Two beginner questions

This user's post has been ignored.

for runnning and weights i do soccer shorts too. On the bike I ride in bike shorts. I am planning on buying some Tri shorts befor I start my first brick workouts.

Hi. can't help you with the bike question, but for running shorts I run in Brooks MP splits. Brooks are my all time fav for fit, comfort and price. I got mine on sale at sportsbasement.com. They have an awesome selection of tri clothes at rock bottom prices. I just bought more Brooks shorts, a new TYR workout bikini and DeSoto tri top and bike shorts. a Mizuno running singlet, new TYR goggles, a TYR mesh bag, a quik dry towel and for all of that with shipping.....$140. Love that place!

I decided to repost to add more about Brooks. I love them because they dry quickly, they are very very thin with a generous (but hidden) split on each leg to keep cool. They really move with you. they have a very secure little pouch inside that fits exactly your drivers license, a GU and a key. The only down side, wish they'd come in more colors.

From one beginner to another, I recommend that you leave your bike the way it is.
The small gains in aerodynamics you may achieve by modifying your seat and bars may be outweighed by the decrease in handling.  Handling may be more important for your training (read everyday use) rig, as you have to share the road with idiot drivers, blind pedestrians, masochistic squirrels, potholes, and the like.

Naturally, if you have unlimited resources, then a good idea would be to have one bike to beat the hell out of for day to day training and buy another specific tri-bike that you can race with. Naturally, you'll have to put some miles on the race rig to get used to the setup.

Let me now warn you that I am not a sports physiologist, that I am not an expert, that I have less than 1000 miles in my cycle's saddle, and so you are justified in calling me "nut job" and ignoring every word of what I just wrote about your bike.


Edited by fraggle 2004-11-14 7:26 PM

yes, domlazz is right. adjusting your bike to be more "tri" means getting into a more "aero" position.

aero bars on a tri bike definately give you "free" time but just as fraggle mentions, be careful about a "forward" seatpost as it can cause your weight to shift too far forward and make the bike unstable in the aero position which, in itself, is inherently less controllable than a standard road bike position on the handle bars.

finally, a tri bike has a steeper seat angle than a traditional road bike and when you ride a tri bike you use less hamstring muscles with the steep seat angle and in the aero position than you would in a shallower seat angle in a traditional road bike position.

In addition to this steeper seat angle allowing you to have a faster run split due to the hamstrings being used less, it also allows your weight to be correctly/safely centered on the bike.

If you happened to watch the triathlon races at the Olympics, you'd have noticed that all the athletes road traditional road bike geometry and this was due to the fact that it was a quite hilly course and the traditional road bike geometry allows more use of your hamstrings (as I mentioned above) as well as more use of your lower back muscles. Climbing hills on a bike w/o the use of your lower back muscles makes it much more difficult.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the tri bike geometry doesn't use your lower back muscles as much and therefore allows you to recruit them during the run leg. . . again for faster run splits.

Probably more information than you wanted to know, but hope it helps answer your question.

Runnings shorts are a very personal preference. My favorite ones are made of very nice, light 100% nylon with a coolmax liner brief.

I agree with the Brooks shorts. I also use Brooks shirts. They have been bullet proof for me and they have lasted a couple of seasons so far.

Not sure if I saw any question about shorts, but I wear bike shorts during all my training and leave my tri shorts for races only. The bike shorts are WAY more comfortable and I get enough "adaptation" with them. :-)

John