That Triathlon Life Podcast - Paula races UCI TT World Championships, sleeveless triathlon wetsuits, and more!

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

This week, Eric and Paula are in Ibiza, Spain, getting ready to race T100 Ibiza! This past weekend, Paula competed in the time trial in UCI World Championships, so we started with her story about the whole experience, and then moved on to your triathlon questions! This week, we talked about:Mechanics and in race neutral support for Ironman and T100 races.Do pros wear off-the-shelf cycling kits, or are they custom?Electric bike pumps and what do Eric and Paula use when traveling.Casual road cycling racing, and how to do it.When to say "on your left" in a race.Is it worth upgrading from an old sleeveless wetsuit?A big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive! To submit a question for the podcast and to become a podcast supporter, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast

Hey, everyone, welcome to that triathlon life podcast. I'm Eric Oggistram. I'm Paul Finley. I'm Nick Goldston. And we are coming to you live from Ibiza, Spain. Apitha. Paul and I are both professional triathletes. She's racing me PTO, T100, Ibiza, this weekend. I'm here to support. And Nick is a professional musician, our co-host. And back home in L.A., we're once again, just like last week, battling a little bit of a Wi-Fi. delay here. So apologies if, you know, there's any sort of impact on the podcast besides

Nick's sweet, sweet time editing it. But I think we're going to be all right. I mean, I listened to a bit of last weeks and it seemed like the, Nick did a great job of making it seamless. Like, you couldn't tell that our connection was horrendous. Yeah. So thank you, Nick. I got a couple messages from people. Thank you guys. Appreciate that. Yep. We got quite a few things to get through here. So I think we're going to go fast, but the weather here in Apita is absolutely beautiful. It's sunny. There's people on the beach. This is the last week of club season.

So it's kind of hopping. We had a great time last night trying to fall asleep while there was a cover band doing a piece of D.C. right outside the window. Right, right, right. It's a vibe. Let me tell you. Like, I raced here last year and the race itself is great, you know, the sea swim, running through old town. Great bike course.

but the lead-up and the training here, worst place I've ever been for a race for that, potentially. Why is that? It's like there's nowhere to train. You literally can't run here. Like the sidewalks are packed with people, and they're on this slippery, like, concrete stuff where your shoes just don't grip to it.

The sidewalk's like marble. So I, like, would jump to the road, and then you're going to get hit by a car for sure because the drivers are just insane. So you feel trapped. Like, you cannot run. here. And bike, we haven't even been outside to bike yet. I've just been riding on the trainer, but I imagine it's, I've been outside. Hectic and lots of cars and yeah, it is. It's really,

really tough. I mean, if you want to just come here and open water swim, great place. But if you're coming here for any other form of activity besides to party, it's rough. Yeah. That's not to deter you from doing this race, though, because like I said, the actual race is. When the race course is set, then you're dialed. It's just like, may have. while you're trying to compete with the taxis and the clubbing and all the things. But yeah, they didn't set up Abitha for, to be an outdoor exercise destination. It's got something else going on. Yeah, it's Party Central.

That's great. And do you feel like the people, do you feel like there's local people that are going to do the race from around there that are going to do the T-100? Probably like a lot of Spanish people would fly over. It's so, like we flew here from Zurich in two hours or less. And like $50. It's so accessible from anywhere in Europe. So I, this race is on the calendar next year.

I would honestly encourage anyone from Europe who wants to race here to come and do it because, like I said, the race is really fun. But it does have a vacation vibe. Like if you want to come two days out and maybe stay after, I think that would be a good way to do this. But in terms of a place that's like relatively affordable, easy to get to from anywhere in Europe, it's kind of a slam dunk for that. Yeah, it's just like Cabo kind of where, oh, awesome to be hanging around in Cabo. race is great, but like days before, just got to bring a trainer. Don't, don't like ride on the highway. So anyway, that's what's up.

And I think we really quickly, though, we want to go through Paula's UCI, time trial, world championships race, or like whatever it is, you feel like you still have to say about the race. We've said a lot about it on Instagram and I'm working on YouTube about it. So no pressure. Yeah, I think there's some people that just listen to the pod, though. So if you missed last week's podcast, I was getting ready for the UCI individual time trial racing for Canada.

