Wet Socks in T1?
 

What's the scoop here? You get out of the water and run to the bike, your feet are wet and probably dirty. I don't mind the dirt but is there a trick to getting socks on wet feet quickly? Maybe different materials work better, maybe you don't wear socks.

How about this idea: clip your shoes onto the bike with elastic laces and wear your socks in the water. How's that for hop-on-and-go?

I have a small dish tub at my transition and a small hand towel. I rinse quickly and dry ask quickly as possible. Feet are still wet but after a few miles on the bike they are all sweaty anyway.

I have only been to a couple of tris now but I haven't seen anyone wear socks into the water. Keeping shoes clipped into the bike takes a lot of practice. I have only seen the top athletes doing that.

Well best of luck.

You don't wear socks. and if you don't leave your shoes in the pedals it will only take an hour of solid practice to learn how. Put simply, if you are putting socks and shoes on and then running out of transition in your cycling shoes you are wasting a minute or maybe more. With a bit of practice you'd be amazed how much time you can save in transition.

I had the same experience my first tri. Putting socks on wet feet seemed to take an eternity. This method worked really well for me during my last tri: before the race put on your socks, then roll them off your feet, so that when you are finished just a little bit of the sock's toe is left, the rest it rolled up, and set them on top of your shoes. When you hit T1, put your toes into the rolled up sock, and then quickly roll it on. I found this method to be very quick and effective. The same method ladies use to put on stockings.

Well I mount/dismount with my shoes clipped into the bike. I wouldn't recomend this too anyone not confident with their bike handling skills. Especially the high speed dismounts.

Dont wear socks for the bike portion. I will assume you are in proper bike shoes. Your feet dont really move a whole lot during the bike, so you dont need to worry about blisters and such.

Can either of you elaborate on the process of learning to transition with bike shoes clipped in already? I have shoes that require me to ratchet them tight, which means I'll have to bend over and do that for one and then start pedalling and pray to god I can bend over to tighten the other one (which I havent tried successfully because I totally fall over). Do you guys have shoes like that?

No. We all wear tri-specific shoes to make it easier. Like these...
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c..._1954_24095909

Ahh, now everything makes a bit more sense. Man, why is triathlon such an expensive sport.

It's only an expensive sport if you want it to be...

If the goal is fitness and a challenge of just finishing, any bike will do. My first year I raced on an old six speed steel road bike with down tube shifters and basic aero bars.

Any shoes on the bike will be fine also. Just wear your current shoes and put them on in the transition area. Dismounting leaving the shoes on the bike is pretty easy regardless of the closure system with a bit of practice.

I initially used standard road shoes and went fine. Now I do have specific single strap tri shoes and race in those up to 1/2 IM. Over that I prefer to use the standard road shoes and put them on in transition.

I also don't use socks either except on the run in IM.

I am just getting into triathlon, so I too have been interested in learning how to save time in the transition areas. On the sock thing, if you have a really great shoe you won't need socks. I used to use Shimano road shoes for my RR/TT etc. but I got rod of those soon after I bought them because they ended up hurting my feet after a short time. I now used a specialized road shoe for women and it feels like you are wearing a sock it is so comfortable. The inside of the shoe is this soft stretchy fabric that conforms to your foot. so sometimes I'll do my cycling workouts with no socks. I've never had a problem.

Don't forget the talc grenade. A big puff of talc inside each show makes wet feet slide in much more easily.