Originally Posted by
Custardcup
Just got back into riding about 4 months ago. I do 10-15 miles 4 times a week. I am riding a Trek 7.2 Hybrid bike. I don't know what kind of shoes to wear. Being clipped into a shoe is a little scary, and I am not planning on doing any road racing, etc. I would like something that will make my cycling more efficient, but don't want to overdo it.
It really depends on how much riding, how fast and how often. 10-15 miles 4 times a week, your fine in any shoes including standard running shoes, for better efficiency there are a couple of things that should be a lot higher on the list, then special shoes with clip-in pedals.
The 7.2 has an upright riding position, that means the biggest issue at any kind of speed over about 10MPH is going to be wind resistance. Not a lot you can do about this, without switching to a different bicycle. They tend to put wide semi-slick tires with low maximum pressures on hybrids, and this means that in addition to wind resistance, you have an effect of increased rolling resistance.
The best low cost efficiency booster, make sure your drive train is clean and lubed, and your tires have high enough air pressure.
Another low cost efficiency booster is a bicycle computer with cadence. Train yourself you ride in a range of 80 to 100 RPM. 80 RPM seems awfully fast when your starting out, although once you get used to it, you will find that much below that and the effort to turn the pedals really starts to increase.
Another efficiency booster is gearing, remember the small ring in front is for climbing, the middle one is for flatter ground, and the big one is for going downhill when you want to build momentum. As you get stronger you will find that it takes a steeper and steeper hill before you need the small ring. Within that range you have (I think) 8 gears, this is where RPM comes in, shifting should be controlled by cadence. when your RPM drops below 80, you shift to a lower gear, when it gets up past 100, then you want to shift to a higher gear.