While i normally would, flying with the bike isn't an option (or at least one I want to pursue for this particular trip). We're traveling for 2-3 weeks after the race staying at multiple destinations around Australia including Tasmania and we're flying in/out of a different airport than we come into. Thus it seemed a transport company would be the best fit, trying to figure out if there are other options than then "ship my tri bike" people.

Thanks!!

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Taylor Rogers

2024: IM Hamburg

Hmm good question. Never had to do this so not sure.

Pack & Send have plenty of branches in Australia - could be an option? Not tri specific though.

Last year in Zell Am See there was firm that did bike drop offs - took them to just outside transition. Perhaps look thru Ironman to see if there's a partner firm for the Aussie event.

@xcrogers - congrats with the move. I ride in regents park often on my way to work and I'm sure you'll standout with a Dimond! I haven't seen one here, yet. Big Rapha cycling groups on Thursday mornings (which I see but don't participate in much). I think there were 20-30 of them this morning (sunny weather = fair weather cyclists).

I would 2nd bespoke cycling who do Retul fits. If you've done a Retul in the past, you can give them your coordinates and ask them to just adjust you (should be way cheaper). Plus, they have 3 locations in central London which should be easy to get to from your work or home.

I have had multiple fits from Ben Hallam, he's been there for years and done a ton of fits:
Info here:
Bespoke Cycling
30 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7PG, tel: 020 7796 1263
59 Jermyn Street, London SW1Y 6LX, tel: 020 7290 4460
Level - 2, 1 Crossrail Place, London, E14 5AR, tel: 020 7519 1756
ben@bespokecycling.com
www.bespokecycling.com

For shipping a bike to European races, I've seen these services:
http://www.shipmytribike.ie/ (lots of races)
http://www.raceforce.co.uk/ (newer service)

If you can afford it, traveling is soooo much easier to races without the bike hassle. It's been a huge time saver for me to travel with a baby to a race. Fly Saturday morning, register, park your bike, sleep, race, give you bike back, sleep, fly home (with only a few bags).

Good luck!

So, the move has been made!!! Found a great apartment, excuse me... flat, in Islington which we'll be moving into the end of next week. Been doing some quick runs around the neighborhood to scope out bike shops and gyms. I definitely will be taking advantage of the Better gym (pool) network. One question, is I'll be shipping over my bike and some other stuff but it wont arrive for 4-6 weeks but I'm trying to figure out a way to at least maintain some amount of cycle in the short term. It doesn't need to be crazy or over the top but access to some quality stationary bikes would be great. Obviously there are tons of cycle studios (my wife frequents and loves) but I cannot stand the blaring music and peppy instructors... I just want to ride.... Any suggestions on places to check out?

Thanks!!

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Taylor Rogers

2024: IM Hamburg

You can checkout Spinlister and see if there are any listings in your area. Not sure if you plan to head up to Oxford in the near future, but if so drop me a line. Have a few different options of bikes you could borrow. I head back to the US from 5 April - 10 May, but other than that will be around .

As for the shipping of the bike to Australia. I just got back from a whirlwind of travel over the last 4 months, including Australia (and Tasmania) and New Zealand, which I had my bike with me the entire time. What is your itinerary like once in Australia? Are you flying in and out of the same airport? What airline are you flying with down there? If you haven't bought tickets yet my best experience thus far out of Heathrow has been with British Airlines and Etihad, they don't care how big the bag is as long as it is under 23kg.

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

Brad, thanks for the tips. Don't have plans to be heading to Oxford any time soon but I'll look into it this weekend and certainly let you know. Big thanks on the offer!!

For the WC's, plan on flying into Brisbane and out of Syndey 2.5/3 weeks later and my wife is NOT keen on me dragging a bike around with me on our vacation afterwards. So despite the cost I'll prob do a tribike transport or similar service. Normally though, yes, I'd just put the bike in the Ruster Hen house and call it a day.. or a flight... (amazing bag).

Also.. would be interested to know if there is a RWB chapter here in the UK?

Thanks!!!

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Taylor Rogers

2024: IM Hamburg

Ahhhh yeah that might be a problem flying in/out of different airports. EVER domestic flight we took while in Oz/NZ didn't care how many bags we had, it was all total weight, and if you pre-booked extra weight it was REALLY reasonable. If you could convince her that you will just leave it in the bag, I think lugging the hen house around is the best option.........

