Get More From Your Ride
With all the excitement surrounding our Flywheel class on Saturday, I thought we’d discuss bike shoes. What girl doesn’t love shoes and an excuse to buy another pair?
Everything I learned about cycling I learned from the Husband. He’s a certified USA Cycling Coach and has quiet the bike racing history himself. He’s a humble guy so he probably doesn’t want me to tell you that he spent some time racing in Europe.
One of the first things he taught me was to always clip into a bike wether it’s a spin bike, road bike or mountain bike. If you’re not clipping in your missing out.
While on a bike your foot makes a full circle. When wearing sneakers you’re only working during the down part of the pedal stroke, eliminating 1/2 of the movement, giving you 1/2 the power.
The down part of the pedal stroke primarily utilizes the quads, hamstrings and glutes. The up part of the pedal stroke primarily utilizes the hamstrings, shin muscle (tibialis anterior) and hip flexor (psoas).
Bike shoes lock your foot into the pedal of the bike (similar to a ski binding) allowing you to push and pull throughout the pedal stroke. Most importantly bike shoes have a hard sole where as sneakers have a flexible rubber sole which bends under pressure. A hard soled bike shoe will allow for a direct power transfer from your feet to the pedals.
Here are some links for places that sell affordable cycling shoes:
I promise that once you ride in cycling shoes, you’ll never want to go back to sneakers.
I second that! Once I switched to clip-ins, I got a much better ride and can’t stand sneakers.
You’re right, once I started using clipless pedals, I couldn’t ever go back. Also, I have those same Sidi shoes!
Great info! I always tell people to practice in the grass or in a door frame to get the hang of it!
Jess here’s a question about bikes, more than shoes if you don’t mind . . .
Where do you ride your bike? Around the city? Me and bf are looking for bikes right now and we’re thinking of buying ones that can go on road and off since I don’t find it that safe to ride around the city much.
Thank you so much for explaining this to me. I’ve often wondered what the deal with clipping was and now I know. Very interesting!
I just got clipless pedals for my bike!! Now I just need to hunt down the shoes in the right size- bigfoot over here
so true! you can not properly ride a bike without clipless pedals
I’ve never even heard of bike shoes before! Thanks for the info – I really want to get more into biking. What kind of bike do you use?
This is really fascinating – I’ve wondered about the “full circle” thing, but I’ve been too much of a chicken to try to clip in.
Thanks for the explanation! I think I’ll eventually get into cycling and spinning more when I have more time
Makes a lot of sense! If I ever get back into spinning, I’ll be investing in a pair!
Interesting post- I just got my first bike shoes a few months ago so this was interesting to read about. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to biking!
I’ve been clipping in to my spin bikes for years! I clipped into my road bike last week and fell off my bike…twice!!! I’m such a klutz
I’m a klutz too!
I haven’t been doing as much spinning lately but I’m trying to get back into it. I’ve always used regular sneakers but this sounds like a fantastic excuse to go shopping! Thanks for the info