Gloves

jwgrey

Quick question. Do you/should I wear bike gloves for a 70.3? I do not for sprint and OLY but having never done a HIM was wondering what the recommendations would be. Thanks in advance.

Steven Ford

I have never worn gloves for races as I find them to difficult to put on when wet. Also being in the aero bars does not strain your hands the way riding in the uprights do on a road bike.

 

My 2cents

Coach Rich

Totally personal preference. However, I'd recommend putting them on while your riding vs in T1. People often slide them over their aerobars and put them on somewhere on the course.

Nemo Brauch

I wear them in Half and IM events, mostly for the sweat factor, but also because I crashed once during a race and it was my hands that took the biggest beating- gloves would have fixed that and made breaking on the hills later that day a lot less painful and scary.

steveperx

+1 on Nemo's comment. Protect your hands. Another consideration is sweating. I sweat a lot. Gloves help keep me from slipping off the base bar on climbs or when standing. Rich's suggestion is good to slip them over your aero bars... Make sure you practice getting them off the bars and putting them on while riding.

Michael Byerts

Looks like you are doing Florida 70.3, which is quite hot. Especially if you sweat a lot, like Steve says, gloves might be a good idea to maintain grip. I don't personally wear gloves during races because (1) they are hard to get on wet hands in T1; and (2) I worry about crashing because I am not paying attention to what is going on around me while trying to put them on while riding. If your hands slip on the bars when you sweat, I would experiment with putting them on and taking them off in training rides as others have suggested.

Al Truscott

I never wear gloves in any triathlon, any distance, any temperature. (Not true in training, even on TT bike). As to sweat, I find it collects on the elbow pads, as I have my hands higher than my elbows, and I try not to grip the aero bars very much. Solid contact is needed on the bull horns, where your hands should not be most of the time, so they (the 'horns) stay dry, ready to grip when going downhill or around a corner.

Spokane_Al

I train 100% in gloves, unless I am on my trainer in my basement.

Come race day I leave the gloves at home. It may be silly, but this is another way, along with putting on race wheels and a race helmet, for me to mentally separate the races from the training.

Tom Glynn

I rarely train in gloves, usually for warmth only. Having said that, I just did the IM TX Rally a few weeks ago, and I had water pouring off me. Whenever I got out of the aero bars, my hands would be quite slippery around the bars, so I have been thinking out finding some light gloves just for a better grip when not aero. (Maybe I should just stay aero 100% of the time!)

GMAN 19030

Like some others in this thread... sprint and olympic = no gloves & HIM and IM = gloves.

I use these: http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=57160

zildgen

Thanks all for the input. After review everything I think that I will go with gloves. I am a heavy heavy sweater. (I look like I climbed outta the pool after 30 min running or biking) and it will be hot in Orlando. I will practice with them on the aero bars to start. Also now that I have a plan to wear glove and get them on what is the best way to get them off? Do y'all take them off on the bike and put them back on the aero bars or leave them on and just rip them off after racking the bike?
Thanks again for the help.

Coach Rich

Posted By Bob McCallum on 26 Apr 2011 08:16 PM

Like some others in this thread... sprint and olympic = no gloves & HIM and IM = gloves.



I use these: http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=57160

 

Thanks! I have a pair of these and really like them but forgot where/how I bought them...

William Jenks

Safety first, obviously.

I have not seen the primary data, but if you snoop around the web, you will see it quoted over and over again that there is an aero cost for wearing gloves. I cannot personally verify that of course.

Chris G

I do not race in gloves in tris.  Less moving parts is better in my opinion.  I also always wear them for training rides for the safety factor.  Luckliy when I crashed last year at the Cuse 70.3 my hands were fine.

However, I will be wearing gloves for the American Zofingen duathlon this weekend.  Can put them on before the start and leave them and I have fallen down on the RUN course each time I have raced there at least twice.

Cary Blanco

FWIW - I wear golves on the road bike and go gloveless on the tri bike.