Triathlon
Triathlon cycling tips & techniques to supercharge your ride
Getting your teeth into your first triathlon cycle leg or simply looking to shave serious time off compared to your last event? It’s time to saddle up with the help of these expert bike tips...
Part of this story
Want to start putting in some triathlon performances to write home about? Need to learn the technique that will get you across the line in style? Get on your bike.
“As the longest leg of a triathlon, cycling is arguably the best way to see big improvements on your overall time” says Barry Monaghan, a triathlon and cycling coach based in Newry, Northern Ireland. “You’ve got so many things you can do behind the handlebars to manipulate performance and reach that personal best."
Monaghan would know. A former international cyclist and professional runner, he’s held a number of elite coaching positions including U23s National Team Director of Irish Cycling. As it happens, he has also been involved in triathlons for decades, stretching all the way back when his corner of the world was “a hot bed of triathlon”.
In other words, if there’s anyone to have in your corner when looking to nail the bike leg of a triathlon, it’s him. Stock up on some Red Bull and make note of Monaghan's biggest pointers for training on the bike.
A typical lung-busting Kristian Blummenfelt training ride
© Daniel Tengs/Red Bull Content Pool
Just be sure it doesn't distract too much from your swim and run training, and you'll be primed to explode come race day.
01
Get a good bike fit
“Before you do anything, make sure your bike fit and dimensions are right. People are more clued in these days, but a lot of beginner triathletes still have a dreadful position on the bike, which means their skill level is instantly diminished. If there is too big of angle at the knee at the bottom of the pedal stroke then the saddle is too low. The priority for anyone getting serious is to get a bike fit, whether done professionally or done by someone they know with experience."
02
Find your sweet spot with tempo work
“Stamina endurance is critical for endurance sport. Be warned: high intensity interval training is a sure-fire way to break down quite quickly, especially if you're not in shape. Instead, focus on moderate work that you can repeat every two days without major fatigue. Three x 10-minute efforts that are comfortably hard, or 85 to 90 percent of your threshold, would be ideal. These aren’t high intensity efforts, these are comfortably hard, sustainable, controlled reps below the lactate threshold. Not too exhausting but still intense enough for a big training effort."
Triathlete Lucy Charles hill training by the coast
© Graeme Murray / Red Bull Content Pool
03
Manipulate your recovery times
“It’s not so much about improving your exertion and output, but rather improving your recovery time. If you do 10 minutes of moderate riding between reps, try to gradually reduce this recovery time. Whether you're training on the bike for three or four hours a week, which a lot of beginners are doing, or 15 hours a week as more advanced competitors are doing, you’ve got to train your aerobic system to the max within the time constraints that you have. You could always train over a lunch break and still get big results. For a time-crunched athlete the indoor trainer is a really good way to go initially."
Control yourself and learn to pace it - a lot of competitors slow the pace in the run because they pushed too hard in the early stages of the bike
04
Expose yourself to challenging conditions
“Don’t spend all your time in a gym though. A lot of our best road riders these days are super fit, but fail technically. You won't get an elite skillset using turbo trainers. The physical development has accelerated of late but the best technical skills can only be learned outdoors. Crosswind, headwind, tailwind - a lot of triathletes aren’t in touch with these changes in dynamic. You need to get used to riding in the wet, dealing with a change in wind direction and whatever else nature throws as you."
05
Do your homework on how to tackle the course
"If it’s possible to ride some of, or all, the course before your event then do it. If there’s a hilly course, for instance, your average speed will not be as important as how you handle the bike and control the effort throughout. But as a rule of thumb, certainly on a flatter track at sprint distance - which is generally 16k - if you can ride at an average of 18mph, or 30 km/ph, that’d be a good starting point."
Lucy Charles-Barclay
© Patrik Lundin / Red Bull Content Pool
06
Get flexible with exercises that target your lower back
“A common discomfort in cycling is lower back pain, simply because, anatomically, it’s not a good position for the body to be in. For those who spend their day in front of computers, back mobility is often limited anyway, so try to avoid this before it becomes an issue with some lower back mobility exercises.
