Race morning is the wrong time to discover a new pair of cycling shoes rubs, or that your cleats are angled just enough off to irritate your knee by the second lap. Both shoes and cleats need a proper break-in period, and rushing it — or skipping it entirely — is a common, entirely avoidable…
Turning up to a hilly bike course with the same gearing you use for a flat sprint triathlon is one of the more avoidable ways to blow up your run. Gear ratio — the relationship between your chainring and cassette sizes — determines how hard you have to push on every climb, and getting it…
The Basic Difference Mechanical groupsets shift using a steel cable pulled by your shifter lever, the same basic system road bikes have used for decades. Electronic groupsets — SRAM AXS or Shimano Di2 — use a small motor at the derailleur, triggered by a button press, either through a wire (Di2’s semi-wired setups) or fully…
What Is Cadence and Why It Matters for Triathletes Cadence is simply how many times your pedals go round per minute (RPM). It matters more for triathletes than for standalone cyclists because of what comes after the bike leg: the muscular fatigue you carry off the bike directly affects how your run feels. A cadence…
Why Post-Race Care Matters It’s tempting to rack your bike in the garage straight after a race and not look at it again until the next one. But race conditions — energy drink spray, road grit, sometimes rain — are harder on a bike than most training rides, and a quick post-race routine catches small…
Somewhere between “just get on and ride” and a £300 motion-capture fitting session with pressure-mapped saddles and 3D knee-tracking sits the real answer for most triathletes: it depends what you’re trying to solve. Here’s how to work out which one you actually need. What a DIY Fit Gets You A DIY fit is static measurement…
Most riders never think about crank length beyond whatever came stock on their bike — usually 170mm or 172.5mm. But for triathletes, crank length is one of the most overlooked bike fit variables, and getting it wrong can be the difference between holding an aero position comfortably for five hours or fighting your own hips…
A decent road bike gets you a long way for £2,000. A competitive triathlon or time-trial bike starts closer to £6,000 and climbs past £10,000 for a flagship build. The gap isn’t just marketing — a handful of real engineering and manufacturing costs stack up to make TT bikes some of the most expensive machines…
A flat tyre gets all the attention, but it’s rarely the mechanical that actually ends a race. A dropped chain, a rubbing brake, or a loose bottle cage are far more common — and unlike a puncture, most of them can be fixed in under a minute if you know what you’re listening and feeling…
Deeper wheels are faster in a straight line — but “faster” and “right for your race” aren’t always the same thing. Rim depth trades aero efficiency for crosswind stability and handling, and picking the wrong depth for the conditions can cost you more time fighting the bike than you gain from the aero benefit. Here’s…
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