seem to work well, might need to switch to them at work so my laces don't get tied up in the chain ring.

dnoble- you could look into a product called powergrips as well for the mountain bike it alows normal shoes to get strapped in but if oyu aren't in them since they are cloth it wont catch on the ground otherwise pretty much all pedals are about the same thread size so road and mountain pedals are compatible with crankarms for either as well hope that helps

Just like dave said, look at the bottom of your shoes to see what kind of cleats you can use.  Most shoes will have the "Look" type hole pattern (3 holes in triangle pattern) but not all shoes will have the SPD pattern (basically two parallel lines with 4 holes).  If your shoe doesn't have the SPD pattern then you'll have to get a different system.

I ride on SPDs, have been on them ever since they came out (looooong time ago). Have SPD pedals on both the MTB and Road Bike.  Not the lightest or sexiest but I'm most familiar with them and am comfortable with them. I also like being able to walk around after a ride and not look like a penguin! :D

dnoble - 2011-05-03 2:12 PM Question for the competent cyclists out there.  I am upgrading my mountain bike that I do most of my riding on and an older road bike that I got for free  to clipless pedals.  I never actually do any real off road biking, if it's not paved it's an easy trail, so I don't need actual mountain bike pedals and shoes.  I have a pair of Pearl Izumi road shoes that I'm using with toe clips on both bikes.  Finally the question, can I buy SPD pedals and cleats and have them work with my shoes and non shimano components?  A new pair of cycling shoes is not in the budget but the toe clips are driving me nuts.  It seems that SPD pedals and cleats are the easiest on the wallet.  Am I missing something here?  Should I just get SPD stuff and be done or is there another way to go that I'm unaware of?  Thanks.

If I'm riding on a tour that might stop for a bit, then I use MTB shoes with inset SPD cleats.  You can get off the bike and walk around normally with very little wear and tear on the cleats.  When I start doing tri's, then I'm getting a pair of tri shoes and putting SPD cleats on them as well.  I found a really good pair of SPD MTB slimline pedals (Nashbar).  They have a much lower profile than other MTB pedals, the SPD clips are on both sides making it easier to clip in and out.  The quickest road clip/cleat is the Look style, but if you have road shoes, you'll be walking on your heal if you are touring.

Hope this helps!

Viking58 - 2011-05-03 5:07 PM

dnoble - 2011-05-03 2:12 PM Question for the competent cyclists out there.  I am upgrading my mountain bike that I do most of my riding on and an older road bike that I got for free  to clipless pedals.  I never actually do any real off road biking, if it's not paved it's an easy trail, so I don't need actual mountain bike pedals and shoes.  I have a pair of Pearl Izumi road shoes that I'm using with toe clips on both bikes.  Finally the question, can I buy SPD pedals and cleats and have them work with my shoes and non shimano components?  A new pair of cycling shoes is not in the budget but the toe clips are driving me nuts.  It seems that SPD pedals and cleats are the easiest on the wallet.  Am I missing something here?  Should I just get SPD stuff and be done or is there another way to go that I'm unaware of?  Thanks.

If I'm riding on a tour that might stop for a bit, then I use MTB shoes with inset SPD cleats.  You can get off the bike and walk around normally with very little wear and tear on the cleats.  When I start doing tri's, then I'm getting a pair of tri shoes and putting SPD cleats on them as well.  I found a really good pair of SPD MTB slimline pedals (Nashbar).  They have a much lower profile than other MTB pedals, the SPD clips are on both sides making it easier to clip in and out.  The quickest road clip/cleat is the Look style, but if you have road shoes, you'll be walking on your heal if you are touring.

Hope this helps!

Shimano makes a triathlon cycling shoe that takes either the Look style or SPD style cleats. 

Thanks for all of the advice guys!  I'll have to figure out what kind of shoes I have first (they're in the garage and I'm not going out there right now) and decide if those type of pedals are affordable.  New shoes might be cheaper than upgraded pedals it seems.  I knew this was going to get expensive, but dang!  And I've been warned about expecting a fall when moving to clipless.  I have a friend that has endless stories of clueless newbies biting it because they can't get their foot out in time to save themselves.  Pretty funny stuff if I was on the back end of that learning curve instead of the front end...  Thanks again for the responses, I appreciate it.

Dan.

IT Band issues take time.  instead of running, just walk as quickly without pain as you can. that will start some stretch to it and assist the healing process.  try taking some glucosomine (sp?) since the IT band is tied to the knee and hip joints.  Also, try sleeping on a "very" low heat heating pad in the fetal position (full stretch).... good luck..   My pain is with the patella tendon but I can usually work it out stretching afterwards and it's bearable enough to suffer through.

