I ride a mountain bike, although mostly on gravel or pavement at the moment. I don’t have clipless pedals; just the standard flat ones that came with the bike. I’m curious if there’s an advantage to buying cycling-specific shoes or if regular sneakers are good enough. I’m starting to do longer rides and I want to make sure I feel my best both in the saddle and after the ride.

I don’t have any plans at the moment to switch out the pedals, so I know the differences are pretty much just the reinforced, stiffer sole and “stickier” tread on the bottom, at least as far as cycling shoes for flat pedals go.

I don’t mind dropping a little money on a pair of decent shoes as long as I can justify why I should. So far, I’ve just been using what are essentially running shoes, as they’re lightweight and well-ventilated.