Next year I want to ride as fast as possible on flat duathlon distances between 40 and 120 km. If cost doesn´t matter, what equipment should I use for the bike-leg? And yeah, I know, it has to fit, too!
Frame?
Fork?
Wheels?
Tires?
Aerobar?
Gear gruppo?
Suit?
Helmet?
Shoes?
Pedals?
Anything else?
Right now I ride on a Quintana Roo The Kilo PR (vintage) with Dura Ace components (incl. 54T aero chainring), DA 7800 pedals, Oval 900 integrated bar, dual trispoke (Mavic), Reynolds Ouzo Pro Aero fork, roundtubed carbon seatpost.
Apart from getting a rear disk you would be better off putting all the $$ into taking unpaid leave from work (if you do) and doing some beasty training camps.
Also an unlimited budget would get you some scientific answers on your actual body position in a wind tunnel. My guess is that that would have a way more significant effect than type of shoes, groupset, forks, seat post etc.
For a flat race aero is much more important than weight.
The fastest current frames seem to be the Cervelo P3, the softrides, and any other number of bikes with narrow tubes and cutouts for the rear wheel, cables hidden in the frame.
Wheels disk rear, HED trispoke front or new Zipp 808 front.
Virtually only integrated one piece aerobar
Pay particular attention to having cables, bottles, tool bags etc out ouf the wind.
40 and 120km is a BIG difference! And that’s with or without draft? It does make a difference.
Anyway here’s some thoughts:
For a standart flat du (40km of bike) with draft I would get a light bike with zipp 404. Maybe the Look 486 or the Giant Composite. The main point here is having good acceleration. The bike course isn’t that long so I would go with a lighter bike instead of an Aero one to improve more your accelaration capacity.
For a powerman/long du (120km of bike) without drafting I would think more aero and less light. Say a P3SL or a Lucero with fast and aero wheels. H3 in front and a disc on the rear. Is very important that your bike is aero and confy above all. Don’t worry too much about weight and acceleration.
The suit you wear isn’t that important. Just get the one you find more comfy. For the long du don’t forget to get one suit that has place on the back to take some gel’s/energy bars.
In addition to what freestyle said, do the altitute training but get back on sea level 2-3 weeks before the race.
Thank´s for the info. I´m only considering “real” duathlons without drafting. You are right about the difference between 40 km and 120 km, but that didn´t seem to bother Greg Watson when he smashed the field at the Duathlon World Longdistance Championship in august
I´m focusing on the shorter events but am also considering the WC Duathlon Long distance in Italy next year.