My work-outs went pretty well for me today.  Started out in the morning with a 3mile run.  Decided to make interval work out of it to build in some speed. 10 minutes hard with a 2 minute recovery.  Sigh... I'm still so slow.  I've never been much of a distance runner.  Sprints were always my thing during my school years.

Swim was pretty good though.  Did that this evening.  I was kind of dreading it a bit since I was supposed to "go long" today and my run had kind of wasted me a bit. Actually came out of the pool feeling fresher than going in.  There may be something to this "active recovery" thing.  Anywho, was supposed to swim for 1/2 straight today.  Got in 1400 yards in that time.  New distance milestone (ok...not quite a mile...yet) for me.  I guess if you add in my warm-up (4x25) and cool-down (4x25) I was close to a mile.

Peak week for me continues, took yesterday off after the exam, hadn't planned to but was beat by the time I drove home so double workout today.  Hit the gym for strength training and then did a 4x500 swim, completed it in just over 40 min with 1 minute between each set to rest.  Stretching right after, hamstring didn't bother me even when doing squats but could start to feel it.

Plan on a 14.5 mile ride wich I hope to complete in 45 min or so later this afternoon and hope to be able to use the tri shorts if they get here by the time I go to ride, after that margarita mojitos.

Everyone have a good weekend

glad to see everyone kicking butt. My motivation has been completely sapped lately - no clue what the deal is.

Got in a 3.5 mile run at lunch yesterday - AWESOME! Felt better than I have so far this year.

Meeting tonight, if I can talk the hubby into getting my bike set up on the trainer before I get home, I'll get my ride in, otherwise it'll be weight training tonight.

lunch run + post office swim tomorrow

long run and weights on Saturday

long ride on Sunday - may venture outside but not sure if I'm ready yet with the clipless pedals

We're going to New Orleans next weekend, so I'll miss 3 1/2 - 4 training days there. UGH

Hit the ride for the most part, a little slower than expected but wind seemed to be gusting pretty good.

I have bought 2 cyclocomputers in the past year or so, one for work and one for the roadie and neither one says where on the spoke to place the sensor any idea or is it one of those keep messing with distances until you get it right?

Mailed it in today.  Things kept coming up at work, then with family.  Kept pushing my work-out back, back, and back some more til I ran out of time.  Doh! 

Now I feel all restless.

You mean you are not supposed to count the warm up and cool down?!?

All this talk of biking shoes made me realize it is time to figure out this whole biking thing.  So I have finally been reading about the cycling part of tri online.  I didn't know you wear cycling shoes so you pull up and not just push down.  hmmmm  very interesting. Seriously, I wondered why there was so much talk about clipping in.  Makes sense.  Not ready yet to buy new pedals and shoes since in the last month we have bought me two road bikes.  (ouch)

I was equally surprised about the cadence thing.  For my training last year I did a long ride and a short ride each week.  Mainly on the hardest gear.  Today I am going to attempt counting and try to get in the 90's by using easier gears.  Didn't realize I should ride on an easier speed to safe my legs.

I have done 2 triathlons and didn't know these 2 important things. 

Please cyclists give me other advice.  I obviously know little about the world of cycling and training.  What other info should I know?  What have you learned about training and cycling that is important? Do  I need a cadence computer.  I have the Garmin 305 and there is a cadence part I can get.  Is that important? 

Also, I am behind on my training logs.  I hate when I get behind.  Then it takes to much time to catch up so I get farther behind.  After my ride I will catch up. Oh dear I need to swim today also.   

What I have found to be most important, not that I'm an expert roadie or anything (fell on tuesday on my first time in clipless pedals...), but is the ability to keep spinning, high rpms low effort, and proper fit.  Spinning will definitely be your best bet on an endurance style race instead of just trying to hammer through, not to say that you don't want to hammer it at some point but not the entire race, and while it says 'low' effort I would say that it shouldn't feel like a ride in the park obviously, but your cadence is what feels most comfortable to you, I prefer low 90's but I know guys that prefer anywhere between 75 and 100 it's what feels comfortable to you.  Proper fit that you can get done at a bike shop will also help maximize your power output, doesn't matter if you are in a great aero posit if you aren't getting the power to the pedals, and will allow you to stay in that position the longest without feeling fatigue.

Don't know anything about cadence readers or heart rate monitors.

Was debating doing a full tri workout next week just to get myself used to the transitions for all three events is this good or bad with 2 weeks or so to the race, I have done a couple others back in March and April when I was getting lethargic in my training just to remind me what I was training for but now I have all my equipment for the race together thoughts?

