Lance Armstrong used this tag line on his book and although I did not read the book I think he means that his life is not about riding the bike but rather about fighting and overcoming his cancer. I am not going to be quite as deep of course but rather be more practical.
I come from a swimming and running background. So when I started triathlon my thinking was “all I have to do is buy a bike”, so I bought a used Motobecane bike from a friend and trained for a few months before jumping on my first triathlon. I was one of the better swimmers in the age group but as soon as I got out on the bike course I watched biker after biker passed me. Some of these had disc wheels. If you have ever been passed by a guy riding a disc wheel, it is very intimidating. Those things are very loud. So after the race I did what most people do. I blamed it on my crappy bike. “Once I get a good bike I will do so much better”. That was my thinking.
A few years later I saved some money and bought a “racing frame”. The guy at the bike store told me it was a good one. So I bought a Fuso steel frame which at the time was about 700 dollars. I did buy good components since I was told that top of the line components were really important. The bike was kind of heavy, once I put aero bars on, it tipped the scale at 23 pounds.
It took me a few years to get that bike adjusted to a perfect fit for me. There were no experts on aero bike positioning; there was not even a good bike fitter around. There were only a few books that talked about bike fitting. Once I got the bike in perfect fit I had my best performances on it. I split a 58 minute 40K on the bike of an Olympic distance triathlon at age group nationals and later that same year I went a 4:56 bike split in Kona including both transitions. Since they did not take transitions times then, I will never know my true split but it is most likely under 4:50. If you look at my bio on the markalenonline.com home page there is a picture of me with my old steel horse.
One of my training buddies at the time was very well to do and of course he had a top of the line carbon fiber Zipp bike. He did the same Hawaii Ironman were I had that great split. He was out of the water just a few seconds ahead of me but it took me about 80 miles to pass him. I passed him on an uphill and I still remember my encouraging words. He did not look real good. After the race he said. “If you ever get a light fast bike you are going to fly on this course”.
The next year I saved my money once again and bought a Litespeed Tachyon with a carbon fiber fork. Now I am going to fly right? I went to Ironman Japan with my new fast bike and my bike split was 5:15, later in Kona my bike split was 5:30. I am going in the wrong direction! So what is the moral of the story? The moral is that a good bike will help you, but up to a point. As long as you have a descent bike that fits you, it is the training that will make the difference. I would say that once you spend 1500.00 to 2000.00 dollars on a bike you would have bought the majority of the time that can be bought. Any dollars spent after that will not buy you nearly as much time. You will be better off using that money towards a professional bike fit or a good coach.
I never felt good and the old Litespeed Tachyon, possibly because of my fit and most certainly my training and injuries back then were the most likely reason for my lackluster performances. But I also cracked the frame one day. I sent it back to Litespeed and they fixed it. However that process took a few months so I went and bought a low priced Ritchey steel frame to train in the meantime. By this time I had started coaching kid’s soccer and had no plans on racing triathlon so I did not care as much about how fast my bike was.
So now that brings me to today. I need a new bike. I just sold the old Litespeed Tachyon frame. It sat in my garage for 8 years but it looked shiny and new. All I have is the Ritchey. I took it to Kona to train last October and Mark Allen happened to pick up my bike to get it out of the way. He said “Now I know why you can not climb well”. Yes the Richey is another heavy horse. It is good for training but I am going to need something lighter that fits me well.
I am moving to carbon fiber this year. I had never ridden a carbon fiber bike until this past summer. My wife and I decided to do a local bike tour called Ride the Rockies. It is about 450 miles of riding over 6 days. We rented an RV and when one of us was riding the other was driving the RV with the kids. It was real fun. The folks at TREK bikes were at the tour and they would let you ride one of their top of the line bikes for a day. So I got to ride a TREK Madone 5.9 about 60 miles over Monarch pass which is about 12000 feet of elevation. The bike felt incredible and although a lighter bike it still flew down the mountain. I was sold. Just this week I received my 2005 TREK Madone 5.9. It is by far the most I have spend on a bike in my life. I feel good about my decision. TREK has been making carbon bikes for a long time so I feel good about it. I do no think I will be cracking this one. But the number one reason is because I got to ride it and it felt great. I was going to buy the frame from one of the TREK dealers in Boulder but these local Boulder TREK dealers were not very nice and made me feel like I was so lucky to be at their bike shop. So I met an out of town guy that has a TREK dealership and gave him the business. Plus he bends backwards to make sure I get exactly what I want. Notice that I got a 2005 TREK and not a 2006. I like the 2005 Madones 5.9 much better and it was hard to get one since the 2006 bikes are now on sale. He got a new one for me.
Now to the most important part which is the bike fit. In the next months I will post on the process of getting my new TREK dialed in with aero bars and getting the best bike fit possible.
A quick update on my training; my hamstring is 100% now. I started doing back strengthening exercises like bridges and planks. These strengthen my core and maintain my hips balanced which I think was the major cause of my hamstring and mid section ailments. I ran about 30 minutes three times and my groin is a bit sore from all the exercises but I am feeling good about it. My swimming is really picking up. I have been doing some really good sets on 1:20 send off per 100 yards. It has been a wile since I been able to repeat 1:20 send off without killing myself. If I can get down to 1:15 send off on a long set by Kona, I may be one of the first guys out of the water in the age group. My riding is steady. The temperatures here in Boulder have dropped to below the freezing point so my trainer is getting a lot of use. I may get out today for an hour if it is not windy. Cold weather and wind do not mix well.