Shoes Questions

General rule of thumb for your foot is to have the rearmost joint of your big toe line up with your pedal axle.

ubdawg said:

New to cycling and I need a little info on shoes.

My shoes have three positions to set the cleats in. One near the ball of the foot, one middle, and one towards the middle of the foot. Are these here simply for rider preference, or do the positions have uses depending on your ride(long vs short, hilly vs flat, etc)?

Also, doing a duathlon this weekend, run-bike-run. Its short distance 2.4, 13, 2.4. Is it even worth using cycling shoes? Or would I benefit more from a quicker transition?

thanks.

Start out with the cleat directly under the ball of your foot and make small adjustments from that point until you feel your most comfortable and effecient. I don't do tri's or anything, but I would have to think it would be worth it. Try riding your bike around beforehand with your new shoes and you should notice a big difference, also get them adjusted properly before your race. I don't know why your shoes have 3 cleat positions. Most shoes I've used or looked at have one hole pattern and the cleat itself has some play for adjustments.

Even for a sprint duathlon at 13 mi ride, I'd definitely use my cycling shoes. Practice making the running shoe-cycling shoe switch over and clipping in quickly. At my last tri, I watch a poor girl come to a stop at the end of the bike section, and slowly fall onto her side while clipped into her pedals. :p