Triathlon - newbie: Importance of bike on running

I'm a fairly experienced runner who just completed my first duathlon. I did well in the running segments but lost a lot of time in the biking segment. My bike is a hybrid Trek 7300, so I knew I'd get my butt kicked in cycling. One of the reasons I'm checking out this forum is that I want to upgrade to a better bike, and this is a great resource.

I averaged just under 15mph on my hybrid for 10 miles. The leaders were around 20Mph, and there were guys who I beat in both running segments who averaged around 19mph on the bike. Obviously, they had better equipment and are probably more experienced cyclists than I am.

Here's my question: Am I working harder to average 15mph on my hybrid than guys doing 18-19 mph on a decent racing bike? If I upgrade to a better bike, will the run become somewhat easier? I feel like I'm a reasonably strong cyclist, but I can't tell how much speed I'm giving up by using a hybrid bike. I'm trying to get some idea of what the impact of a better bike will be not only on my cycling, but on running times as well if that's possible to evaluate. Thanks in advance...

Hi John,

guess i'm in the same boat as you. I'm currently riding a mountain bike. i plan to go into triathlons too. And i would love to know how much faster in Av speed i would be able to clock with a racing/road bike. Someone i knew told me it was something like 10km/h. but that sounds pretty incredible to me.

Just out of interest John, what were the distances for the duathlon and what were your timings.

Hi John,

The bike won't get easier, but faster. Changing bikes won't make 4 mph difference, but it might make half of that much difference. Be patient! You don't have the cycling legs to take advantage of your strong heart and lungs yet, but as a runner you'll progress twice as fast on the bike as a total newvbie. Putting in the miles on the bike will make you faster on the bike and running after cycling. If you're interested in a coach, go to www.Fitness-Concepts.com Good luck, Ken

Hi John,



Just out of interest John, what were the distances for the duathlon and what were your timings.

The setup was 1.5 mile run, 10 miles on the bike and another 1.5 run, but the actual distances on the runs were off. My watch had the first run at about 1.35 miles and the second at about 1.7. I'm assuming that the bike portion was fairly accurate, but it's hard to say for sure. Anyway, I was 21 out of 67 on the first run, 45th on the bike at 14.7 (41 minutes) mph and finished 12th in the field on the second run. Since the distances were off I'm guessing at my running pace, but I'd put it at about 7:45 for the first run and 7:35 per mile in the second.

I can tell you that all of us who had hybrids or mountain bikes were in the same rack area. I was first to finish the bike, and no one passed me on the second run. So I guess I won the group title for all of us with inferior equipment.

I just felt like I was giving up a lot of time on the bike segment, especially on some uphill sections where the guys on the expensive road and tri bikes were just cruising by me. There was one woman on a nice Specialized road bike who was even with me about a mile from the end of the bike section because she had to stop for directions, then put at least 200 yards between us from there to the end of the bike segment. I caught her in the first half mile of the run and she finished a good minute behind me, but she averaged almost 2 mph faster on the bike course. That was a kind of an eye opener, and made me wonder how much of a handicap it was to ride that hybrid.

John,

I've done a number of tri's. When I first started out I did my first on my mountain bike which I slapped some slicks onto. I really sucked. Came in third to last in my age group. About a year later I bought my first tri bike.It made a huge difference. I gained 4 mph over a 14 mile course and my average on a olympic course (32 mile) stayed at over 3 mph. It also helped when I got to the run, as I wasn't dead from the bike. If you do upgrade I wouldn't necessarily buy a tri specific bike though as they are limited and real difficult to do century or other longer rides on. Good luck.

If you are just getting into multisport racing, and are not sure were you want to go with it. I would say get a road bike. It is great for training, and you can still race at a decent speed on it. All you gotta do it throw some clip on aero bars, andyou are good to go.

Get a road bike. The muscles in running are different than biking. The guys averaging 20mph are doing that by biking a lot. Just because you are a better runner doesn't mean you can keep with them on the bike. You will find that running may help your biking a little bit and vice versa - but in general they use different muscles and are different disciplines.

How much can you afford to spend on a road bike?

Reasonble Expense $600-700:
Giant OCR3
Trek 1000
Specialized Allez Sport

A Bit More $800 - 1200:
Giant OCR1
Trek 1500
Specialized Allez Elite
Felt F70
Cannondale R600

Getting Up There $1200 - $1500
Cannondale R700
Felt F65
Trek 2100
Specialized Roubaix
Giant TCR2

There are others, obviously

Holy *#$% Batman...OK, I don't know why I typed that...