As for Oxford, bus transport here is really easy from London. Depending where you live it is anywhere from 50mins to 2 hours to get here. If you have a car even easier. I have a roadie in 58 and 51, and another TT bike in 51. My training schedule is pretty much set in stone, but in terms of time of day/night to train pretty wide open on that front. Not sure what your work week looks like, but feel free to come up this way any day.

RWB Chapters, Lakenheath AB has a HUGE chapter and Oxford has a smaller chapter. Send me an email to bw_tri at yahoo dot com and I will get you in contact with the right people.

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

Welcome. There is a good scene over here if you know where to look. I have been part of it for the last 15 years or so. Some suggestions for you. Join a bike club. There are plenty. I ride with the London Dynamos and there is a group for most abilities ranging from leisure riders up to guys competing nationally and at elite level. I swim with Spencer swim team who are a national squad. Again, lots of fish there. I swim a 54 IM split and there are plenty who lap me on long reps. Run wise, I used to run with the Serpies (Serpentine Run Club) and again there is everything from plodders to 2:18 marathon runners.

I tend to train with single sport clubs as I feel this pushes me more. It is far easier to be a stud in a tri club than in a single discipline club I have found. If you are after tri clubs however, ones I have come across:

Serpentine
Thames Turbo
SAUK
Clapham Chasers

There will be plenty more around the area - maybe take a scan through http://www.triathlonengland.org/...rt/clubs/find-a-club which lists all the affiliated clubs in the UK.

In terms of heading off riding on your own - Richmond park a good starter. Then there are hundreds of routes out into Surrey, down to the coast (Brighton etc) out SE way towards Sevenoaks, Tunbridge etc. Might be an idea to get entered into some time trials or sportives? There is a very active TT scene over here. Some 25's and 50's would make good training for you.

If you want an introduction to the swim and bike squads I train with drop me a line. I'm not quite as fast as you, but have a 2:06 olympic and 10:30 Ironman to my name and I get ruined regularly by the top boys.

I look at London in the context of "other world cities".

If you use that as your gauge, London as a triathlete is awesome. Great running and lots of swim options, the ability to ride in the city if you want to (which is not possible in many large cities) and then just use the computrainer. London just seems to have a higher level of "endurance activity culture" than most major cities I have been in. If I could convince my wife and company to move there, I'd probably be happy to live right in the middle of town, and just ride the CT most of the time, do some bike commuting on a mountain bike and then fly out to the Alps or Canary Islands if I needed a real riding fix or just take a train out of town. Frankly I am stuck in the wrong continent, since I like endurance sport and prefer pro cycling, tennis, football and cricket over the North America pro sports where steroid pumped giants beat the crap out of each other. At least in the Euro sports, normal proportioned humans can do well (even Rugby).

Seriously, if you are willing to ride the trainer for most of the focused training, London is a great city. To tell you the truth you can be a fast triathlete anywhere as long as you have a pool access. The bike and run you have the CT and treadmill.

Restarting this thread. I've been using the Better gym at Highbury for about a year now with acceptable results (certainly ok given the low monthly cost). However, the pool has gotten overcrowded and the management's ability to evenly divide lanes and control people in those lanes is a complete disaster. Impossible to even think about doing scripted workouts.

I was thinking of joining Virgin Active Angel/Islington. How busy was it (generally speaking) when you attended. I'll generally be swimming at 6:30-8:00am.... I was planning on cruising by a couple mornings around 7:00 am and seeing typical capacity....

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Taylor Rogers

2024: IM Hamburg

Dev,

I moved from London to ATX a few years ago, and found that London is everything you said, and more. I rode outside nearly every, time I rode with only 1 ride per week on the turbo (of the 3-4 rides in total). It is quite easy to ride out of London and in the summer, riding from 0500 to 0730 is quiet on most roads even in the city areas. I would disagree on the availability of swimming as most of the private gyms have small pools (3-5 lanes max) and some are not even 25m. The leisure centres are all pretty good pools, if not the most updated in the world, and the lidos and big outdoor pools are decent but very few and really the weather is not enticing for swimming outdoors much of the year. For a massive city, it is really above the rest for the quality of running (some of the best running anywhere, actually) and the cycling/swimming options. It is also connected to so many great places (as you mentioned) by a short hop from City or Heathrow. I would move back in an instant. I would rather move to Nice, but that is a different topic all together...

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