1X triathlon bike for age groupers, amateur triathlete, etc

Does 1x road setup work for a triathlon or 70.3

Does 1X work in the real world for Joe Blogs on the street trying to get through a Triathlon, Ironman or a time trial?

Ready for just one shifter in your next event? You should be - read on to see why I feel so from my experience

First of all, getting a Tri bike fitted is not just like any other bike - you need a fit, and that fit takes into account many things, all of them static in a room, not out there in a field, in an amateur's case with many people who have never raced in a group before, or have too much testosterone ... and that all adds up to having to just worry about one hand focussed on shifting being a good thing, especially if you are mechanical shifting! 

But that is all subjective, what about in a race as the results, well it just so happened I went 1X on my first middle distance event to throw myself in the deep end and find out :)

If you can manage a smile on a 19% hill too many; you know 1X was the right choice!

Well the short answer is yes, it does, and the data I use as proof of that is that using a 1x set-up I not only:

1.  Managed one of the steepest 70.3 courses on a 48t 11-36 set-up, with 19% and 1400m of ascent, many propose the gearing either has to be too tall or too short which is Weymouth 70.30 bike course, but 
2. Also managed the same top speed, over 76km/h, as my colleague who did the whole event two hours quicker than my and qualified for the 70.3 World Champs, so again, enough gearing to keep up on the downs.
3. It was also one of the bumpiest courses I have ever been on, with some sections seeing competitors dropping chains, and hearing the awful sound of steel chain smacking against carbon chainstays all around me, but not my chain or chainstasy, and that is even without a clutch derailleur.

17% gradient 61.9km into the bike leg of an IM 70.3 and 76km/h max show that 1X has the range even for an amateur

So headline facts of why I consider the experiment a success dealt with, let's get on with the more subjective stuff of feel, and confidence going into my first 70.3 distance event with a 1x I had only tested in Richmond park beforehand... as well as the other benefits, especially for a triathlon bike set-up, and two other key factors of why I am never going back to 2X...

Sram XX 11-36t Cassette and a 48T got me up 19% gradients and a 76.8km/h top speed - who says 1x lacks range!

I normally ride a 50t or a 52t with a wider 11-42t cassette range, and yes, the extra top-end flexibility is nice, but if you look at the stats you can easily extract out of a di2 groupset - you will see you only ever use your top gear in anger for very short period of time, and if you cannot get the RPM, I suggest getting a singlespeed and working on your range, there really is nothing easier to maintain in winter either (other than couping yourself up on a turbo / rollers...).

Having only tested in Richmond park did not prepare me for the long, rough IM 70.3 Weymouth Course

One problem I did have was not finding the time to take the bike to anywhere like the hills I would face in Weymouth. It turns out however, no matter how bad you may think some of the surrey roads are / can be, it was nothing compared to the Weymouth IM 70.3 course, where in one part I even heard someone in a Yorkshire accent say "should have brought me gravel bike"... Now for those of you not familiar with UK regional nuances; if a "true grit" Yorkshireman says a road is rough... its probably quite rough :). 

Other reasons I choose 1x for triathlons: no dropped chains

Anecdotes aside, even gravel bike rough roads did not unsettle the chain, which in races costs you time, can seriously damage your frame, usually damages it cosmetically (costing you resale money / potential warranty issues) and can be downright dangerous. For me, aside from the bullets above

the XX 11-36t was a game changer when it came out, and is still a superlight, superbike-worthy piece of kit

Other reasons I chose 1x Tri / TT setup: simplicity, safety and weight

So let's get to the meat. I bought a reduced low-end Shiv and seriously upgraded the wheels and crank; two areas of rotating weight, and for me two key contact areas; one with the road, the other with yourself!

Let's be clear, while fast on the flat, and surprisingly so also a good handler when pointing down, anything other than top-end Shivs come with a very heavy alloy cock-pit and fairly basic shifting. While the Sram Rival rear to me is not a problem, the non indexed front at probably even a lower level in the Sram range was a serious "you have to be joking me" moment the first time I rode it. This is not a Sram or Specialized choice of kit issue, this is a Tri / TT issue that means you have fiddle around changing front gears while not having access (in a UK set-up at least) to your all important rear brake. This is a major safety issue, not just the time and physical hand coordination, but also concentration: only having to think about gears with one hand makes one less thing to worry about.

