MForger18's Group- Closed- Find your seats bc the shows about to begin (Page 6)

Thanks.  While I am totally bummed, the Packers got severely outplayed by the Giants. Manning was the better QB and the rest of their team played great football.  We just didn't have it together from the onset.  The good news is I will be in Hawaii over the SuperBowl.  At least I have that to look forward to.

Matt

I went to a bike seminar tonight.  The speakers own a bike fitting studio in Madison and have a very good reputation in the industry.  They actually dissuaded people from using a tri or TT bike for racing in hilly areas like Madison.  They said that a road bike was actually better suited for this terrain and that you could get more power using one.  What do you think of that advice?

Learned a lot more about wheels, gearing, saddles, etc. which was very beneficial.  I finally feel like I am getting somewhere in bike education.

Suzy 

Here is the response I received from Mike Ricci, one of the coaches in the Gold Members forum.  Now I am more perplexed that ever.  I think I am going to spend '08 in my road bike since I will only be doing short distances and ponder it for a while. 

You have try out both bikes, but for the most part a tri bike is going to be better suited to helping you run off the bike. A tri bike should be comfortable and you should be able to climb with it - I usually sit back on the saddle.

I would look at what type of terrain you do your training on (flat or hilly) and what type of racing you'll be doing. That would determine 90% of it for me. Tri bikes have come a long way. I did a 22 mile climb last year, once on my road bike, once on my tri bike. My time was faster on the tri bike at the same number of watts (think energy output). So, that tells you that the tri bikes are just as good climbing as road bikes are.

I have used a running coach for the last two years.  He has taken me from a mid-packer with dreams of become a Boston qualifier to an age grouper who qualified for Boston with 10 minutes to spare.   If you find a good one, they can help you develop a plan, modify it based on your results, share insight about fueling and many other things.  IMO, they are well worth it if you are serious and can afford it.  The key is finding the right coach.  My first was too busy with other elites and did not provide a plan suited to me as an individual so it was not a good fit.  Shop around.

Hey Bert

I should have mentioned one other thing, my running coach is not local. I interact with him via email and sometimes by phone, especially for race planning.  The reason I bring it up is if you are in need of advice on form and technique it may make more sense to have someone local.  Personally, if I were to get a tri coach I would probably go local.  I need more hands on guidance regarding biking and think it could be beneficial, but that is just me.

Suzy

Bert

You might want to post your question on the larger forum if you have not already done so.  There are a lot of people who use coaches and/or are coaches so you might find out more info about cost and availability.

Suzy