Monday, January 18, 2010

Transition 101

Personally, I'm not super excited that the shop has been getting busier. I much prefer being paid to look at cycling websites and come up with nicknames for my co-workers (Incidentally, I now answer to the name "Goat Nasty"). But people have been stirring this past week, several of you have come by asking for information on training groups and tips on getting started in the sport.

There's nothing I can really do. Chug a chug a... It's out of my hands. Chug a chug a... That giant diesel engine has started, and 2010 is already picking up speed. Get on board or get out the way. Or, if you're like me, get all of those crumbs off your shirt, change out of your house slippers and kind of stumble on board.

This is a post aimed at improving your transition speed, and I will be offering up videos to illustrate how efficient transitions can buy you a little more couch time this season. Triathlon is hard, that's why we like it. Not because it is just another check on our bucket list, but because we want to challenge ourselves. We want to burn all of our matches and borrow some more on credit. Racing is a draining thing. A beautiful, passionate endeavor that demands so much of our time. Standing on the edge a new season it's sometimes hard to dive in, to make that final push and accept that you will suffer.

If you are already swimming around out there, great. Perfect your transitions to decimate the competition. If you're still thinking about how cold the water is, ignore that last sentence and take solace in the fact that these videos are the intellectual equivalent of a free pair of Zipp wheels.

Brutal... I could really dissect what went wrong and how, but it would kind of be like finding meaning in a Miley Cyrus song. Pointless...

Next, we have the worlds fastest child, showing us a proper T1.

Sweet Moses! With transition speed like that, I could probably make it through all of the American Idol auditions before I needed to get my feet wet.


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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad there is no video of my T2 last year at the Rookie where I was looking for my bike while holding my bike... (um.. cobwebs not shaken off yet apparently)
Or T2 at Jack's Generic where I realized that I really really should have put the lacelocks on my shoes BEFORE the race.