Mach3Multisport.com

Before you rush out and spend all of your hard-earned money on the latest high-tech gizmo, I highly recommend performing a cost-benefit analysis to see where this gizmo fits into your overall life plan. Otherwise, you run the risk of becoming a currency conduit through which your money goes straight from your employer to the bike store. As an example, someone like Faris al-Sultan (2005 Hawaii Ironman Champion) needs a teardrop shaped Aero Helmet, and a set of 4-spoke carbon race wheels among other many things, because his livelihood depends on it and he has sponsors who give him products in exchange for him sporting their logos. The seconds he shaves off his splits by using the best equipment may mean the difference between getting paid or not. You spending $2000 on a set of race wheels in order to drop your 40k bike split from 1hr 20 minutes to 1 hr 19 minutes may not make as much sense when impartially viewed.

Minimum Required: A bike, helmet and sunglasses. Contrary to what you may have heard, you can compete in a triathlon on any bike you want as long as it’s functionally sound (i.e. safe) and it doesn’t have a motor. I’ve seen people in triathlons peddling happily along on all manner of mountain, road, tri and hybrid bikes. I even read an article not long ago about a guy who rode in the New York Triathlon on a BMX bike. I don’t recommend doing that, by the way, but it did make for an amusing story. Your bike doesn’t need to have multiple gears or quick-release wheels. It can have pannier bags, fenders and a wicker basket. It can even have a little bell on the handlebars. As long as it’s a safe ride, it’s fine for a triathlon. Just remember that if you’re out there on a beach cruiser or something like that, you’re going to be significantly slower than many of the other athletes and you need to be particularly mindful of adhering to bike riding etiquette. Regardless of what your bike is, if it’s been awhile since you’ve ridden it, take it to your local bike shop for a safety inspection and a tune up. The forty or fifty dollars you spend on tuning up the bike and replacing worn parts may save you hundreds of dollars in hospital bills.

Helmets are required by USA Triathlon rules. You can even be disqualified for simply sitting on your bike with your helmet unbuckled, and for good reason. Helmets and running shoes are similar in that I’ll pay a premium for a good quality product. I won’t necessarily shell out lots of money for some gizmo that will make me go a little faster, but when it comes to buying shoes or a helmet that will protect me from injury, I’m all in. Don’t assume that the 20 year old helmet that was hanging in the garage with your old mountain bike is sufficient. Consult the experts at your local bike shop and make sure your noggin is protected.

I place sunglasses in the same category with helmets. Sure, they shade your eyes from the sun and they look cool. Their most important use, however, is in protecting your eyes from kicked-up road debris and flying bugs. If you bike long enough, you will without a doubt someday be hit in the face with a rock kicked up from a car or from a riding buddy. There are lots of choices in sunglasses out there. The ones you want will have lightweight plastic frames and polycarbonate lenses that won’t shatter when hit by flying debris. Some brands even come with multiple lenses allowing you to put in clear lenses for night, amber for low light, and dark for sunny days.

Good idea to have: Cycling shorts, jerseys and shoes, computer. Proper cycling clothing is functional in addition to making a fashion statement. Cycling shoes have very stiff soles which don’t flex during the pedal stroke thereby preventing energy from being wasted during the pedal stroke. Efficiency is further enhanced by clipless pedals that mate with Cleats on the bottom of the shoes. This pedal-cleat combination creates a mechanical connection between the rider and the machine that allows the rider to unweight or even pull up on the pedal during the upstroke. When using platform pedals with no clips or straps of any kind, the rider can only apply Force on the downstroke. One word of caution; if you’re new to using clipless pedals, make sure you receive some instruction on how to “Clip out.” Then practice clipping out a few times on a soft surface before you venture out onto the road. Even then, expect to fall over at a stop sign at least once in your first couple weeks of riding—not that I’ve ever done that. . . at a busy intersection.

When training on the bike, you will significantly enhance your enjoyment by wearing cycling shorts and a cycling jersey. Both are made from synthetic materials that breathe and dry out quickly. They’ll keep you cooler on long, hard climbs and warmer on the fast descents when you’re sweaty from those climbs. Cycling clothing is tight-fitting to minimize flapping in the wind and the threat of clothing getting caught in the machine. Brightly colored jerseys make you more visible to the motorists with whom you’re sharing the road.

A bike computer is an ingenious and relatively inexpensive device that mounts on your handlebars and displays several parameters typically including your speed, distance and the elapsed time. Most can also display other values such as average and max speed and even the RPM of your pedal stroke. They are usually fairly easy to install yourself, but your local bike shop will do it for you (probably for a small fee) if you’re concerned about your capabilities.

Luxury items: Where do I even begin? Whole catalogues are filled with bike “luxury” items. In future articles, I’ll cover some of the things that are on the market, and how many bike split seconds you can expect to save per gizmo dollar you spend.

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