And this is a little different than like a triathlon world championship in Nice or something. Like you have to get picked by your country to go and there's only a few slots and the depth is outrageous. And it felt like a real honor to be able to like go there and wear the maple leaf and be part of team Canada for this. And I've been a part of a lot of national teams over my life since 2006. I've been on different triathlon national teams, and it never loses that special feel of racing for Canada.

So I really liked that putting on the uniform, being surrounded by all the other athletes that were there was extremely cool and will be the highlight of my year, I think. Yeah, I feel like you said the same thing last year, even though it was, you know, even though you were also sick last year, which is this is a bad precedent that we're setting for you being sick at, at UC. Yeah, it's too bad because I'm at the team hotel and I'm on the pod last week. I said I had the stomach virus, which truly just got worse after we finished recording that podcast. I was on the bike course two or three days out. I stopped on one of the stretches and just threw up everything in my

stomach on the course. And I was like, Eric said, have you considered not racing? And I got kind of annoyed at him. I'm like, of course I have to race. I'm here. But I didn't know if I could. I was really in a bad state. I could barely make it home. I had no energy. And I was hardly eating all week. Like, I just wasn't hungry. So I'd force feed myself just to get carbohydrates. But it didn't want to be eating and I wasn't drinking. And anyway, it was really, really a bad sickness. I can't emphasize that enough. All the way up until two days before the race, I had to disclose to the Canadian managers that I was sick. And I was like, I'm really embarrassed because last year I was sick too. not like me. I don't get sick that often, but I have the stomach thing. And so they gave me like

one giant antibiotic. And I don't know if it was a bacterial thing or not. Maybe this is too much information, my medical whatever, but I had a prescription for a single dose thing. And the team in Paris had a similar issue. And they took this antibiotic and it went away two days later. So I thought, okay, I'm willing to try anything at this point because I feel like I'm going to die. We really, I mean, you really, we, I feel like I was like right in the trenches next to you, but gave it every possible chance to just get better on its own with drinking just yogurt drinks and trying to rest and not like go to the medication or out of any sort. And it just wasn't.

Wasn't getting better. Yeah. So it was like, okay, give me anything. And then they gave me this like anti-noxious drug, also prescription. and then a ton of like bioflora things because antibiotics, the problem is it kills everything. So after I took that antibiotic pill, it got worse for a day in terms of my bodily excretions. And then miraculously, the afternoon of the day before I started to feel more normal, I started to feel hungry. I was like, okay, maybe I'm going to be able to get through this.

And of course I can roll through a 30K, but you want to go as hard as you possibly. can. And I know the depths we need to get to in these races to get the most out of yourself to perform well, to have any shot of having a good performance. So that I could not imagine until really the morning of the race. I thought, okay, I think I can fake it. If it had been a triathlon, no chance. Don't think I could have ran. But why do you think, is it the running that makes the difference? Or is it the length of the triathlon? Do you think that makes a difference? Both. Yeah. Yeah. So I went through the motions on the day like I did last year. And what are the motions? Like, how is it different than a triathlon? Well, you're kind of at the,

you just are given a schedule by Team Canada that's perfectly laid out to get you to the start line on time and you just do it. So you don't have to worry about the swim or run warm up. You really just have to time your bike warm up so perfectly that you're getting off the bike within 10 or 15 minutes of your start time. So it's a really precise and hard warmups that you're warmed up right, right, ready to go. There's no time in the race to warm up into it. And we used the Israel Premier Tech bus, which is cool. So we're using like a world tour team bus to stay warm before and chill. And there's a coffee machine in there.

And it's really a pro setup. So my bike was like all ready to ride on the trainer as soon as I arrived. Timed it out, put the radio on, got to the start, putt or whatever early, earlier than anyone else. Because they've all done this so many times. They know the drill. But I kind of sat there for like five, ten minutes. and then started. So that was that.

Ellen Van Dyke was in the start thing. She left like maybe five or ten minutes before me. And I said she was sitting beside me. And everyone is so intense in there. And I just want to like break the ice. But I don't want to cross the line. And I was like, I'm a really big fan of yours. I hope you have a great race.

And she like kind of laughed and said thank you. But I mean. She's not used to people talking to her, you think? No, 100% not. She has no clue who I am. But it was just. just so cool to see people up close that I follow on TV and on Instagram. And I was like a complete starstruck moment just seeing these people.