Then their is the weight, while going 1X I also swapped the alloy bar for a Zipp 40mm drop (more on that another time) and used some deda extensions that are the only comfortable extensions I have ever used and really meant for putting on the front of a road bike, again something I find really unsafe when matched with roadbike geometry, but on the TT geometry I can ride all day. In short, dropping the front der. cables, dreadful basic heavy cassette, and extra front ring, I dropped about half a kilo, take the 1kg plus from bars and we are talking night and day in the way the Shiv now climbs... All I need to do now is the same to my waist line (work in progress).

1X Specialized Shiv making light work of Box Hill with the extra weight shed converting to 1X

Other points to think about are the aero gains which I first got to thinking about when looking at the Strada 3T website. I honestly cannot say I can feel that difference, but then I think anybody who says they can, well, I am sceptical of...

One final added safety point is the issue of chainrings in an accident: I was once unlucky enough to see a bad case of what they call "chainring kiss". Do yourself a favour and do not look it up on google images, as it is rare but when it happens it can be nasty, and only really happens with the sharper profile of chainrings made for shifting, and usually only when in the smaller gear, however I have seen chains come off in accidents on geared bikes... This is not a deciding factor at all but an added bonus that makes me happy of my decision. 

Final thoughts: I was more worried about my choice of wheels if it had rained that riding 1X in my first Im 70.3

Would I ride 1X again in a 70.3: absolutely. My only concern going into the race was really the fact that rain had been forecast and carbon wheels with rim brakes in a race are like torture; not only for you not knowing how your brakes will perform, but also seeing so many inexperienced riders hit the floor and the sound of grit destroying carbon...

What next? I may try Di2, which again would make the right hand gear changes safer / easier still, and no I would not go back to 2X, but would plump for an XT/ XTR rear and get a 42T or bigger on the rear so as to put a 50 or 52t on the front. I may also add a Sram Force 1X to the rear as I have done with the road bike, however the Wolftooth Roadlink is doing better with this 11-36 set-up than it did with the sram red 11-40 set-up I had on my road bike.

From there its going to probably be a disc specific 1x aero bike, but for now, the Shiv is still a formidable aero bike, and with the Omega X front brake has quite a lot of stopping power

Best Road bike tire tri bike tyre choice

I have been riding road bikes since, well a long time ago on columbus 531 bikes and sticky vredestein slicks was my choice back then, however in the last 7 years I have been back to the road bike in earnest and thought I would share some insights and feedback on key points I hear on rides, chats, etc, starting with tyre choice, tyre size, pressure and punctures.

Road Tyre choice

The last few years have seen huge advances to some of the top tyres, my 2009 tarmac pro came with dreadful specialized turbos, they were changed for continental gp4000s after the first ride. However I have now been running the new s-works on both my 2016 custom s-works tarmac and my 2011 bog standard Allez and they have been great. Likewise the 2011 tarmac came with tyres that had to be removed after the first ride; they were called "armadillos", presumably because riding them felt like you had strapped some armadillos to your wheel.. however if you have not tried the new 2015+ Specialized Tyres I cannot urge you enough to do so, they do not last long, but while they do they have the most grip and best ride, and have not punctured on me yet. The only people I know who have punctured them were running them very, very worn.

2016-2017 S-works Turbo is one of the finest, supplest, grippiest tyres I have ridden (while it lasts!)

And here we get to the first point. All road tyres inevitably pick up debris, especially bits of small glass and flint, if you do not remove these they can work their way into the tyre and puncture, similarly, if your tyres are very worn, this debris  will go straight to a puncture rather than being embedded and removed before they puncture.

Picture sent by a riding friend saying "no Gatorskins, no can join ride lol" when the problem is worn out tyres.

Here is a picture a riding friend sent urging us all to use Gatorskins 4 seasons (in the summer?!*) otherwise we were not allowed to join rides with them... when in fact if you are high miler, you can quickly get worn tyres and id does not matter even if they have armadillos strapped to them, YOU WILL PUNCTURE! There are other issues as well further down, like tyre hygiene...

Road tyre Punctures (how to avoid)

So I have some riding colleagues who even puncture Conti all seasons gator skins with frequency, granted, some of them do some high mileage, but even so, I have others and even had my own high mileage seasons without a single puncture on lesser tyres and it all comes down to a few things, assuming a clincher + tube set-up.

