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Talkback: Q+A: Should I wear cycling tri shoes for my first triathlon?
just to add to the advice re:
"the inefficiency of wearing trainers on the bike for more than an hour will cost you more time than the 30 seconds "
if its a very short first timer tri then you will only be on the bike for maybe 25 minutes and then theres not so much of a case to change shoes - even if you are used to riding clipless, thats what i think - but im often wrong, so the missus says 
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Comments
Chrissie did her first tri on a borrowed bike, in trainers and toe clips..... enough said.
I say save the money and do a tri without before you buy the shoes and pedals...you might decide it's not for you and if you're new into cycling with shoes and pedals it'll add to the things you need to learn and stress about.
The advice is correct , however the question as the chaps have pointed out is , whats the race goal ?
If you want to try out triathlon and see then just do it in trainers.
If you know you are already comitted you may as well crack on with proper shoes etc , power increase is in the order of 5-10%
Also how long to the event , you are going to fall off because of not unclipping at some point ... think about how youd be if this happened on race day , personally I am impervious to embarrasment which is why ive raced in black and yellow lycra....
I will be doing my first tri in my runnning shoes on my hybrid bike .
There's enough to get my head round as it is, without worrying about shoes and clippy things