Sprint Triathlon with a Sirrus Elite

[Marika]

Hello all,

There's loads of useful stuff on this forum, I have to ration my reading time. I've had my bike for about six months now (through the c2w scheme) and it's gorgeous!

I've been thinking I should get a bit fitter (13 mile round commute everyday isn't very taxing when you go very slooowly) and would love to try a triathlon. I love swimming and cycling but the running will probably need some (a lot of) work.

The idea of joining a club and competing is a bit scary though and I could do with some advice/encouragement. Does anybody know a friendly club in the Oxford area? Also, would I be to get by with my sirrus or would I need a new fancy bike? I wouldn't complain if I did, but him indoors might!

I hope this is a reasonable place to post and I haven't contravened any rules!

Many thanks in advance,

Marika

 

[montage]

Not sure about clubs in Oxford, but some good news on the running.
Swimming is possibly the hardest discipline to learn due to the technique, the fitness gained from swimming and cycling is easily transferrable over to running, whereas it would be harder for a cyclist and runner to get into swimming, or a runner and swimmer to get into cycling etc...

Best of luck

 

[HLaB]

I don't know any clubs in Oxford but when I joined my club I had (and still have) a Sirrus sports '06. It was helped with mine having a 52T chain ring but it could more than hold its own unless it was windy and it didn't quite feel right when I had to pedal downhill and other were freewheeling. When I finally got my dropped bar road bike the sirrus still got used as a winter bike last winter and this winter I've converted it to drops.
On the triatholon bit, a mate of mine in Melbourne uses his flat bar road bike (similar spec to my Sirrus) for triathlons, I guess it isn't too windy there and there's not many downhills.

 

[longers]

You can do the triathlon on the sirrus no problem at all, I did my first couple on a mountain bike with slicks.

I was out of the pool very soon with swimming being my best section and got passed by quite a few on the bike leg but I did end up spending money on a quicker bike eventually.

 

[jimboalee]

The Sirrus is OK.

Set it up like a Roadrace bike with the handlebars as low as you can get them. Less height = less drag. Chop the bars as much as you can and install a pair of bar ends, if you're not going for tri-bars. Road bike bars are 40 - 42 cm wide. Less width = less drag.

Fit a pair of 23mm tyres and pump them up to 120 psi. Hard tyres = less drag.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Hi Marika, Welcome.

Are you new to the area?

I'm local-ish (Abingdon).and I ride with Didcot Phoenix club. There are a few Oxford Clubs too, I think the 2nd link here gives a few of the clubs available.

http://www.didcotphoenix.co.uk/

http://www.oxfordcycleworkshop.org.uk/in-depth/clubs.php

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/oxoniancc/

There's quite a lot of cycling going-on in the area one way or another, you should find something that suits.
There's probably an Oxford Triathlon club too. Google is your friend here or ask in say Beeline cycles. There's certainly a Tri club fairly local, one trains at Tilsley park on a Thursday night at the same time as the Abingdon Amblers Athletic club. I suggest contacting the clubs and see what they do and what they can help with, or turn-up at one of their events.

At Didcot we have 'Club-Nights' Tuesdays which consists of 2 x 11 mile laps in small time handicapped groups in an "Aussie Pursuit", the slowest groups go first and faster groups are handicapped. On a good day, groups merge on the road and there can be a big free-for-all bunch sprint at the finish. Pacewise, the slowest group (which I tend to take some care of) rattles along at somewhere between 18 to 20 mph, though we never knowingly drop anybody if they are slower We usually have 2 courses, one flat and one hilly.
Thursday night is Time-trial nights over a variety of local courses.

Oh, the bike will be fine, good info already given, add tri-bars and you'll be away!

Good luck finding a club, feel free to PM me if you want more info.

I've half a mind to organise an Oxford area beer soon, we've had a few in the past and they've been fun.

Cheers
FF.

 

[oxbob]

http://www.oxfordtri.co.uk/

 

[Marika]

Thanks for all of your posts. Good to hear I can use my bike. It has bar ends (they reminded me of being about 12) but I'll have to go to Beeline to get them to lower the handlebars. I got the bike from Beeline and they are excellent in my opinion!

