Did my first duathlon! (first bike race ever)
08-21-11, 02:09 PM
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Did my first duathlon! (first bike race ever)
I did my first duathlon today, which is the first time I've ever raced on a bike. It was a good learning experience for me.
The race was 2 mile, 15 miles (hilly), and 2 miles
I'm a runner on my college's track team and was 2nd through the first run, a few seconds back.
Kept my 2nd place position until probably mile 4 on the bike and was passed by about 10-12 people on bikes. Got back to the run and ended up 3rd overall.
I averaged 19.8MPH on the bike - there were 4 hills with grades (according to my garmin) of 11%, 6%, 10% and 9%
Things I've learned:
The race was 2 mile, 15 miles (hilly), and 2 miles
I'm a runner on my college's track team and was 2nd through the first run, a few seconds back.
Kept my 2nd place position until probably mile 4 on the bike and was passed by about 10-12 people on bikes. Got back to the run and ended up 3rd overall.
I averaged 19.8MPH on the bike - there were 4 hills with grades (according to my garmin) of 11%, 6%, 10% and 9%
Things I've learned:
- Bike racks are easy as hell to knock over when you are coming back into the transition area
- It seemed like the race (about a hundred to 150 competitors) had a lot of good bikers, but very few could run well at all
- Aero bars would have probably helped on the downhill / flat sections, but I couldn't get comfortable going fast in the week I had them
- I could re-pass a bunch of bikers on the uphils with carbon discs and expensive Tri bikes on my $600 road bike, but then get repassed on the flats
- My quads burned like they never had before
- Hitting 41MPH is a little freaky on a downhill and it took a lot to not hit the brakes
- The drops are actually pretty comfortable
- I need to do something more than bike an easy 20-25 miles if I want to get better.
08-21-11, 03:38 PM
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08-21-11, 03:42 PM
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08-21-11, 05:01 PM
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That's a good showing for a non-cyclist who doesn't train hard on the bike. You will be winning this event next time around if you put more than a marginal effort on bike training.
Hard to tell how fast/slow you are on the bike due to the elevation on the course, but sounds like a pretty respectable bike pace, like FOP.
How fast did you run and how far?
Hard to tell how fast/slow you are on the bike due to the elevation on the course, but sounds like a pretty respectable bike pace, like FOP.
How fast did you run and how far?
08-21-11, 07:17 PM
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Hills hurt.. Couches kill
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Get rid of that running junk and you may be on to something...
08-21-11, 08:45 PM
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That's a good showing for a non-cyclist who doesn't train hard on the bike. You will be winning this event next time around if you put more than a marginal effort on bike training.
Hard to tell how fast/slow you are on the bike due to the elevation on the course, but sounds like a pretty respectable bike pace, like FOP.
How fast did you run and how far?
Hard to tell how fast/slow you are on the bike due to the elevation on the course, but sounds like a pretty respectable bike pace, like FOP.
How fast did you run and how far?
Total elevation change was 720 feet, according to my garmin. I'm not really sure how much that is (in comparison to other courses)
08-21-11, 09:14 PM
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Well, 5:05 / mile is hella fast - and even faster for 2 miles. Strong work. You dang college runners make me look bad and I'm a pretty decent runner.
08-21-11, 10:42 PM
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08-22-11, 08:09 AM
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That's a great result.
I don't mean this to denigrate what you did, or duathlons in general.
But you still haven't done a bicycle race.
A bicycle race is an entirely different animal.
The bike leg of a duathlon or triathlon is more akin to a time trial, mass start bike races are very much different.
I don't mean this to denigrate what you did, or duathlons in general.
But you still haven't done a bicycle race.
A bicycle race is an entirely different animal.
The bike leg of a duathlon or triathlon is more akin to a time trial, mass start bike races are very much different.
__________________
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
08-22-11, 11:36 AM
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That's a great result.
I don't mean this to denigrate what you did, or duathlons in general.
But you still haven't done a bicycle race.
A bicycle race is an entirely different animal.
The bike leg of a duathlon or triathlon is more akin to a time trial, mass start bike races are very much different.
I don't mean this to denigrate what you did, or duathlons in general.
But you still haven't done a bicycle race.
A bicycle race is an entirely different animal.
The bike leg of a duathlon or triathlon is more akin to a time trial, mass start bike races are very much different.
For sure though, with some training, OP should be dominating Cat4-5 within weeks to months if he chooses to go that route. Guys with collegiate running backgrounds are often the guys who go to Cat1/2 within 6-8 weeks or something ridiculous like that once they start actually training/racing seriously.
08-22-11, 12:56 PM
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5:05 is what the World champions ran on the Triathlon Olympic qualifier, but they did it for 10K. That is wicked. Still congrats. I could not run that fast even to save my life
08-22-11, 01:54 PM
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As an interesting aside, duathlons tend to attract a lot more people who are cycle-dominant vs run-dominant. I think part of it is that running is both so easy to get involved with, and there are also so many more running events such that only a select few do dus, and many of those are actually triathletes looking for a race to do.
08-22-11, 02:06 PM
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Longing for a Tail Wind
Nice work.
If there was a swim/bike duathlon that would be good. Particularly, if the swim portion followed the bike portion and was held in a hot tub.
If there was a swim/bike duathlon that would be good. Particularly, if the swim portion followed the bike portion and was held in a hot tub.
08-22-11, 02:17 PM
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Congrats on the race. You are going to find that the competition will get much harder in even CAT5 cycling events compared to the biking competition in Duatlons and Triathlons.
08-22-11, 02:45 PM
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Still, this guy will be crushing Cat4-5 within 8 weeks if he actually trains like a cyclist (would help to get a coach.) I think his non-winning of cycling races early on will be much more a function of his relative weakness on the bike as compared to the increased competition in road cycling - for sure, in road cycling Cat4-5, the slowest guys are a lot faster than du/tri, but the top guys in 4-5 aren't that much faster, if even that, because all the really fast guys are upgrading to 3 and above by then.
08-22-11, 02:50 PM
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Still, this guy will be crushing Cat4-5 within 8 weeks if he actually trains like a cyclist (would help to get a coach.) I think his non-winning of cycling races early on will be much more a function of his relative weakness on the bike as compared to the increased competition in road cycling - for sure, in road cycling Cat4-5, the slowest guys are a lot faster than du/tri, but the top guys in 4-5 aren't that much faster, if even that, because all the really fast guys are upgrading to 3 and above by then.
08-22-11, 03:04 PM
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To the OP: Congrats from a fat guy who can barely grind out 12.5 minutes per mile!
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