And then coming back to Earth and realizing I'm actually racing them. Right. Oh, that is so cool. That's so cool. Yeah, cool, but also terrifying. I mean, I think more than any other time in triathlon, I feel so much imposter syndrome where I have this feeling in the start gate as the time is counting down. Like, do I even remember how to ride my bike? What is it like to ride an arrow? Like you just,

your life flashes before your eyes and I really think, do I actually belong here? And I don't know, that doesn't happen as much in triathlon. I just have been doing it for so long, but the countdown on the bike is really the most terrifying part of the whole thing. And then once it starts, the reason I think I love it so much is because it's relatively short and you're totally in control of what you do and of your own destiny. There's nobody around you. There's no contact like there isn't a swim. There's no drafting.

There's no, absolutely no dynamics except for you and your bike and a completely empty road in front of you. So that I realized as I was doing it was my favorite part of it. And it hurts so much. It's so hard. You're like on the edge of what you physically think you can do and you keep doing that.

and you just tell yourself it's going to be over soon. And you're thinking so much about the right lines and the technical parts of it that it goes by so fast. And it's such a cool experience that I just wish I could just do that all the time. Do you, you were telling me that when you actually get towards the end, well, first of all, how much fan participation was there along the whole course? And then at the end, what was that like? Because you were telling me that there was like banging and noises in a positive way. Yeah, cycling in Europe is huge, obviously. Cycling all over the world is huge, but especially here.

And throughout the whole 30K course, and the men, I think, raced, theirs was a bit longer, so they had a different start city, and they finished in the same place. So our courses eventually merged and completely lined through the whole time trial with people cheering. And that's a long stretch. It's like 30K. Yeah.

But people come out just like you see in the tour, and they're like on the road, because they know REMCO is going to be there in an hour. and Lottie Capeke and all these people that people are totally fan central, you know, they want to see these athletes in their life just for a flash of a second and they're there waiting for them. And so I definitely benefit from that. Like go Canada, the bells, the everything, it's just like so loud in the entire time that was cheering.

And that was obviously extremely cool. And as you got closer to the finish, that sound just amplified and those like boards with the sponsors on them along the side on the fences. People are like banging on them super loud. That's so cool. It was like a 12K stretch at the end. The first 12K was hilly and technical, the first 18K, I guess. And the last 12 was just straight along the lake, completely flat, you and your bike.

And just if you let off the gas, it was if you lost focus for a minute, it was easy for your watts to come down. But it wasn't like a climbing part where your watts are just going to be high no matter what. So I super had to focus, but the team car was reminding me that. And I could tuck my head super low or it felt like that anyway just because you didn't have to look up. And the last 5K, I was like, this is the most pain ever. But this is also the coolest thing ever. So just like do it, you know? Didn't think about the sickness.

I was just holding really good watts. And I could talk about this forever because I'm so obsessed with the whole thing. the timing they had two intermediate splits so the first part of the race I think I was 11th fastest overall the middle part of the race which had the descent I was 34th fastest and then the last 12k that was flat I was 10th fastest so I really lost time again on the technical descending bits and if I had ridden as well in the middle as I had on like the other two sections that were a little more power-based, I would have obviously had a better outcome, but I finished 18th overall. So that was my final.

When I hear you talk about your racing and triathlon, like when we do these race recaps on here, you're often talking about everything in context of the finish and how you place and your performance. And to hear you talk about this, like you didn't really talk about your performance. You're not really even like the finish is whatever. You're talking about the feeling of actually doing the race. Like it seems like you just like enjoy that. part of it so much.

Well, I think the reason for that is because I had a little bit of a struggle after the race. Like, I came 18th and that sounds, doesn't sound that good on paper. Like, yes, if you really think about it and you know the sport and you understand the depth of these things, it's amazing. But to just like tell someone I came 18th on the side of the road or if they don't really get it, it doesn't sound that great. So I'm not that attached to the number. number placing. It was great to come top 20, but if I had ridden 20 seconds faster, I would have

been top 12. It's like the margins are so small at this level. And yes, I wanted to come top 10, but without have changed anything in my life, no, it just would have been really cool. So I think just being like less than two minutes from the podium people who are the best in the world, that is not that big of a margin for someone who spends 10 hours a week swimming and running. You know? Right. I thought about that too after the race. Like if I just took those hours of not just swimming and running physically,

but the time to get to the pool and psyching yourself up to run and the fatigue that running does to your body, if that was erased, how much better could I be at this? I think a lot. But it's hard. There's not enough time trials in the world to fully commit to this. It's not my job. But it's just like my brain gets going.

