How much is my road bike slowing me down on raceday?
Hi Coach P,
First off, I am aware that the best way for me to improve my speed on the bike is to put the time in on the saddle and being that the bike is my least experienced discipline (began riding regularly in January), I have a lot of work to do.
With that said, I recently completed the 12-week Advanced Short Course training plan and finished the SuperSEAL Olympic Triathlon (first Olympic distance race) on the 19th. The race went as well as my training would allow, finishing 25th overall and 12th in my age group. My swim was 23:32, bike was 1:06:38, and the run was 39:06. What became clear to me during the race was that every competitor who finished in front of me was in a different class on the bike and each one of them was equipped with a high-end triathlon bike while I was cranking my Felt AR3 with clip-on aero bars and stock wheels. The results made that even more clear as my bike time was, minimum, 3 minutes slower than the rest of the pack.
In your experience, how much time could be saved with someone at my level by transitioning to a tri-bike? Or upgrading my wheels?
I have begun the Get Faster Advanced Short Course training plan in preparation for my second Olympic triathlon in June, which will then be followed by Santa Cruz 70.3 in September. My goal is preform to the best of my capabilities in these races and knowing that I may be losing time not because of my training but for reason of being under equipped has me seriously thinking about making changes.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Nate G.
First off, I am aware that the best way for me to improve my speed on the bike is to put the time in on the saddle and being that the bike is my least experienced discipline (began riding regularly in January), I have a lot of work to do.
With that said, I recently completed the 12-week Advanced Short Course training plan and finished the SuperSEAL Olympic Triathlon (first Olympic distance race) on the 19th. The race went as well as my training would allow, finishing 25th overall and 12th in my age group. My swim was 23:32, bike was 1:06:38, and the run was 39:06. What became clear to me during the race was that every competitor who finished in front of me was in a different class on the bike and each one of them was equipped with a high-end triathlon bike while I was cranking my Felt AR3 with clip-on aero bars and stock wheels. The results made that even more clear as my bike time was, minimum, 3 minutes slower than the rest of the pack.
In your experience, how much time could be saved with someone at my level by transitioning to a tri-bike? Or upgrading my wheels?
I have begun the Get Faster Advanced Short Course training plan in preparation for my second Olympic triathlon in June, which will then be followed by Santa Cruz 70.3 in September. My goal is preform to the best of my capabilities in these races and knowing that I may be losing time not because of my training but for reason of being under equipped has me seriously thinking about making changes.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Nate G.
0
Comments
The book above has tons of data on wheels, tires, air pressure and other aero choices for swimming, running and biking.
Lots of other information, so ask away. Don't want to overwhelm you
Tom