Today's bike rider has several technical improvements that greatly improve performance.
Shifters built into the brake levers, ergonomically designed seats, pedals and shoes. Essentially the three places your body interfaces with the bike. Hands, Feet and Butt. This section is about your feet.
 Step-in pedals are like a mini ski binding. (sometimes called clipless pedals). When you step on them, a cleat on the bottom of your shoe snaps into the pedal allowing you to apply pressure not just down but also pull up on the back stroke and ultimately pedal the full circle. This is a big help in climbing. To unclip you just turn your heel out and it pops off. Pedals come with cleats or you can buy replacement cleats. Cleats do not come with shoes
 Bike shoes are designed to accept a cleat that gets fastened to the bottom.
Two broad categories are walkable shoes and road shoes. Walkable shoes have the cleat
in a recess so that the cleat doesn't hit the ground when walking and the shoe flexes when you walk. These shoes come as either mountain bike or general purpose which look like a sneaker. On  road shoes the bottom doesn't flex and the cleat will stick below the shoe making walking difficult. For ultimate performance the road shoe is best. If you get on your bike go for a ride and go home they are fine. If you are out for the day and may want to stop for lunch or walk around a little then the general purpose is best.
We carry shoes from Specialized primarily but have Sidi and others. Prices range from about $70 to $200. Our prices are better than mail order, you can try them on and not pay shipping.
Pedals.
Shimano makes several. SPD is a cleat style which can be used in a walkable shoe (the cleat is small) and a road cleat (similar to the Look)  Shimano also makes an easy release cleat.
Look makes several models, all of which use the large cleat favored by performance road riders.
Speedplay makes three styles, one for a mountain bike style shoe (walkable) and two road.

When you buy shoes and pedals we will mount the cleats, safety check them for release and put your bike on a trainer so you can try them.

People with problems may benefit from a custom fitting with our Rotational Adjustment Device (RAD). This will help us determine if the cleats are bio-mechanically aligned with your legs, and adjust if necessary.