Why do Triathletes wear such garish gear, take those compression socks they look silly and are they really needed also aero bars on the bikes, silly not time trialling really are they. Water bottles on the back of their seats again there are bottle cages. No wonder there so crap at bike handling with all the silly clothes and gear.

Just watching Alp De huez Triathalon and it’s very amusing.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B03dFMG8nR4[/video]

Great vid!

silly not time trialling really are they

Yes they are.

Triathlons, especially long course/ironmans, are all about energy conservation and aero positioning and equipment can help with that.

The top riders are time-trialling, as well as trying to conserve energy.

The long socks you mention are compression gear, which is believed to help with blood flow and muscle efficiency/recovery.

Are Stabilisers UCI legal?
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcqIgCJNjto[/video]

While triathletes aren’t often renowned for incredible bike handling skills, that does appear to be a rather harsh section!

As has been said, the bike leg is a time trial where you need to conserve as much energy for the run, so every bit of aero saving counts.

Cheers, Rich

That has to be one steep hill!

Somewhere on a tri forum they’re asking why MTB’ers take so much stuff with them as they’re only cycling round a park made for them and not an actual mountain…..

Silly question but do they not have a gear they can sit down with?

If you look at the link I posted, that climb gets to 31% at its steepest. I doubt many road bikes have a nice sit-down spinny gear for that gradient 😀

Cheers, Rich

31%!

The Angliru in the Vuelta is “only” 24%

Surely a nice light road bike instead of a time trial bike would be better for climbing and faster to do Alp De huez with and better handling on the downs, bit questionable efficiency over aero, so not convinced they are saving that much energy.

Not having ridden a road bike since school over 30 years ago, why would you not have the miniscule weight disadvantage of a granny ring?

Alp d’Huez tri is a bit unconventional, and for the Olympic distance race it would probably be marginal between a typical tri bike and a road bike – about half the time you are solo on the flat, the rest climbing. Tri bikes aren’t necessarily much heavier than a road bike though. Another point about Alp d’Huez is the race doesn’t have much descending as the bike leg finishes at the top of the climb. If it did go up and down, I’m sure a lot of folk would be much more comfortable on a road bike as tri bikes can be a bit hairy on technical descents.

Cheers, Rich

Oh, for some races depending on the course and quality of road surface I take the road bike rather than the tri bike, which is rather uncompromising and not best suited to speed-bumps and the like.

So yes, you do have a point, a tri bike isn’t always the fastest or most comfortable choice.

Ironman Tri’s would be so uncomfortable on a tri bike/time trial bike or tri bars as the aero position is fatiguing for that type of distance so going into the run I would of thought your likely to have a sore back and neck so again fatiguing and not saving energy plus those aero helmets look uncomfortable. Be interesting to see data on athletes who have done iron mans without all the extra tri gear against their times with all the gear.

Having done 2 IM’s on a tri bike I can assure you that I would have been slower on a road bike. Generally setting up a bike for tri means the position is slightly less severe as for a TT as you need to be both comfortable for a long time and also go straight into a run after. Thus you need to compromise to a certain extent and often with losing flexibility comes with age, so the older contingent may not find much of an advantage of a tri bike with a fairly high front end over a road bike.

However, assuming you are fairly flexible, you can’t beat the speed of a tri bike.

Cheers, Rich

Reckon you’d save a fair few seconds by shaving those arms….

they’re only cycling round a park made for them

Speak for yourself. Most of what gets ridden round here was made for horses…

I thought the rule for triatheletes was that if someone overtakes you then look at their kit. Whatever they have that you don’t you need to buy as that is what makes them faster.

In fairness many of the things triatheletes use do make sense. Compression socks would probably be worn in the pro tour had the UCI not banned them. In fact you can probably work out what makes you faster by looking at the kit triatheletes use and comparing it to the UCI banned list.

You can’t beat Triathlon for a good laugh.

[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NRKajY5GlyI[/video]

They always look like they are in a contest with the bike not the other competitors, pedalling squares and pushing the biggest gear possible while wanting everyone to check out their ‘guns’.
A very peculiar pastime.

A very peculiar and humourless pastime.

FTFY

All those cracked carbon TT bikes- made me wince.

I work with someone who does them and he said there is a rule that once the helmet is on it cannot be removed (during the bike ride section). He said it is not unusual for aero helmets to be put on backwards and the rider having to complete the ride with it on back-to-front!