Australian Triathlete – July-August 2017

80 | AustrAliAn triAthlete

the cycling community either, so they

don’t discuss the option of including bike

racing into a triathletes training program,

as they too don’t know enough about the

sport to add it.

If you are looking at focusing on the

bike leg over winter, I’ll show you why and

how to incorporate bike racing into your

training mix to help you become a stronger

and more skilled cyclist, so you can

transform into a stronger all round triathlete.

1

Build your bike skills

In swimming, we practice and

incorporate tumble turns into

training even though we don’t

need the specific skill in racing, but we

know the benefits it offers. In cycling,

developing, practising and incorporating

bike skills is exactly the same. Traditionally

text by SaRaH gRove

photogrAphy by KIRSty baxteR pHotogRapHy

This got me thinking, and I wondered

why only a small number of triathletes

participate in bike racing. When I delved a

little deeper, I learnt that unless a

triathlete comes from a cycling

background, they don’t really know a great

deal about the cycling community.

Triathletes may feel intimidated or don’t

even know where to start, so they simply

don’t even bother considering it. The

thought of crashing also puts many

triathletes off and can be one of the

reasons many triathletes are too nervous

to give bike racing a go. Along with this,

many triathlon coaches aren’t involved in

W

hen heading into winter

or the offseason, most

triathletes will sit down

and review the running

calendar to see which run races they will

incorporate as part of their training. But

how many triathletes sit down and mull

over the cycling calendar to decide which

bike races they will enter? Surprisingly, or

not, only a small minority.

I’m not talking about your mass group/

participation rides; I’m talking about

actually ‘bike racing’ - where you pin on a

number, line up against pure cyclists and

race for placings.

Why all triathletes should give it a go

BIKe rAcING

over WINTer

WhY YoU ShoULD

INcorPorATe BIKe

rAcING INTo

YoUr TrAINING: