Duathletes & triathletes

I am organizing teams from my gym to compete in local Duathlons and Triathlons. I am a runner I have never done one of these events before. Is there any kind of restrictions on what kind of Bike you can use? i see restrictions on the helmet but nothing about the bike. The reason I am asking is because I personally have a trek and a cannondale both mountain bikes. not street racing bikes. While I plan on doing the run portions depending on how the teams end up I might have to do some biking too. Please help me out!!

No, there usually isn't a restriction. But if you're using a mountain bike you may want to have skinny tires (slicks) put on. It will help with speed.

The rules of the races will tell you. There can be restrictions on the type of wheel, or on aerobars if it's a draft-legal race. I agree with lobster... you'll be at a disadvantage if you use a mountainbike, although I've seen some people on them. But if you can run faster tires on your bike it will make it a little better. If winning or placing comes down the seconds, equipment in the bike race will make all the difference, even for really fit competitors.

thanks lobster. what kind of price range are the slicks?

the du is a 3 mile run 16 mile bike 3 mile run and the tri is olympic length so 1.5 k swim 40k bike 11k run.

oh yeah and get a garmin it will make you go faster

@viva - the rules I saw said no drafting and that USAT sanctioned race. so it follows those rules but i don't know what they are. I know we have to get a day license both events. Both courses are over hilly terrian. the swim is in a lake.

just saw your post viva! I knew you would be able to help me out!

here are links to the website maybe you understand them better than I do.

http://www.wilkesbarretriathlon.com/index.htm

http://www.wbduathlon.com/home/

there's a huge range of what you can spend on tires. this is one of the cheaper online places, they're pretty good:

http://www.biketiresdirect.com/

you can also sometimes find deals on tires here:

http://www.bonktown.com/

http://www.chainlove.com/

another thing i should add:

try to manipulate the geometry of your mountain bike to where you're using less of your running muscles for pedaling. So depending on your bike, that could mean moving the seat a little touch higher, lowering the handlebars, and sliding the seat probably back.

thanks viva! Im gonna dig my bike out of the garage today and see how it feels. i could possibly borrow a tri bike from some of our tri athletes that have several. would u think that better?

road my trek 7000 mountain bike around town yesterday doing errands. it's been a long time since i've biked! I should do it more!! If I get an entry level racing bike what would u recommend. Don't want to spend too much on it.

When I bought my bike this year what I did is go around the bike shops, tell them my budget, and see what they had. Most places were pretty friendly and let me ride the bikes on the trainer (it was winter, so there was no going outside). They explained the pros/cons of each model and told me straight up what I could best expect within my budget. In the end I ended up getting a pretty sweet deal on a 2009 model they were looking to clear out, had nicer stuff on it than my original budget allowed for.

Jason and Viva probably have some good advice for you, but I would suggest starting out by going to some bike shops.

My best recommendation is to get a used road bike. I don't know what places you have where you live, but in my city we have a great used bike shop. If you have anything similar in your city, you can get an old but well-functioning road bike for just a few hundred bucks.

Thanks everyone. I am going to hit the local bike shops in the upcoming weeks and see what the situation is. I am thinking about making the investment and switching a lot of my rowing workouts to biking.

Do it! We can all start a VBBF bike gang.

Hell yeah! And then we can all get matching tattoos! And someone can let me borrow her Cannondale!

My best recommendation is to get a used road bike. I don't know what places you have where you live, but in my city we have a great used bike shop. If you have anything similar in your city, you can get an old but well-functioning road bike for just a few hundred bucks.

yep, no need to spend a lot of loot unless you are going super serious...or you have a trust fund.

wow i totally forgot about this thread! I guess viva, me and lobster are unofficially the vbbf tri team now.

Yay!!

seriously i am so excited to have you guys to talk to about this!

I would recommend getting a road bike, if you get more serious about it you can always upgrade, or do what I did and run some aero bars on it.

I did get a road bike. A Specialized Dolce and I love it.

Nice! What is everyone else riding? I'm riding an old steel Bianchi with a "New" (2007) Carbon Campagnolo Chorus groupo and Easton EA90 Wheels.