1. Only ever use Vectran or equivalent breakers, even light tyres like the Conti TT have a single layer on the main tread and this will stop / thwart glass and other debris causing a puncture. Nylon breakers just do not cut it in the UK, they do in other climates but I just do not see the point with such amazing tyres from Schwalbe, Continental and Specialized that I know of that roll great, grip great and will resist pretty much anything you throw at them and are very light.
2. Install the tyres clean and dry. If you have to change a tyre at the roadside at all, moreso even in foul weather, do a proper job of cleaning bike and tyre, taking tyre off and inspecting inside, talc and preferably a fresh tube (the one you used roadside can go back in saddle bag) and the chances of puncturing will be greatly diminished. To that end I use very thin conti supersonic (install with care as you can snakebite them just installing them) or latex tubes, but I do not carry these as spares. The chances of you a) installing an ultra light butyl tube roadside without snagging it are minimal and b) the chances of keeping a latex tube in good conditions are minimal also, carry a decent semi light or full weight tube in a plastic bag with talc. 
3. inspect tyres regularly and remove debris like glass that will slowly work its way in if you do not and if you see a deep cut take a not, patch it from the inside and don't use that tyre for an epic group ride in the rain...
4. Carry tubes in a dry, talced bag... rubber perishes when wet, wet tubes stick to tyres and increase rolling resistance, installing a perished, wet tube that has come from a soggy saddle bag or equally soggy sweaty jersey pocket without a plastic bag to keep it dry, well, is like asking for a permanent roadside assistance job.
5. keep tyres off the ground if kept outside or preferably keep the bike / saddle bag inside as well as spares. If you leave everything rubber / latex / butyl on a concrete floor in a damp, cold garage / bike store then its life expectancy will be reduced significantly. Yes you can use this as an excuse to your other half / parents / flat mates etc. to bring your bike inside, just refer them to me, it will be fine :)
6. Seal a hole in the tyre from the inside with a patch. If you do get a dirty great hole in a tyre, then leaving it is just a countdown to water ingress / dircet ingress induced puncture. Patch any holes or cuts from the inside when you are doing point 2 above.

Talc and seal tubes: A tube kept in a moist saddlebag or jersey pocket is going to be half done before you even install it!

Aero Tyre width and Aero wheel rim width; low rolling resistance vs. aero

There is a trend to wider tyres (23+) on road, but this has to be matched with wider rims to get the best benefit, even from a comfort point of view let alone an aero point of view. 

Wider tyres can give lower resistance, if supported properly and not outweighing other negatives.

• There is no point putting bigger tyres on a thin rim as to stop the tyre squirming on the rim round corners you will have to have at least the same if not a higher pressure than with a thinner tyre. 

• There is no point spending a fortune on aero wheels that have been tested to the nth degree in wind tunnels to then spoil it (litterally) by putting a spoiler on it. This is a point many overlook when looking at data in isolation (rolling resistance for example) but tgere is no point saving 2 watts rolling resistance with wider tyres to then loose huge yaw angle benefits on aero wheels. Both Zipp and Mavic have good articles on this, but for me the easiest and most succinct is this one from Mavic engineers blog point 3.3 half way down.

There is no point having expensive aero wings with a huge tyre messing up their flow: from Mavic 

Conversely however, there is also significant benefit of just wider rims with the same tyres, which gives more volume and if you read the link to the Mavic engineers blog, better aero also. For me, both from MTB and road experience, better handling is the biggest upside as the sidewall is properly supported at wider pressure variations. With the sidewall being more or less the same width or shallower than the rim rather than extending beyond the rim, it is my experience that you seem to have better aero at more angles, this is upheld by the Mavic link above, but also in the real world, the tyre handles better around corners and over poor road surfaces as it tracks surface imperfections better at wider pressures . I have tried varying rim widths and tyres and find, as a lot of the aero and rolling resistance data seems to err on the side of wider rims, tyres that do not buldge out wider than the rim. 

