special

Ive been road biking about 24 hours now and with some small exceptions, its working out fine:

I don't feel like getting biking shoes now, so I use running shoes with straps on the wheels. Whats the best way to get started? I've been taking way too long getting my shoes in the straps (which obviously has to be done whilst the bike is moving) and I'm sure looking pretty foolish

Second is a bit more serious. I wear biking shorts, but they don't offer padding where most of my weight is on the seat. Im getting some contact that causing some pain, possibly on my bone near the front of the lower side on both left and right sides. I hope it will go away with training but for now I can't have fun on the bike. Any perspectives?

merlinextraligh

Getting your feet in takes some practice. Start with one foot already in. Loosen the strap on the other. Take your foot and pull back on the underside of the pedal to flip the pedal up right, (pedals designed for toeclip use have a little tab on the underside for this purpose.) and then stick your toes in.

Practice in a parking lot, over and over, until its second nature. Half hour of pracitce ought to do it.

As for the seat, make sure the bike fits, and is adjusted properly, most notably that the seat is not pointed up.

It will take a while to get used to sitting on the bike if you haven't been riding. If it doesn't start getting better, it may be that your seat is not well fitted to your anatomy, and you may want to try some other seats. Bike seat fit is a personal thing, one seat will work great for you and not for another rider.
Itsounds like its possible that the width of your sits bones, and the width of the seat's paddding don't match up well.

Farby

I too have only been road biking a short period. I had toe clips on my MTB so I already got that part down, but just keep practicing and it will come easier. I also experienced discomfort with the seat. I am a skinny bony guy so it didn't feel good at all. I picked up some shorts with good padding and havenot had any pain since. Try another pair of shorts or adjusting the seat around.

SDRider

If you're having such a difficult time with toe clips why not just get the clipless and learn them instead. They'll probably have about the same learning curve for you at this point.

Your ass will get used to it over time. Might take a few weeks or longer. Some discomfort and soreness is normal, if you have numbness though that's not normal.

Homebrew01

Take the appropriate tools with you to adjust your seat on your next ride. If your saddle is not roughly parallel to the ground, make small adjustments either up or down to get it closer to parallel. Also, your seat may be too high or low.

special

I moved the seat forward so it sit on the wide part and its tolerable, but I think my position is too upright now. Ill let bike shop help when I go in for checkup in 2 weeks.

In the meantime: 2 new problems
Bike chain came off, and it took me a good 15 minutes to figure out how to get it on. I think it happened because I shifted both front and back at same time, so I guess thats a no no? How do you shift the front gear if you can't shift the back gear opposite to compensate? The other is that the front right brake looks closer to the wheel than the left and I think it scrapes just barely. Can I make a quick fix before I go to the bike shop?