I’m trying to decide whether I should pull out the aero helmet, tri-spoke, and rear disc for a 6 mile bike portion of a sprint tri. I’m a roadie and do time trials, so I have all the stuff, but I’m thinking it might be over-kill for a short 6 mile ride.
I can go w/ 30mm wheels and a vented helmet, or I can go decked-out aero. I’m not a dedicated tri guy, and won’t be the first out of the water. I guess I don’t want to look like a poser, when my bike is still hanging on the rack and half the pack is already out of the water
Might as well do the helmet, but for 6 miles I’d not bother swapping wheels on my bike unless it’s simply the case of just taking off the training and putting on race. If you gotta play with the cassette, forget it.
I’m trying to decide whether I should pull out the aero helmet, tri-spoke, and rear disc for a 6 mile bike portion of a sprint tri. I’m a roadie and do time trials, so I have all the stuff, but I’m thinking it might be over-kill for a short 6 mile ride.
I can go w/ 30mm wheels and a vented helmet, or I can go decked-out aero. I’m not a dedicated tri guy, and won’t be the first out of the water. I guess I don’t want to look like a poser, when my bike is still hanging on the rack and half the pack is already out of the water
What would you do?
I wouldn’t race a sprint that only had a 6 mile bike! Come on! You’re a roady - you need to find those sprints that have an 18 mile bike!
I have a wheel cover - I don’t put that on unless it’s an “A” race just because I don’t like taking off the cassette and putting in all the little screws. But I’d use the other stuff.
6 miles is the bike course. I agree that its a very short bike course, but the tri is close to home and I’m only doing it for fun. Its the Santa Barbara Triathlon next weekend.
Sounds to me like full aero get-up may be a little overkill for a race like that, especially if you’re doing it just for fun ~ in MY opinion. A race like that’s probably going to get a whole lot of first-timers on hybrids and weekend-warriors, so as a TTer you’re probably going to smoke most everyone anyway.
If you’re just doing it for fun, borrow a little girl’s “Hello Kitty” bike, streamers and all, and race on that. At least you’ll actually have fun. Other than that, why not go as fast as possible?
With such a short bike leg, every second you can gain will count. Use everything you’ve got. You’ll be surprised how much aero gear you’ll find up front there. I just got home from a sprint with a 10 mile bike and Giro Advantage II helmets were everywhere up front.
If you’re coming out of the water mid-pack in a local sprint tri with a 6 mi bike course, my guess is that you’re going to spend the entire time weaving through and accelerating around riders. Not likely you’ll be able to spend much time in the aero bars, let alone gain any advantage from aero equipment. My $0.02 is that a road bike would serve you better in that situation.
Tough call - if you are asking though, I’d say it is more than “just for fun.” You will likely be passing a lot of people, so I’d use that to your advantage (depending on how crowded the course is) and just go for the fastest bike split too! We all like to be competitive. Most sprints, secs separate people, so I’d break it all out. I only did 1 sprint this year (Tri for Joe) with a smackdown vs. newbz and the diff was only 17 secs. total. But, the bike was 18 miles (we were 3 secs diff there at 25 mph). He had an aero helmet, disc, 90mm front, etc. I had to run hard With a tri as short as you are doing, seconds will definitely matter!
Just got back from doing the bike leg of a relay at a sprint. Very competitive … even in the relay division. Use all the aero stuff you’ve got. I was fully TT’d out down to the shoe covers and I was not the only one.
You have all help me in my decision to go fully deck out. Come to think of it, I lost a top 5 placing last year in a different sprint tri by 3 seconds. So I guess you’re all right in saying that every bit counts.
Just got back from a sprint myselft (though the bike was a more hefty 19 miles) and I could not believe my eyes. I bet 60% or more of the men’s field had aero helmets and the vast majority of all competitors had fully outfitted, pjorn worthy bikes with all the bells. I would not want to be a nooby just getting into tri with a mountain bike and swim trucks right now. I’d see all the equipment and just turn around.
There are relays for the sprint? I thought relays were just for the LC in SB. Well it just depends on whether you want to be a participant or a competitor. There are MANY really fast people that race the LC on Saturday and turn around and place in their AG on Sunday.
Put another way, why spend all your hard earned money on aero gear if you’re never gonna use it? True the SBCT sprint is shorter than most but it’s still highly competitive. Good luck next Sunday, I’ll be cheering you on.
With a tri as short as you are doing, seconds will definitely matter!