[garrett333]

The board suggested that i introduce myself before i posted. So here it goes. I am a football coach from Little Rock who is about to start competing in sprint tri's. I have been marathon training the last year and just ran a half in the little rock marathon. I placed in the top 200 out of 1900...so i am now looking for the next challenge. Thought the swim would be the toughest part until i bought my road bike and rode after a training swim. Wow i missed that one. Anyway enough rambling. I came to the board to pick up some tips here and there and see what other poeple who are motivated to do this are thinking.

[sfricks]

Welcome on. There are a lot of friendly people and a lot off good advise on this board. Fire away and let us see if we can help you.

Don't worry about the bike. Of course it's the only mechanical device you'll use in a tri but like swimming and running it does take practice and can be improved dramatically by technique. What type of bike do you have? Clip peddles or cages?

[garrett333]

Thanks for the fast reply. I just bought trek 1000 (entry level i know) from my lbs. It has cage peddles i guess because it just has adjustible straps on peddles. I was not able to invest in a expensive bike at this time. Well as far as that goes this one was pricey for me. Any training tips would be appriciated greately. thanks

[julian]

Welcome to triweek you will find loads of tips here if you scroll though the threads you can pretty much find out every thing you need to know or start a new thread yourself.
Last season was my first, :) and the advice I got from this forum was great.
Do not worry about how good or expensive your equipment is as long as you have the basics you will be fine.
As every thing practice makes perfect (as perfect as you want to be).
Good luck with your season.
Cheers
Julian

[sfricks]

Garrett,
"It's not about the bike". I started on a 1000 and L O V E D it. Great beginner road bike. Hopefully you LBS properly fitted the bike to you. Start with clip pedals. Type not important right now. You can get them CHEAP on Ebay. With cages you're basically limited to pushing down on the pedals. A year of that and you'll develope some bad muscle memory.

As for training, start with proper technique. Learn to ride properly IE gearing, cadence, linage, and power throughput and the rest will come very quickly. Until you get your clips just practice feel for gearing. This will change with clips but you'll get an idea. Also linage or keeping a "narrow, straight track". Good luck in your pursuit! Let us know when you're ready for more :)

[garrett333]

Scott, you kinda went over my bike head with the technical jargon. Please explain in laymonds terms. I'm such a rookie that made no sense. If i go to clip peddles will i have to buy the shoes that fit in them? Mabey im not sure what clip peddles are. I'll work on that one thanks for the advice.

[sfricks]

OOPS. Sorry Garrett. Clips are the type of pedals that actually lock your feet to the cranks. They do require cycling shoes, clips (pedals) and cleats (locks the shoe to the pedal). It's important to start right so as not to develop the muscle memory of pushing down only. This can be untrained but it takes a lot of drills. With clips, you'll be pedaling in a circular motion. Actually pushing forward, pushing down, pulling back and pulling up on the pedal with each revolution. I can't remember the statistical advantage but I bet it would 25%+ more efficient on the bike. Did I answer your question?

[garrett333]

Yes, sounds like i need to make the finacial sacrifice on this one. My wife thinks this is so over the top money wise for a hobby. I have a hard time buying extra's after the bike episode. I sure in not the only guy that has this problem (haha) with the sport. thanks for the advice.

[sfricks]

It doesn't have to be a financial sacrifice. >>>PLUG<<< I have two pairs of old clips on emay that should sell for around $5 each.

[Spike10]

Garrett, just to put my 2 cents in, Scott is right about the pedals it helped my cycling greatly when I went to racing pedals. A great friend and my unofficial cycling coach actually gave me a set of Look's, all I had to do is get a pair of shoes that were comfortable and cleats to fit the pedals and I was set. I suggest going to your LBS and try of lots of shoes and find the right ones that fit your feet and wallet, then see if you can get them online like I did. (online is usually way cheaper). If you go this way, practice cliping in and out 1 foot at a time either in a doorway or soft grassy area so when (yes when) you fallover it won't be too bad on your body. The first time I went over it was on concrete, luckily I have done lots of full contact stuff and I kept my arms and hands tucked in and the worst thing that happened was a bit of dirt on my arm and jersey and a red face cause quite a few people saw it. :)
I hope this helps and I haven't rambled on too much.
Happy riding.
Spike.