I don't think of pedaling as either pushing down or pulling up.  It's more of a circular "effort" if you can understand that.  As for my my pedaling I'm just giving enough effort to feel slight resistance and maintain my cadence.  I used to think it was cheating, like I'd discovered some way to bike over long distances without really exerting myself too much.  I was able to do this when I rode in cages and then when I switched to clipless it made the whole thing that much easier.  I dunno, it's kind of hard to describe.

And hooboy, cadence is a big deal! Much more so that strength (IMO).  When I was younger I used to pride myself on being able to stomp the big chain ring with the highest gear all the time.  I took it as a challenge to shift gears as little as possible.  That is until I was on this ride into incredible headwinds.  Here I was crunching me gear and this little old lady comes flying by me spinning away in a more appropriate gear.  I learned my lesson pretty quick that way.

Tripopo - I guess it depends on how you feel.  I would defintely ease off the final week before your tri though.  I guess if you're gonna do it, it should be this week.

Here's my log entry for today:

So to make up for yesterday I guess I ended up doing my own little triathlon today. In a way.

My regular schedule has me swimming today so I planned to do just that during my normal swim time at lunch. However, since I missed yesterday's work-out and not wanting to fall behind on the bike I decided to also get my bike in this morning, which I did. The ride itself was pretty good. I went out for about an hour (a little less) got 17miles in and averaged around 19mph. I'd been reading alot on BT (which can be very dangerous at times) about folks who run everyday. I thought I might give this a try since a) I'm still low on my endurance base in running and b) my pace is still pretty slow. I got back from my bike and discovered I still had time to go out for a quick and short run. So I did. 1.5miles later, I was back. Grabbed two cake donuts and milk for breakfast (food of champions I tell ya!) and settled down to work.

At lunch time it was off to the pool to swim. I figured I'd do my normal warm-up and swim for 1/2 an hour or do 500 repeats until my 1/2hour was up. hahahaha. I was a bit too ambitious there. I didn't factor in my ride and run this morning and the fact that the only thing I'd had to eat was two donuts and a glass of milk. Needless to say I bonked. Got my first and only 500 in and I was done. I was pretty slow too.

Still I kind of think of this day as an accomplishment. I didn't do them consecutively but I did do all three sports today!

Some important things to consider ::

Cadence is very important, because it also gets you into a healthy breathing rhythm.  What I've found is that I'll spin up through the gears progressively getting harder to where it hurts to maintain a 90 cadence, and push myself hard to get close to 90, and then gear back into the next lowest gear .. You'd be surprised how easy it is to maintain.  If you don't feel your going fast enough, you'll have to train your muscles to stay in the higher gear and push as hard as you can to maintain 90.  This is where interval training has helped me.

If you don't have tri-bars, figure out a way to keep your weight balanced so you aren't leaning on your handle bars too much.  This also takes practice. 

Get out of the saddle occassionally to kick it in a little, and get the blood flowing through your system more easily.

I also saw a video that when you are approaching T2, stand-up and flex/stretch calfs and hip flexors before you clip out.  Not tried it, and can't seem to find the video link either.  It appears to help the transition to the run.

Good Luck!!

Amazing how the conversation here just dovetailed into my day! I went out to our local triathlon store - which is halfway across the world from where I live - but they are sponsoring one of my events. Anyway, I saw they were having a sale, so I thought I'd go visit them. Happy to have a pair of tri shorts, and a tri top now - and some Yantz (thanks guys!) for my running shoes and the guy there was talking about bike shoes and clips.

I have a pair of bike shoes I bought a hundred years ago, but I just used them in my cages. It worked pretty well for me - kept my feet from cramping when I would ride to work, but never bother with getting the clips. The guy at the store said that if I didn't get clips, I might as well ride with my running shoes (not sure I buy that entirely due to the foot cramping I used to get), but he explained about the advantages to clips.

So now - since I can't really afford a nice wet suit - I'm thinking maybe the one piece of extra equipment that would make the most difference to my comfort and efficiency might be these clips.  It's kind of fun go out and get some stuff for my events. Makes it seem more real somehow. I'm not crazy for this skin tight clothing tho - shows all those lumps. sigh. not about looks though, right?

m

Jean - I just got back from the store and the guy at the store said you use them on your running shoes, but NOT on your bike shoes. They stetch, so it minimizes some of the benefits of biking shoes. See if anyone else has any ideas about that?

,

Dan - how are things going with your wife? I give you credit for being to able to roll with events. by the way - my big event isn't until august, so i'm game to go longer than the program is supposed to last too

Mary