Fab Foodie and oxbob - thanks for the links. I had done some googling but as much as the sites say they're nice and learner friendly I'm still not quite brave enough to really test it out. After all, they haven't seen quite how slow I can go!

I've lived in and nearby Oxford for a few years now, but have only recently been trying to save the bus money by cycling in. I will have to look at the links and pluck up the courage to send some emails.

I'm hoping Oxford area beer isn't code for some terrifyingly long ride and will say I am definitely up for that!

Many thanks,

Marika

 

[Twenty Inch]

I saw someone do an Olympic triathlon on a Brompton once. He didn't win.

 

[Marika]

My friend bought a folding bike yesterday to try and beat some of the traffic on London Road in Oxford - I don't think she'll be using it today...

Marika

 

[RedBike]

The Sirius is far from ideal. However, in my limited experiance it certainly wont be the worst bike there!

 

[jay clock]

http://www.tritalk.co.uk/forums/ for lots of tri stuff. I just did a LONG reply and then lost it, so will redo later

 

[jay clock]

http://www.tritalk.co.uk/forums/ for lots of tri stuff. I just did a LONG reply and then lost it, so will redo later

ok, I will try again!

Firstly the bike will be fine! It a fast hybrid. Get it serviced, pump the tyres to the max allowed (will help a bit on speed) and consider flipping the stem to get a slightly lower position (but don't worry of that sounds hard - you will be fine as you are)

Second the 13 mile round trip commute will have done much more good than you realise. I did that 25 years back and went from a max ever daily ride of 13 miles to cycling to Brighton in an afternoon (from south London). Start upping the pace a little, and go on some slightly longer rides. Then nearer the race do some faster efforts over shorter distances, building up to as fast as poss over the full distance. Brick sessions are good too (running straight off the bike eg cycle 5k spinning legs fast, then run 5k) - it feels odd so practise!

Finally I can strongly recommend joining a club. I am in fact going on a training week to Lanzarote with some people from Oxford Tri Club in March, as my swim coach also coaches there. I am in Southampton Tri Club, and the people are extremely welcoming, and you will get lots of help and encouragement. Most clubs are much more mixed M/F than cycling clubs, and have a very wide age range.

Do also look at the Tritalk forum. Which race are you doing?

 

[Marika]

Hi jay clock. Very much appreciate you rewriting the post:-) Your tips sound very useful. I think I shall try varying my route home occasionally, I can find some longer routes and then get changed and go straight back out for a run (maybe with a bite to eat beforehand).

You do training weeks in Lanzarote? Now there's a nice thought. It's been so horrible recently, it's very frustrating. Thanks for the heads up about Oxford tri club, I'll get in contact with them.

I don't have a specific time scale for this, which is probably part of the problem. I think I need a date to aim for. If you mean how long a race, it'd have to be a sprint I imagine, too scary to do anything else!

Marika

 

[jay clock]

Marika, if you fancied joining the trip there may be spaces. There are 4 women and 5 blokes. None are a super high standard! I am certainly not! If so PM me and I will send the details and Jo's contact details. It is 21-28 March. We do not all know each other (I know half of them) so you would not be left out.

My suggestion would be go to tritalk forum and have a good read. Then find a nice sprint distance race. To make it easy choose a pool based swim for the first one. Do some training, with a run every other day, swim 2-3 times a week. The pool swim will probably be 400m, so not too far. For the brick sessions, I would NOT eat between the bike and the run. Personally even a small amount of food bounces around!. Have a snack before leaving work. I find that a 3-4 rest means I have lost the cycling feeling in my legs, so I aim to be out in under 90 secs. This may mean doing the brick sessions at a different time than your commute.

Having just said got for a pool swim, this could be a good race - women only and quite near you http://www.britishtriathlon.org/events/detail.php?id=1856

Alternatively Marlborough is quite a nice race and is pool based, and not too far for you... http://www.britishtriathlon.org/events/detail.php?id=1645

Finally, join the club!