Anyone here do triathalons

[cornelius85]

Thinking of doing a triathalon this year, but I dont know much about them. My first question is do they have requirements for the bikes used in the race? If they do is there a place to rent the bikes, or do you need to own one. I have a mountain bike and obviously you wouldn't use it in a race, but I dont want to shell out $1000.00 to use it for races either. Is there anywhere that does training clinics for them?

Thanks to anyone who responds.

Greg

[cornelius85]

No one?

[rc2002]

I've done a couple. When I did it, one of the shops sponsoring the event offered to do a check on my bike for free but it wasn't required.

For my first one, I used a mountain bike and it was just fine - I still finished in the top quarter. You just get a bit more of a workout is all. You'll actually see a few people with mountain bikes usually.

If you didn't want to drop the money on a road bike, just buy some road tires for your mountain bike rims and that'll make a significant difference in rolling resistance.

[anschutz_92]

I used to, never really was competitive but didn't really train anyways :nut:
For the bikes I would check out some of the local cycling club classifieds, you could get a decent road bike for $500. Unless you are looking at doing 1/2 ironman's or full ironmans a triathlon bike isn't needed. On short races (<30km) you are fine to ride on the drops/hood. I've done numerous 120km cycles on my road bike.
Train in the pool moreso than the running/biking. Biking is boring, running is boring, pool is boring but its probably the best cardio workout of them all. The best swimmers are always at the top of the board because a decent lead out of the water will carry you through the rest of the race. Its hard to make up time on the bike and run because a shitty biker/runner will only be a couple minutes slower than the leader, while a shitty swimmer could easily be 15 minutes slower than the leader in a relatively short distance.

[98type_r]

What distance of events are you looking at? If you're just getting started then I would assume you're considering a sprint, or even an olympic distance. There are no real requirements for races, I have seen several first time triathletes use mountain bikes. For a shorter ride in a sprint distance, it's not a big deal. Just throw on a set of slick tires and it'll do you just fine. As far as rentals, I think I heard that the outdoor centre at UofC rents road bikes, but I can't be certain. I'd definitely recommend getting a road bike though, it makes training and racing a lot easier on you than a mountain bike.

Triathlon is probably one of the most expensive sports you can get into... It can be done for relatively cheap, but bikes, wetsuits, shoes, training clinics and etc can all add up pretty fast. Check with any of the local triathlon stores for clinics, a lot of them operate their own and even have clubs you can join.
Speed Theory and Tri-It are two that come to mind.