Gearing – Currently have Q-Rings (53/40). On climbs I was in the small front ring and my cadence drops from about 95 (natural cadence) to 70 or lower. My goal was to keep the watts below 250 and not go over 300 anytime. However on climbs I found I was at 260+ watts and had no more gears to go to, while my cadence was about 70. At this point I had to stand out of the saddle and got passed by many people who were seated just spinning up the hill. I got my ass handed to me on the climbs by not being able to spin up the hills (and I had a 12-27 cassette on the back). Flats I would hold 200 watts and blow by many people… only to have them pass me on the climbs. I was a strong climber in the past and was taken back by this… I thought the Q-rings were helping my climbing but I’m not so sure anymore. I am going to put a round inner ring and leave the outer q ring and see what happens. I should be able to spin up most climbs with a 12-27 and 250 or less watts (at least I would think). My only thought is a 40 tooth q ring is equivilant to a 42 or 43 when at the downstroke. My best results came with round chainrings (possibly since I spin a 95-100 cadence most of the time??)
Chafing – Does peeing on yourself make the chafing worse? I lost some skin on my inner thighs and that has not happened yet in any training rides, even my 100+ mile rides. I did pee on the bike 3 times and am not sure if this could be the issue. I do also use some chamois butter in training but not always for 50-ish mile rides and do not get chaffing (with the same shorts I wore during the race).
Short RR. – Mooseman was fantastic. I wore no HRM and did not see my time until about 20y from the finish. Swim was just what I expected (actually a 2 min PR for me, 37 min swim… I’m aweful on the swim but am OK with that). I was shivering after the swim for the first 8 miles of the bike. My average watts on the bike was 175 with a norm watts of 195. About 10-15 watts less than last year, but all my riding has been at IM pace. Legs felt a bit tired on bike and my lower back was seizing a bit too. I don’t think my bike legs were really with me but I adjusted accordingly. The run was a PR by about 20 minutes. I felt absolutely awesome and almost went out for a 3rd lap as I didn’t think I had done 13.1 miles as I was coming in. Overall best HIM ever for me (13 min PR… 5:02:34… I was trying to break 5 hours so I was just about there). Had the most fun ever in a race.
later on but only a few managed to stay in front of me the entire run. Spinning up the hills makes a big difference on the ride, but will really show up on the run. I think the q-rings really help my spin which tends to be somewhere in the 95-110 range for races. If you can spin with the 40-27 then I recommend going to 36 and the 110 bolt circle. I would even consider trying out the mtb version you can get in 45x30 rings. Most people are way overgeared and frankly, pedaling on downhills with a big gear is just a waste of energy when you have to run afterwards.