The shoes pictured above have a cleat in the sole that clips into the pedal to give better pedalling efficiently and to make it easier to lift the bike.

This does have its draw backs, such as it making it harder to get your foot down for balance quickly.

There is a definite split between riders who do and don’t use this type of pedal / shoe.

It also depends on the course, if it's pedaly, riders will choose to go with the clip less shoe above, if its very technical they might use a grippy flat pedal and a soft soled shoe.