So tonight’s TRI101 class deserves its own post. Coach Rick had us practicing transitions; the coaching staff brought out the bike racks and we set up our bikes, shoes, etc. as we would in a race. When called, we were to run, barefoot, to our rack to simulate exiting the water for T1, put on shoes (and socks, if desired) and helmet, then move the bike to the mount line and ride 2 laps around a ~1mi loop. Then we were supposed to bring the bike back into transition, switch to our run gear (hello, T2!), and run the loop again. The goal was to do 3 complete circuits within 45 minutes. I didn’t quite make it— I got 3 bike laps and 2 runs before time expired. I did, however, learn several things I didn’t know, presented here for the edification of all:
- No one will stop you from exiting T2 for the run with your helmet on. You might want to remove it before running, though.
- Despite their cleats, bike shoes have little traction. If you get a good head of steam going downhill to the mount line, you may have difficulty stopping without falling on your butt.
- There’s only one way to hang your bike on the rack so that it doesn’t fall over.
- You (or at least I) can’t just jam your feet into your bike shoes because the heel area isn’t stiff; it’ll just mash down.
Despite these errors, I felt like I got the transition mechanics down OK, and both the ride and run felt pretty good (I averaged ~14mph on the bike and 6.5mph on the run). Oh, and my Cajun-rigged cadence sensor fix failed again, darn it. Onwards!
Paul's Down-Home Page 