Poor bike after the swim

Going too hard on the swim relative to your fitness. 

At least that's what happens to me when I do that

There are those who believe that a "Lance style" high cadence on the bike is not best for triathlons. You might be trying to spin too much too soon after the swim, causing your HR to skyrocket.

It's not your cadence, it's not the wind, it's not your bike fitness.

It is going hard or too excited in the last part of the swim and through transition.  You are asking your body to go from a fully supported horizontal position using almost all upper body strength to vertical and leg strength.  It takes time for things to acclimate.

Bricks will do ZERO for you, they do not do anything more than show you what it feels like.  Perhaps they give you an opportunity to "calm down" but that is in training and cannot simulate a race, no matter how hard you make the training.

A big portion of doing well in a race is being calm and relaxed using as few muscles as possible to get the job done.  That is where coming out of the water, knowing exactly what you need to do in transition, getting on the bike and slowing your body down.  What you are experiencing is quite normal and in longer races is easy to overcome.  In a short race like a sprint, you just need to suck it up as you should be racing close to redline for much of it anyways.

Excellent post...right on the money....being calm is key even in Sprints.

x3 - i went through this earlier this year in a weekly off road SBR.  My heart rate would always shoot through the roof the first 5-10 minutes of the MTB. As you get fitter it will abate and, in any event, you will be used to going full tilt.  Enjoy the rush.

Again, cadence has nothing to do with it ........ the amount of power and RPE has everything to do with it.  Your body really doesn't give a crap if the legs are moving at 100 rpms or 80 rpms if you are putting out the same amount of power/effort.  They key thing is to not go out like a rocket, but give your body a chance to "catch up."

And again, no matter how hard someone tries, you can NEVER simulate racing in training.  There are too many outside influences in racing that have an affect on your HR: your effort out of the gate, your perception of your effort, the course layout, length of run out of transition, etc.

The best way to get better at racing is ........ racing.

The best way to give you the opportunity to race well with your fitness level is ...... training.

My HR always shoots up coming out of the water, stays high in T1 and then slowly drops down to a "normal" level after 5 miles or so on the bike. It seems that my body reacts to the change from horizontal to vertical more than most people.

Can't say that nerves aren't part of it too, but I don't experience the same reaction in T2, where my HR actually drops. I pretty much just expect it and do my best to bring down my HR as quickly as I can without taking too much off the bike pace.