"Any stretch which targets the lower back right into the calves, lower back hamstrings, glutes and calves is very important. A straight leg deadlift or Romanian deadlift would be perfect for this. Yoga is a brilliant intervention for anyone putting in more time on the bike too, as there’s a degree of strengthening and mobility in it. It's fantastic, one of the smartest things you can add to your training routine."
07
Powerful leg exercises will help you explode
“Look at the revolution of the pedal: a cyclist’s primary area for power is 2o‘clock down to 6 o’clock, that angle of 45 degrees where the leg is starting to extend. When you then bring the pedal back to the top again, the hamstrings become more dominant as the force drops. By finding exercises that mimic the force production phase you will in turn develop greater power on the bike for the whole revolution. Step ups, lunges, split squats - even something like a Bulgarian split squat - will go a long way."
08
Learning to pace your ride is key
“Many triathletes leave the water on race day and hear their friends and family giving them encouragement. What do they do when they reach the bike? They accelerate as hard as they can because they’re excited. That's totally understandable, but even with a sprint distance you’ve still got 16k to go so being able to temper your enthusiasm is really important, especially if it’s a hard course. By all means transition as effectively as you can but when you get on the bike, moderate your effort. Try to do the same when you're training over long distances - control yourself a little bit. A lot of competitors slow the pace in the run because they pushed too hard in the early stages of the bike."
09
Find your threshold
“Training for success as a triathlete means finding where your threshold lies. Coaches have loads of metrics now, but you are the only one who can really say where your threshold lies. Ask the best triathletes in the world, such as Kristian Blummenfelt, what their perception of effort is in a particular part of the race they'll tell you - they don’t need to look at data. They know if within themselves. Ideally you should feel it’s around a 6 to 7 of a maximum effort level of 10. You’ve still got to get off the bike and run as well. Remember: comfortably hard, breathing heavy but not so much that you can’t hold a very truncated conversation with someone."
Cornering is key in the bike part of a triathlon
© Garth Milan/Red Bull Content Pool
10
Practice cornering at speed
If you want to improve cornering try and get low on the turn as it reduces resistance and difficulty. This might mean keeping your inside foot at the top of the pedals as you lower your centre of gravity, but it depends on the corner. Do you pedal around it? Do you freewheel it? Do you apply the brakes? Again, you’re not going to learn that sat on a turbo trainer, just as you won't know how to best position yourself on a hill climb. We know from reams of research that keeping your hands on the brake hoods is seen as the most aerodynamic way to ride a bike, but you need to get out there and find out for yourself.
Oh no! This video is currently not available.
3 FAQs about race day on the bike answered by Monaghan
(i) What happens if I need to pee on the bike during a race?
"When it comes to a triathlon event you can’t let anything stop you. So, if you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go. That’s something cyclists taught themselves a long time ago. It’s not convenient in a tri suit admittedly, although it’s probably more of an issue faced by those competing in longer events such as Ironman distance. Overhydration is also a big worry now at mass events with so many feeding stations now, so be careful."
(ii) What should I be eating on the bike?
"At the highest level of the sport triathletes are now consuming between 90-100 grams of carbs per hour during events, which is a lot. Even if you carb-load, there’s not an unlimited supply, it drains quite quickly from your stores, so having a fuelling strategy in place is arguably as important as the physical training. Energy bars and gels are good, just incorporate a variety so you don't get sick of them."
Kristian Blummenfelt takes a break from training
© Daniel Tengs/Red Bull Content Pool
(iii) What’s the best wait to avoid saddle sores?
“Saddle sores are usually down to people using ill-fitting, or cheap shorts. That and a bad bike fit. Invest in a pair of quality of shorts, rub some cream or Vaseline on the inside of your thighs and you’ll be in a good place."
For more information on one-to-one coaching or online 12-week training programmes, visit Barrymonaghan.com
Part of this story