[garrett333]

How do you get your feet out during a time when you may need to stop due to traffic? I am having a hard time with the cages right now as i ride in town through stop lights ect...... any advive would be great. thanks

[Spike10]

If your pedals have teeth you need to wear somewhat smooth bottom shoes and make sure that the straps are tight enough to do their job but not so tight as to hinder your escape, if you need to stop for any reason start by wiggling your foot as you slide it out of the cage but not all the way until you are almost stoped then clear the cage and step down. Make your exit foot the one that is either on the top or the bottom of your stroke (whatever is most comfortable, quick, and safe). I take my right foot out at the top of the stroke and slow down enough to put my foot down without sliding on my cleat.
Good luck and remember to practice in a safe and soft place.
Spike.

[mcclungj]

For your first year and first races stick with the cage type pedals. I jumped into the bike thing too fast before my first sprint. I went from a TREK 1000 as well to a used TREK 2000 Hilo Tri bike and clip-in style pedals. I did practice getting into and out of the pedals plenty in my traininer but did not even think about the nerves in the transition for the first race. I fell on my bum trying to get the shoes on before the bike portion, fell again trying to get the the mount line where I could get on the bike and ride, fell over again trying to get the shoes off to start the run. Needless to say I was not going to win any medals onthis race but I did have a good laugh after the whole ordeal was over. I did the same race the next year and the pace people remembered me! When is your first race? If it is within the next two months or so I would keep with the cages just to minimize the hassle of the "first race nightmare". After that it you get addicted like most of us, go and check out shoes, cleats, and pedals. Pedals go to Ebay and save big $$$. Just be sure to get new ones. Some come with cleats. Go to your LBS and tell them you are looking for triathlon specific shoes. They will help down the road when you leave your shoes locked onto the pedals and run barefoot and jump on the bike like a pro. But that's down the road a ways. Been doing this for some time and I still think that I'm going over the bars everytime that I try this stunt. For now get used to the bike, how it handles, and what it feels like to go fast on skinny little wheels. I would invest in a bike computer first. It is a great training aid and motivator on the long rides.

Jeff

[garrett333]

Wow great advice. thanks. my first sprint tri is may 27 near dallas tx. So i think i will take your advice and stick with cages. Then as i progress i will look into clip peddle. My mind always strays back to the first time in the swim and transitions while training. I think of those two aspects as being the biggest challenge in my first any thoughts?

[mcclungj]

Don't start getting nervous yet. The only goal that I had for my first race was to cross the finish line vertically. Take every event one at a time. Even if you are slow in T1 you shold be out of the area under 2.5 minutes. I did everything wrong on my first race. Besides falling on my pride I also tried to get a skin tight shirt over my head and chest while dripping wet. I started the bike with the damn thing under my arm pits. Start thinking about what you will need for the race and write it down. Half of this you can probably leave at home or in your car. Here is what I still use: 2 towels (one to stand on and one to dry off with) one water bottle (to wash pool crud out of mouth) socks, running shoes, helmet, number belt, sungalsses, helmet, bike. I try to work from top to bottom on T1. Take off goggles and swim cap on the way to T1. Dry head, chest, legs, feet. Put on glasses, helmet, socks, bike shoes (or running shoes if you use the cages). Grab bike and run it to the mount/dismount line. Hop on and go like hell. Pre survey the race area the morning of the race. Know where you are going to rack your bike, how to get from the pool to the bike, bike to the mount line, then the dismount line to YOUR SPOT at the rack, then to the run course. The more advanced recon you can do prior to the race the better. It will help you go through the paces of the race without your brain. You loose this body part as soon as you get wet. Trust me. Let me know if you need anything else.
Jeff

[garrett333]

Race belt where do i get one of those? how much?

[mcclungj]

Go to trisports.com. Great website with lots of good stuff for a decent price. You may also want to look at elastic shoe laces. This way you don't have to spend the extra time tieing your shoes and they never come untied. I use the Yankz brand. If you get the laces make sure that you run with them several times before a race to get the fit right.

[mcclungj]

Sorry, the belt is about $6-$9 bucks and the laces around $8