Anyway...the comments about getting a road bike are certainly valid IF you plan on doing group training rides, centuries, or training on long & steep hills.

On the other hand, if you want a bike specifically for multi-sport...a tri/tt bike will suit you better because of better aerodynamics and because the geometry is such that you use your quads more which will help you as you transition to the run.

Be careful about putting aero bars on a roadie as they extend your reach and close your hip angle...of course you can mitigate this with a forward facing seat post...or you can try the "shorties" simialr to the ones that the ITU guys use.

Be careful about putting aero bars on a roadie as they extend your reach and close your hip angle...of course you can mitigate this with a forward facing seat post...or you can try the "shorties" simialr to the ones that the ITU guys use.

I was thinking more about ITU racing. Maby it was cus I just raced in one a few days ago ;) . Definatly if you are only using it for racing/training for racing, then go the TT bike route. I personaly have a road bike and a TT bike so I can both race and do long group training rides.(costs more, but more vesitile)

Now for what bike, that will definatly be limited by both your preference, and price. I am partial to Cervelo (www.Cervelo.com). Maby it is because they are Canadian, and they make some of the best bikes going(see. P3carbon). There are tons out there though, trek, giant, aquila, quintana roo, hed, ect.

Cervelo is nice because the design is thought out around having a dual purpose bike, flip the seat post and you have a nice steeper angle tri-friendly frame. There is a bit of talk about the benefits of using a steep angle bike for multi-sport events, you can put down a lot of power without blowing yourself up for the run essentially.


Changing bikes won't make 4 mph difference, but it might make half of that much difference.

It could, in theory. Going from a "comfort" position that has the aero properties of a brick to a position that is aero and let's you get some more power to the pedals a little easier the possibility is there, obviously it still hinges around the guy turning the pedals.

Andrew

thanks for all the replies. You guys are really great about sharing information.

I've been reading some of the other threads about tri bikes vs. road bikes. I think for me the way to go is to start with a good road bike in the $1000 to $2000 range. The Cervelo sounds intriguing-thanks for the tip. We also have a Trek dealership in our area, and the guys there seem really helpful and willing to let you test ride their bikes. I was in there last week and the guy was showing me the Pilot series. I'll head in for a ride this week.

I'm not a swimmer, so I won't be doing tri's. And there aren't that many duathlons in this area. So mostly I'll just be doing more serious non-competitive riding, maybe check into some road races, do an occasional Du, and I plan to get a good trainer for winter conditioning. I'm almost 55, and as much as I love to run it's doing a number on my flat feet. So the crosstraining should really help me stay in condition without quite as much pounding. Just wish I'd done this earlier, but it's hard to find a good beginners event to get you really hooked. Definitely convinced me that I'm ready for an upgrade to something that will make me want to ride hard.

Thanks for all the replies...

I am relatively new to biking and i've only completed one triathlon. My first one was in may and I did it on a 32lb 1982 FUJI road bike that i bought for 20bucks at my local GOODWILL. I only had 2 months to prepare for that tri but i averaged 17mph in my training back then and i could only ride for contnuous 10mi at the most. my running on the competition day was about 7min/mi and my biking was 18mph on a 11mi course. Since then (3months later) i bought a better road bike that weighs about 20lbs, aerobars and a forward seat post. now in training i can average 20mph for a 20mi ride and right after it i can run 3mi in 6:20/mi.
what i have learned in the last few months is that no gear is substitute for fitness but small things make a big difference. if you want to get faster on the bike the first thing i would do is ride it 4 times/week and follow at least three of them by a 15-20min run at subaerobic pace. also run at least 4 times/week even if its for only 15-20 min. include one long run(60min+) and one long ride(120min+)/week.
as far as equipment goes. the weight of the bike is a factor but not the biggest. in my personal experience you will gain the most speed from aerodynamics, position/comfort, pedaling... i think in that order. get a road bike and ride it on the drop bars, if you can afford it get some clip on aero bars and rode on them as much as you can. if you can move your seat post forward do so, it will save your hamstrings abit for the run. I dont have cycling shoes or clipless pedals yet but i ride with regular running shoes, and regular flat pedals with toe clips. i've actually seen some elite athletes use toe clips on duathlons in my area. i guess it save them a lot of time in the transitions and maybe they were comfortable enough that they new they could win it even without the use of cycling shoes...
in conclusion. spend as much time as you can on the bike and you will get faster. if you have a better road bike, even if its a cheap and used one, you will want to spend more time on it so go for it. rock!