Tri / Triathlon / Triathlons - do they float your boat?

Was thinking £100 for the tri rig, comes with a box and all the bolts…

If that’s way out let me know and we can talk though..

No it’s a flat back plate, it could be re-engineered if you are brave, but I never but the bullet

I wasn’t courageous enough to do the top tube mod that you have on your p2!

Did you sell the frame set too?

No offroad races that long in the uk unfortunately. The longest will be the equivalent to Olympic distance but if you manage to find something middle distance please post it on here. Some of the offroad races aren't British triathlon affiliated so don't come up on their search. Are you trying to fit a bento box to your top tub without drilling it or using ugly straps? I've done a neat velcro hack on mine and have some spare materials if you want to give it a try?

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No offroad races that long in the uk unfortunately.

Shame but I’ll continue to keep an eye out. It seems there are no off-road races off any description near me, and I doubt the family would appreciate me dragging them half way across the country for a short race.

Are you trying to fit a bento box to your top tub without drilling it or using ugly straps?

Nah, I have an old skool P2 of similar vintage and the drilling is to move the internal cable routing up behind the stem just as Ed has done on his frame.

Which one of the top tube mods?!

There are bottle cage bolts as well as the hole for gear cables, hence why the frame is gonna go on the wall!

Nah, I have an old skool P2 of similar vintage and the drilling is to move the internal cable routing up behind the stem just as Ed has done on his frame.

Ah it's easy, I did it on my P3C with a handheld drill :)

Maybe at some point but re-cabling the Ventus bars last spring put me off tinkering for a while.

Anyone wanting to make a road bike tri ready? I've got a nice front end kit up for the sale
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/373753/

Finally bit the bullet and paid for a triathlon Ireland license and local club membership, pricey exercise on top of a cycling Ireland limited competition license. €200 in race licenses before you even enter anything. I’ve been swimming 6km+ a week with triantelopes since last April, and long threshold efforts are where I feel most at home on the bike, so it was only a matter of time.

There are three local (within 1 hour drive) triathlons between now and September, and that’s sort of the break even number for going for a full years license over a one day license, so I’ll enter each of those at €69 a pop. Not a cheap game, on top of a season of road racing and open water swim racing.

If you normally run in calf sleeves do you also swim in them when doing a tri? Presumably they’ll be ok getting wet. I wouldn’t bother but my calf is fooked.

Also glasses wearers, do you just leave them in your bike helmet and hope you can find them?!

Normally calf sleeves are fine for the swim, there is a rule about not wearing them in a non wetsuit swim but those are pretty rare in the Uk.

Why wouldn’t you be able to find your glasses?! I’d put them in my helmet or maybe in the cables at the front of the bike, depending on how blind you are!

If you normally run in calf sleeves do you also swim in them when doing a tri? Presumably they’ll be ok getting wet.

Totally fine, I’ve done this loads. Maybe you want to do a practice run to confirm though… I never had even the faintest trouble with compression calf guards. But I’ve also done it with aero coach trip guards but they fell down when I removed my wetsuit so you have to be a little cautious if the guards aren’t super tight.

I got rid of my Aerocoach trip guardz for the same reason and they didn't even stay up in duathlon events despite being pretty tough to get on. If i wear any now i really like my cep ones

Any last minute tips for first triathlon on Sunday?
I’ve done some runs off the bike, I’ve got a number belt and silly laces from duathlons.
It’s only a sprint, with pretty flat roads and run in an area I know, and it’s a pool swim so what can really go wrong?!

Good luck 👍 the race itself sounds pretty straightforward. If your bothered about every second get there in plenty of time and get your transition organised and laid out properly don't
Let your number belt blow away, put your helmet on the tri bars if its windy or accidentally unhook the wire from your boa dial by chucking your shoes down carelessly. I've done all of those things and have done an extra lap of the bike on more than one occasion but my greatest ever fuck up was in my first ever triathlon on the bike i was just looking out for yellow arrows but followed some other yellow arrows all the way to a car boot sale 😂 so don't do that.

Won my club sprint champs when a faster guy missed the turnaround sign and rode straight on at a roundabout, adding a few miles to the bike leg.

Another favourite was a mate who prepped everything with shoes on the bike. He’s a pretty keen CX so flying mount no issues. Turns out that doesn’t help when you’ve put left shoe on the right pedal and right on left…

Only difference really from a duathlon @Tallboy is you’ll have wet hands and feet from the swim, so it can be a faff if you’re planning on wearing socks. Short trainer-socks, half rolled open so that you aren’t fumbling with wet feet getting stuck on fabric. Maybe a bit of talc in the socks.
Practice a couple of times etc.
Or just don’t wear socks.

Good luck, enjoy!

Thanks, I was hoping to not bother with socks but that’s a good tip. Number belt blowing away is a good one! I hadn’t thought of that. I was planning to have a very small towel under my shoes just to dry my face before I put glasses on.
Main issue will be finding my stuff when I get out of the pool without glasses!

In a previous tri (that wasn't srs tri bzns) I gave my prescription cycling glasses to a marshall who was right next to where you got out of the pool. I think I did this because I'd forgotten my prescription swimming goggles.

For Swim Serpentine I just continue to wear my prescription swimming goggles for anything where I need to see exactly what I'm doing. For the rest I can get by without any glasses/goggles (but would have no hope picking out someone in the crowd or reading a number at pretty much any distance, but I could recognise my bike as long as I knew roughly where it was racked).

Main issue will be finding my stuff when I get out of the pool without glasses!

Have seen people tying helium balloons to the rack where their bike's parked, but that seemed a bit much.

It explicitly says in the info you are not allowed to mark your spot which seems a bit harsh on glasses wearers! Luckily once I find my bike I’ll find my glasses and my bike has a LOT of purple bits so should be ok

My towel is a massive lion rampant of Scotland flag, deliberately to mark the spot.

There’s marking your spot and marking your spot…

Balloons, flag and kites are a no-no but as Ewan says a conveniently bright towel with your shoes on is fine…

As others have said get there early, pick your spot (if allowed) then do a walkthrough of translation several times so you know where you arrive from the swim, where your bike is and where you go out…

The best thing you can do this week is practice transitions…

And if your wearing a visor on your tt helmet that can often steam up out of the pool worse with glasses as well. I wear prescription glasses now and because they're polarized I've ditched my visor altogether because the doable lenses didn't get on and gave me flickering at the sides