T1...Shoes Already Attached? (Page 3)

I was lucky enough to go to the World Championships in Auckland last year. 

We stood watching at the mount/dismount line.  Clearly a lot of those age group world qualifiers esp in sprint distance had not practiced either the mount or dismount.

We saw at least 20 people take a tumble with the flying mount.  It was cold too so I'm thinking their feet were also a little numb. 

The dismount was not as many but the falls were spectacular, one USa lady hit the front brakes hadn't unclipped and flew threw the air with bike still attached.  She wasn't hurt so we did laugh.

We were just missing the Benny Hill music.

For goodness sakes, make sure you master this before a race....

They were originally named that to explain how they were different from the old-fashioned style of using toe-clips. Basically, "not-toe-clips," so "clipless."

A couple of races in clermont florida are like this. Along with practice, knowing the course and having your bike in the right gear are critical to success at the mount line.

How many people on this site race ITU races?

I have no idea.....but you get the same benefit in a sprint tri if you are competing for a podium or overall win.  

And....you'll see....draft legal racing will gain ground each year as our kids get older...they love it. We didn't have a chance to grow up on it, not so for the next generation.

Go ahead, now ask me how many people on this site can win a triathlon......I'll guess 4, how's that?  

One other thing to consider is the condition of the transition area.  Running barefoot on rough uncleared ground/pavement can be very slow- and sometimes dangerous.  In my area T1 @ some local tri's are so rough & sharp that barefoot athletes are literally tiptoeing.  About 3 yrs ago a very experienced local tri coach even sliced up his foot while running through T1.  It was so bad (eventually got infected) that he couldn't run for almost 3 mo. 

FWIW- I've timed myself doing practice T1's at home (inc 1st 250M of ride) & save maybe 5 sec when I pull off the shoes-on-pedals flying mount near perfectly.  Unfortunately that's <10% of the time.  Screw it up & I am MUCH slower (like 15-20+sec, or more if I crash ).  If I prep my tri shoes right (shoes set with strap & tongue wide open) I can slip em on in ~5sec & immediately start running my bike to the start line. I cannot run in those slippy Look cleats, but honestly I run pretty well in Shimano SPD-SL cleats with the yellow rubber 'feet'. That's reason I use SPD-SL's for tri, although prefer Look for most road riding.

Bottom line is to practice transitions.  You'll get better/faster with practice & figure out what's fastest for you for each race based on conditions, personal skill level, & rules (as said before 'shoes-on-pedals' in T1 is not allowed in some races). 

Go watch the really fast races.....nobody is putting their feet in their shoes until they are well over 20 mph.

You make an excellent point though.  It's really important to check out the transition area and, really, the entire course before you race.  

Has this always been the rule, or is it a new trend?  I ask because I did a olympic distance race last fall (non-Ironman) that also had a 70.3 and 140.6 option (ChesapeakeMan) and you were not allowed to have shoes clipped to your bike in T1.  Just asking because if it is going to be a more common rule I probably won't spend much effort in becoming proficient at the technique.