25c Continental GP4000s2 on Zipp 808 obscures the rim every so slightly, so 24mm s-works or 23c Conti likely more aero 

Here you can see a 23c Continental TT tyre being slightly narrower than the rim: great sidewall support and wind flow

Tubeless will get you home

Many Tubeless tyres have an extra layer of rubber / butyl and so are heavier to start and product managers skimp on puncture protection to balance the weight. That is generally not an issue as sealing holes in my experience is more effective than trying to stop them.

My favourite tyre / wheel combos

Standard road wheel tyre choice

My standard wheels are Mavic Kysirium SL (2009) and Mavic CX-22 (2011). The former has what Mavic calls "fore" drilling so has no spoke holes in the rim bed. This has a couple of benefits: 

1. no need for a rim strip (except a light one if running tubeless makes it easier to clean and install fresh tyres) 
2. Latex and thinner tubes last longer as they are exposed to less grime and/or water ingress. 

These wheels are the old school 13mm inner bead width so they generally wear: Continental GP4000s, Specialised Turbo S-works, Specialized / Schwalbe tubeless, all 23/24c. The first tubeless tyres shod on this bike were the hutchison atom / fusion / intensive combos, followed by the Schwalbe ultremos which were discontinued.

Hutchison atom (front only) fusion (front / rear) and intensive (rear only) are a solid road tubeless choice

At some point these will be upgraded with newer Mavics and or Fulcrum or American Classic wider rims, as the benefits of wider are clear to me! See this video if you are on the fence here:

Semi Aero road wheel tyre choice

My semi aero wheelset is the slightly wider Campagnolo Bora Ultra clincher. With 17mm inner bead I can run wider 25c tyres well, however I tend to just enjoy the same tyres as above, just with better grip. 

With tubes I tend to use latex tubes and conti GP4000s / conti TT, Specialized turbo s-works

Tubeless I have been using also the specialized sworks turbo tubeless, roubaix tubeless (training wet) and the discontinued ironman tubeless tyres.

road tubeless and semi aero go well together for a fast puncture proof combo. 

100 psi is the best grip resistance ratio for me on all these, but I weight around 80kg ...

Aero road wheels tyre choice

My aero wheelset is a Zipp 808 wheelset with a zipp 404 front for windier days. These are about as wide a rim brake wheels will go and will quite easily take 25mm tyres, however as you can see above the do stick out and so I only ever have these on the back. With inner tubes, my new favourite is the Continental TT tyre... wow that is a fast tyre. I also use the conti 4000s2, both with 23c front and generally a  23c or 25c on the back.

Continental GP4000s and s2 are possibly the most versatile road tyres out there.

Tubeless Zipp 808 and 404 is very easy as the link shows and tubeless I like the Schwalbe ironman 22c that was for some reason discontinued, the specialized turbo tubeless and about to be replaced with the Schwalbe pro one tubeless, however the schwalbe facebook page shows what looks like a pro one TT tyre coming 

Schwalbe Pro One TT (second in from left) will be the TT tyre to beat in 2017, let's hope there is a tubeless and clincher

2013 tri training: Quality over Quantity

Operation 1:15 Blenheim Triathlon, 2:25 Hyde Park triathlon

Well, 2013 is here and underway, and like everybody else I have new year resolutions!

Last year's resolution was to drop 10 minutes of my Sprint Triathlon distance (could not do the Hyde Park Triathlon last year due to the Olympics) without increasing training quantity  just the quality; and I did it, this year I have to repeat it, well the 10 minutes part, which will not be easy, the methodology will not be entirely the same, however the quality of quantity will still be a core theme...

Did not get to race Hyde Park 2012, but did get to see the Brownlees and Gomez, and go hoarse cheering! 

First a point on last year's 10 minutes... I did not quite manage 10 minutes, but it was close enough, around  the middle of the 1:30 range to the middle of the 1:20 range! This is important as it is very easy to get obsessed in triathlon, and the whole point of this process is to prove that you can still run a normal busy life, with your friends and family not thinking you have become dull/obsessed/worse and get better at triathlons! The trick is to focus on quality and enjoy it. Going to bed at 8pm and getting up at 4:30am to train is not fun, its trying to do what Pro's do whilst trying to run a normal life and something will give.