of how good could I be if this was my only focus. Okay, well, since it's at least right now not your only focus, what do you think you could do? And also, maybe this isn't the same, but what do you think you would want to do in the next year to be prepared next year? Well, I thought I improved this year over last year technically. Obviously, I'm still far off the mark. but the descending is really scary in Europe. Like the descent was, I don't know, 18% downhill on a really bumpy road. Whoa.

To a certain point, it's your guts, you know, and just being able to let go and do it. And again, I was sick leading in, so we didn't get to, like, really do as much technical riding as I imagined. But it's okay. Being there and riding it five or six times before really, really helped me. And I, for me, rode it well. It was just compared to the best. A little far off, but that's okay. Your position, you're happy with your position.

Yes, obviously you could be more like UCI-T-T-specific, but your position felt pretty good. It's fine, yeah, it's fine. It could be better, but this is like close to the position I ride in triathlon. So it obviously could be more aggressive. My thoughts? I think Paula improved a lot on her bike handling skills just in general. from last year to this year.

I think doing a lot of gravel riding. I've noticed an improvement. And then the time we spent Ventura, where we got there, and she was legitimately enjoying riding her bike. And we were going up and down those canyons and stuff. Just kind of staying on that trajectory, maybe injecting 20% more of that between this year and next year. Because, I mean, it doesn't really matter if you ride,

you know, pre-ride the course technical section five times or 50 times. Like, there still needs to be the baseline of, like, I'm comfortable going fast. and a lot of this course was just speed. It was not so much cornering. It was just like, how comfortable are you going 80K an hour on bumpy things and just trusting that your hands aren't going to fly off the bars and dogs aren't going to run out in front of you?

And I feel like that just kind of comes from like having into back of your mind I'm working on getting a little more comfortable with my bike year after year. And then the other thing I would say is just no matter what triathlons are happening three weeks out from this thing, don't go to them and don't get sick in China and, you know, like, put in the specific walk for the race and just, like, minimize a number of things that could go wrong or get in, like, your mental preparation and everything for it. So that's all I could think.

It's as a triathlete who does that for a living, the draw of going to China in getting $30,000 was hard to turn down. For as much as I cared about this, there was no financial outcome, no matter what happened. And, yeah, it's, it's tough from a business side to, prioritize this completely for months and months. But you're right, Eric, I think if I could go back in time, maybe I wouldn't have gone to China.

I don't know. I said that, and Eric's like, no, you sure, for sure, should have. But yeah, I don't know. Not because I didn't like China, but I got sick. And I was sick for 10 days. And I think not only did that impact the time trial, it might impact Abiza in two days. Right. Now, okay, that makes sense.

But I'm thinking like if I was your manager or something, I would still think, no, that race was important, even though you got sick. Because what was the alternative? You would have gotten 12th instead of 18th, you know? And how, like, what is the actual, like, what are the ramifications of getting 12th instead of 18th? You feel better. And then you're still like, but I wish I would have gotten eighth, you know, or whatever it is. And then offered a world tour contract. Oh, I see.

I feel like it's almost more just like the feeling of being all in. It's like, yes, you would have not gone to China. But for like the last six months, you would have kind of like had this look forward in your mind of like, in this month I am a cyclist and that's what I'm focusing on. And, you know, like I'm looking forward to that and building mentally towards it. And like making preparations like riding your TTI. Like we would have gone to Portland and written down some of the dissents there.

We would have analyzed exactly what the gradients downhill were in this course. and just little things like that when you're like, this is all in and this is super important versus this is one more piece of the puzzle. To talk about the speed thing, just a real quick technical question. Are you comfortable talking about the tire width that you rode and the PSI, which you wrote them at,

on a course that seems like it has a very technical descent where that would kind of be relevant? I just, like, the same tires I always ride for triathons. They're 28s. They're at 60 PSI. Yeah. We went a little bit higher on the PSI because the roads for the most part there are like a freaking indoor skating rink. Yeah.

