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If you have a road bike you should have toe clips at least and clipless pedals at best. If you are using old fashioned toe clips start off by putting on the clips but leave the straps off. Spend a day or so getting used to the clips and then add the straps. You can go a lot faster by using toe clips.
Best upgrade you can do for a road bike is getting clipless pedals like those made by Look or Shimano combined with real cycling shoes.
If you have a road bike you should have toe clips at least and clipless pedals at best. If you are using old fashioned toe clips start off by putting on the clips but leave the straps off. Spend a day or so getting used to the clips and then add the straps. You can go a lot faster by using toe clips.
Best upgrade you can do for a road bike is getting clipless pedals like those made by Look or Shimano combined with real cycling shoes.
Don't mean to start a debate...but all that is debatable.
Regardless though, because she is new I am in favor of her riding with good old flat pedals for a while. Especially because she'll need to get used to the feel and handling of a road bike.
G-fused, I am sure there IS a lot to tell us - especially since we don't know much of anything. I will have her read all your comments though. All her dad and I do is run, and that doesn't help much with cycling. The bike shop has been helpful and encouraging. She can come in and use their trainer anytime and will do so especially when she moves up to clips.
I liked your bike rules, btw. Especially #5. My girl is an academic and an accomplished artist and very sweet. You would NEVER ever imagine seeing her on a crowded beach with piles of swimmers getting ready to fight their way through the water. When she started last year she said it was the hardest thing she had ever done, and the most fun.
Next race is tomorrow. The new bike has been to the shop for last minute tweaks. She is very excited.
Tut Tut now my dear Cdarocks. Being that you are runners you likely have a lot of knowledge that can help her. Some training methods apply (HIIT applies to cycling as much as to running, LSR in running is a lot like a recovery ride, nutrition, etc.).
I looked through those rules (haven't looked at them in a while) for fun and noticed that they are a lot racier than I remember with the language and all. So ummm, maybe not the best thign for a 15 yr old.
People love to see young people come into the sport so I'm happy the shop is being helpful. I imagine the folks she'll be riding with will be as well. When I was trying to get my wife into the sport I strongly suggested she seek out a club for women so that she was more comfortable.
I've never been at the pro or even elite amateur levels of racing or anything but was good enough to do training rides with some pro's here and there. There were a few pro women I rode with too and they seemed like the way you described your daughter - sweet and funny in the parking lot, but when we rolled out, hold on and get ready to suffer.
ANd since she is likely strong with aerobic capacity I'll relate a quick story. A couple weeks ago I went out with some people on a standard 50ish or so mile ride. It was an easy type ride because the terrain was flat (drafting makes flat land riding not so bad but your daughter will learn about that oh so important skill and how to do it appropriately). Any way, there was a guy I didn;t know who joined us. I could tell he was strong by looking at him (veins popping out of weird places and all). But his handling was all over the place so he was dangerous to ride with in a group. Cyclists can be a blunt bunch of people so I roll up next to him and chat about who he is and let him know that I can tell he's strong but needs to work on the handling. He tells me it's only his 3rd ride ever...3rd ride and he's going over 50 miles! Impresive I tell him and he says he's a runner. Does a few marathons a year and all that, I wasn't surprised. At the end of the ride he says it was fine and that he really only felt himself slipping when we hit some hills (in truth there were no hills, just some inclines). But the way he said it, it sounded like he was dissapointed that it wasn't as good of a workout as he expected. I made arrangements with him to go out again the next day. Told him we would do 30 miles but hit some hills. He almost died, it was satisfying for both of us because I got to show him why the sport was known as being one of the biggest sufferfests of all time and he got to experience it. We still go out sometimes and I've even ran with him (I run about 30 miles/week, nothing crazy).
I relay that story because since your daughter is fit I don't want her to get the wrong idea about cycling. She should use the gears to keep a comfortable cadence and absolutely take some time to build base miles (she can learn about that) before getting into any real training but I hope the people she rides with can read her and make sure to keep her interests at a peak by sometimes pushing and other times having fun. If she's able to keep up and stay on their wheels then she needs to find new people to train with. Alternatively, if they can drop her then it's a good group for her.
****And something very important for you, make sure to get her some books on how to ride in traffic. I assume she'll be riding on the road (John Forester's effective cycling is a decent one). I say all this because I don't know where the people she rides with and learns from will focus but safety should be at the top.
It's really nice hearing about young people getting into the sport. Hope she loves it.
With platform pedals - i.e. stock pedals on anything from *-mart or low-to-mid end MTBs or cruisers - you can't pedal "in circles". You can't pull up on the upstroke as you can't pull up on pedal body with your foot on top of it .
Clips are toe clips. Old school. No one uses them anymore.
Clipless are large (or small in the case of MTB) pedals with cleats on the shoes. There are five styles for Road/Tri/TT bikes - Shimano SPD-SL, Look Delta, Look Keo, Time, and Speedplay. Shimano also makes a SPD cleat and pedal, but they are for commuters and MTBs - NOT good for racing IMHO.
Look Delta are the first clipless pedals. History - Look is a French company that took their downhill skiing cleat system and adapted it to road bikes in the early 80s. The Delta was their first design. You can't find Look branded Delta pedals anymore (but they do still make the cleats). There are some 3rd party pedals, but they are the bottom of the line versions.
