Australian Triathlete — December 2017

AustrAliAn triAthlete | 59

A BoUT dAn

Biomechanically denied his dream of becoming an NBA superstar, Dan Wilson has

been racing the ITU circuit for over seven years representing Australia at Junior,

U/23 and Elite level. His results have ranged from winning a World Cup to finishing

only with the aid of glow sticks. When not “at work” training three times a day, he

incompetently plays the guitar, competently sips short blacks, and fervently studies

the underground metal scene. http://www.danwilson.com.au/

and Twitter: @dan_wilson_

Anyway, I’d trained ‘hard’ towards my
goal of surviving in the bunch at the QLD
champs, had tapered up, and was getting
to that stage of a taper where one - a)
starts to get nervous, b) can’t train any
more to advance one’s condition to ease
such nerves, which leads to, c) looking to
one’s equipment to gain free speed
wherever possible. In other words, ‘having
a tinker’. Having previously made all the
modifications and improvements to my
bike that the budget of an unemployed
14-year-old would allow, I cast a suspicious
eye over my wheels. I gave the spokes a
squeeze. They seemed to scream, “Not
stiff enough Wilson. Not stiff enough by
half.” In my infinite wisdom, despite never
having used a spoke tensioning tool
before, and knowing less about wheel
truing than I did about Armstrong’s blood
profiles, I spent a good 30 minutes
tightening whichever spokes seemed like
they needed a little extra tension in them.
Satisfied I had adroitly increased my wheel
stiffness to levels that would withstand
my power more proficiently, I went to put
my bike in the car for the next day. The
problem being, of course, that I had
unbalanced the tension in the wheels so
badly that they had buckled like a
deformed pancake, and now rubbed on
the frame so badly I couldn’t push it more
than a meter before the wheels fixed. I
yelped and ran to find Dad.
The pre-race tinker rarely bears fruit
worth picking. However, the lure is often
irresistible. You’ve trained hard; you’ve
resisted the urge to overtrain in the last
week due to those ‘taper week jitters’.
However, the promise of free speed by
purchasing new equipment, or fiddling
with your tried and true set up, proves to
be too much to resist for some. I once had
a training partner who bought a new bike,
which only had one water bottle holder.
The day before a race, he started to
question his ability to adequately hydrate

with such a setup, so decided to ‘tinker’

himself a second bidon cage, by drilling

some holes in his brand new carbon fibre

frame. Unsurprisingly, the frame lasted all

of 150 metres the next day, before his seat

tube completely broke in half, rendering

both his race and hydration concerns, null

and void.

Forced tinkering can be just as

portentous. I was building my bike prior to

the famous Tiszaujvaros World Cup one

year, tightening my seat tube only to hear

the ‘tinkle of death’ of a snapped seat

post clamp. Sourcing such a part in rural

Hungary proved a challenge, and resulted

in half an hour of inventive mechanics at

the local bike shop, attempting to

overcome both the language barrier and

my mechanical problems. Satisfied, the

mechanic had all but sent me on my way

when I mimed jumping on my bike, as in

T1, which led to a widening of his eyes, a

vigorous shake of his head, and quickly

re-tuning the bike to the work stand.

Following the addition of at least another

200 grams of metal to the seat post area,

I had an improvised clamping device that

a) withstood the force of me mounting it

with vigour, and b) was just narrow

enough not to gouge my legs as I pedalled.

I was lucky the technical officials didn’t

see the fabrication work as I entered the

transition area.

Back to 14-year-old Wilson, the state

champs, and the wheels with more peaks

and troughs than an echocardiogram.

Luckily, the local bike shop was open for

another 30 minutes, and despite swearing

in surprise under his breath, the mechanic

re-trued my wheels by closing time. I still

got dropped the next day, but bloody hell,

those wheels were stiff.

The mechanic re-trued my

wheels by closing time. I still got dropped

the next day, but bloody hell, those

wheels were stiff.

— Dan Wilson

JUsT A ThoUGhT: The moral of dan’s story is to get a professional to tinker

with your bike before race day, whether you are 14 or older!