So anyway, having got that off my chest, onto the results:

2011 saw a 1:34 (yes I know 1:34:42 is closer to 1:35 but everybody seems to state just the first part for overall time and splits and so I am sticking to it) and last 2012 a 1:26. So, 2013 needs to be in the middle of the 1:10 range, 1:17 at the very worst, so how is it going to be done? Well, sitting here recovering from flu, with the key part of my first week's training flumuxed, it does not look that easy but the key from 2012 was:

• cutting a couple of minutes from the swim; 4th time in the wetsuit, finally getting used to it!
• cutting 4 mins from the bike; some endurance and speed training in May
• cutting 1 min from T2; not getting lost - free time
• still managing to run in 5k in 26 mins (Blenheim is not flat!)

So for 2013 Blenheim training it has to be:

• cutting the swim to 12 mins; training in the wetsuit in open water and doing more than 11 training swims! I have yet to manage to swim with my head under water in the wetsuit - this year!
• cutting another 4-5 mins from the ride; this should not be hard, Blenheim is 3 laps, and last years results show a fast first lap, an ok 2nd lap and a weak 3rd lap - endurance training!
• cutting the run by at least 3-4 minutes; this will be the hardest, but the one I have the most training and technique for, and the one that tends to get less interrupted by weather, work, etc.

So that's the plan, 1:15 Blenheim - how do I plan to do it?

Last year, and the year before, I had been focussing on quality rather than quantity, and it paid off. I trained nearly half the hours of my colleagues who came around my time and most importantly - was completely injury free.

Its all about the quality

2013 will be no different in terms of quantity, just the quality, so what does that mean? It means staying socially active; career, family and friends focussed, but getting fitter, the quality aspect has been sat in the back of my mind for a while but was triggered by an amazing article from Macca, or Chris McCormack's old blog where he said that amateurs make all sorts of mistakes, mostly in the run, where they knock themselves out trying to do the same runs slightly faster at zone 4, but should be doing more running either in zone 5 or zone 3: zone 3 is actually quite enjoyable: quality, and running at zone 5 is short pain but rewarding: quality again.

I leaned this early on in Business in sales as well, many people knock themselves out doing more and more work on things they think make a difference, like making calls, arranging meetings, sending more emails, but fail to look at what delivers and focus on the quality. Family and friends are the same: but a bit of effort into listening to a friend for an hour and you will get a more rewarding experience than hours, days or even weeks of playstation, beers or "hanging"... and so on.

So what's on the menu for 2013?

• Firstly get the base miles, some long rides and zone 3 runs (I am also doing reading half marathon in March) with at least one sprint work a week. Sprint on bike is either intervals or a fast lap in Richmond park, with runs its either hill runs in Richmond or sprints in one of London's amazing parks that I am lucky enough to live near.
• More bricks. With one of my training colleagues we have come up with a "brick" even that involves single speed cycling and hill runs: Quality! (small dose of sarcasm...) last year I did one brick in May!
• More swimming: 2011 was appalling, I literally did 4-5 swims prior to Blenheim! last year was 11 in total I think - must swim more! More may sound like quantity over quality, but with swimming there is a big difference in that you are unlikely to injure yourself from over training, and the technique comes with practice, moreover, I do not swim anywhere near enough so a dramatic increase in quantity still only brings me to "is that all you swim!" 
• Increase cadence flexibility: last two years have been taking me from a 60-80rpm "grinder" to being able to spin happily up to 120rpm and even 140 in sprints, however it has been at the expense of raw sprinting speed, need to get the 60-80rpm power back

The Story So far

The transition from 2011

2011 total activity

to 2012

2012  total Activity

Sees roughly the same amount of activities  however the quality aspect over quantity can be seen, in fewer hours, fewer kms, fewer meters of elevation and ultimately fewer calories to get better results! So the proof is in the pudding :) The key to these changes were doing exactly what Macca said: less beating yourself over the head in zone four, more quality at zone 3 and 4. Now this has been proven at its simplest level, these may change in 2013, as I do not have the pressure to keep the activities level as close as possible!

Blenheim triathlon countdown begins

Just three weeks before my first, and probably only tri event this year... Blenheim 2012 only two weeks to build pace and beat last year's time... will start the countdown here, and in the meantime you can donate to a great cause if you so wish here.

The aim is as close to 1:25 as possible, knocking 10 mins of last years's 1:35.... read on Blenheim 2012

Spotting Pippa while crossing line @ 2011 Bleheim Triathlon