Shimano and Look Keo are the main players today. Speedplay is pretty popular with triathaletes, but I'm not a fan. SPD-SL and Keo use a 3-bolt system - all road shoes have a 3-bolt system on them. Speedplay uses a 4-bolt system, and a huge cleat and tiny pedal - you need either a rare shoe, or a 3 to 4 bolt adapter (that comes with the pedals).
Both Shimano make pedals that range from $40 to $600+.
There is a 3rd option, especially if she more focuses on duathlons instead of triathlons: straps. Power Grip is a bigger company for these. Basically its a big ole strap that connects to platform pedals to hold the foot down. Because the foot is secured, you can pedal "in circles" on a platform. However, they aren't as efficient as clipless pedals, nor are they as efficient as nice road shoes. But, it might be worth it to her as she wouldn't have to change shoes in transitions. It would take some experimenting.
As to what I mentioned about shoes - road shoes are VERY rigid. The more rigid the better - balanced with weight. A rigid shoe doesn't waste energy flexing - it transmits more directly to the pedal.
Obviously, this makes it VERY hard to run in (or even walk ). Running shoes aren't rigid for obvious reasons.
Don't mean to start a debate...but all that is debatable.
Regardless though, because she is new I am in favor of her riding with good old flat pedals for a while. Especially because she'll need to get used to the feel and handling of a road bike.
Will have to agree to disagree. Used to race at the pro/elite level and worked at a bike shop that catered to road racers and triathletes. This is advice that I would give anyone walking into my old shop. Would never, ever recommend someone riding a nice road bike in platform pedals. Forgot about the strap systems that a lot of triathletes use, would lean towards that for a new rider.
She was very happy with the race today - she dropped 7 minutes from this same race last year and was 3rd in her age group.
She will probably never do a duathlon, so I guess straps aren't an option. Please excuse my ignorance - why wouldn't these work for a triathlon?
Now what we are wondering is what is the wisest plan for the next race in 3 weeks. It's an intermediate race. So, with double the race and a new bike, she is wondering if she should do the aquabike instead since she will likely still have platform pedals. She is concerned about her endurance for the run after the ride with platforms. She contacted the coordinators and she has two weeks to decide before she is locked in. I don't think she is going to mess with pedals until next season. So this is the conundrum.
G-fused, I didn't actually show her those rules or tell her to toughen the fudge up
Would never, ever recommend someone riding a nice road bike in platform pedals.
Why not? Even if they never want to go to clipless. They won't die.
Is it OK for people to ride a road bike with a helmet visor? How about a sleevless jersey, or what if their quick release isn't lined up correctly, what if someone is wearing a rainbow jersey who didn't earn it, what if someone is going 12 mph with aero bars and deep dish wheels and wearing a sky team kit, how about if they have a mirror on their bike and a saddle bag the size of backpack and wearing a flourescent vest with 5 blinkies (Fred's are people too). Don't be elitist.
No pro I ever knew gave a rats bum about whether people were riding with flat pedals or not. They couldn't care less and we're all pretty modest (except when they were around only themselves that is).
Maybe the problem is that you've forgotten there are many more mortals than elite athletes out there.
Platform pedals are inefficient, not trying to be a bike snob. If someone came into the shop I was working at and they bought a $400 bike or a $4000 bike I would recommend toe clips or some other system that allows them to pedal in circles. Even though the shop I used to work at is recognized nationally as one of the best pro shops in the country, the bulk of our sales were to poor college kids and Freds. Would sell 10 entry level bikes for every 1 race worthy machine. That was the fun part of the job, seeing a person get into the sport and help them get to the next level.
As far as the other stuff goes, don't have a dog in that fight. Gave up cycling for other pursuits years ago.
Platform pedals are not as efficient, not inneficient. So knowing that, why pick on that aspect? Why not choose any one of a number of other things that make riding more efficient? There are plenty of things to choose from that are both higher, lower, and comparable in price.
And if you're going on a 10 or 15 mile jaunt on the local MUP, like many do, clipless will gain you hardly anything. In terms of clips and straps, most people don't use them correctly to get any benefit. They leave them way loose. Used correctly, they need to be tight enough so your foot doesn't slip out and can only be released by pushing on the release buckly with a finger, but you probably know all that.
I'll say this, I agree with you to a certain extent. I just don't think they are as necessary as you think, especially for newbs.
Is it OK for people to ride a road bike with a helmet visor?
No, because the visor on a MTB helmet blocks your view on a road bike. They are a hazard.
The work on a MTB or a cruiser, etc because of the much more upright riding position.
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She will probably never do a duathlon, so I guess straps aren't an option. Please excuse my ignorance - why wouldn't these work for a triathlon?
It's not that they won't, they just won't save much time as in a duathlon. Unless she swims in running shoes...
Because in T1 she has to put shoes on anyway, theres no time savings there. In T2, changing from bike shoes to running shoes takes a little while, but not too long.
In a duathlon, because she'd be going into T1 already wearing running shoes, there is twice the time used to change shoes vs. triathlons.
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