So the only bumpy roads were on the descent. Of course. That's too bad. For like 800 meters. Right, right. Well, congratulations, Paula. Amazing. TT Worlds again.

We hope you'll go next year too if it works out. They're in Rwanda next year. Oh my gosh. at 2,100 meters of elevation. But what's cool is, in 2026, the year after, they're in Montreal, Canada. Oh. Oh. That would be a cool one to go do.

Maybe that's the year to go all in, quote unquote. Maybe that's year to go all in. I don't know. All of TTLNesh will go. Well, going to Rwanda would be cool. And I think there's a chance that a lot of athletes will skip next year. So it could be actually a good one to go to. I don't know.

Roland, when else are you going to go there, you know? Yeah, wow. That's wild. That's wild. Okay, well, good job. Happy you guys are mostly healthy now. And your beast is coming up. We'll talk about that more in a bit.

But let's do a little bit of a shredder bed. Aw. I guess it's like half rapid fire, half shredder bed. But Paula, you go first. This is submitted by a listener. So, Paula, you need a shred or bed for the hour record, would you? Yes, shred. Shred.

shred, okay. What about a 100 mile TT record? No, bad. Bad. Bad. Right across America? No, bad. Bad. Attillo swim run? I was into the swim runs as Eric, so it depends on the situation and the length. Okay. And then what about Western states? Bad, but I like the idea. Yeah. I like the idea. I wish I could say, yeah, I want to do that, but I truly don't think I physically could. with my body that I have. I don't know, Heather, how she does it. It's just crazy. Yeah.

But I truly wish I was one of those special people that could go all in on that. Yeah. Okay. Next, Eric, for you, Meg Avalanche Shredder Bed. That's like the downhill mountain bike that starts at the top of like ski hill. Yeah, I think I'd be pretty into that. It's like a mass start, I think. Oh, man, that's like makes me nervous, but that's a bucket lister.

Yeah. Leadville Mountain Bike 100. Not really super interested. No, okay. Cape Epic. Cape Epic. Cape Epic would be interested in. I've heard the conditions are just, like, can be heinous at Cape Epic, but that's, I don't

know. It seems like an experience one should have if one can. There's a few girls who I ride with here who just did Swiss Epic and said it was just unbelievably awesome. I won't lie. That one is actually more interesting to me, especially. after been in Switzerland for a week. We need to get Paul on a cross-country bike and get, have you guys do it as a couple?

I don't know. I don't know. That might be the beginning of the end. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. You definitely. What about Norseman? Yeah, I don't know. It's still like TT biking in the freezing rain.

If it was gravel biking, I'd be signed up already. Right. Got it. And then finally, for you also, Western States. I mean, when I was there doing the crew thing, like watching the crew and helping film, my thought the entire day was absolutely no way. Yeah.

And now having been away from it for a minute, I don't know, I'm like, I don't know. We'll see. I did just sign up for a 50K, and we'll see how that goes. I feel like one has to have done at least a 50K and like probably 100K before going and watching Western States

to like really be in that. where your brain can make that mental jump instead of just being like, what the F is wrong with all these people? It is so hot. It is so long. Yeah. Yeah, the heat is the worst part.

I think I'd rather do UTMB if I had to pick one just because it's not hot. 100%. Yeah. You're saying it like, it like poisons your mind to the idea of it if you don't work your way up to even just watching it. Yeah, it's a full day of one of these days

where the spectators are like hiding under every little speck of shade they can find, you know? That's right. You're supposed to be running. Okay, awesome. Well, thank you for that shredder bed. Very good. We're going to go on to our regularly scheduled programming,

which is our questions submitted by our beloved podcast listeners. You can submit your questions to the podcast at that triathlonlife.com slash podcast, where you can also become a podcast supporter. We love our podcast supporters. Thank you so much. Thank you to everyone who's been using the app. The app is live. It's been fantastic.

I've been in the forums responding to stuff. I see that you guys have been responding to stuff. Someone wrote in a question this week saying that they saw Paula's mom was contributing to the forums as well, which is nice and fun. So I've been loving that. All the kids are in there. And I will share an exciting update that we are currently,

we being Jake, Master Jake, updating and working on is a search function. That has been a thing that's been at the top of our list the entire time. Jake just sent me, I have a beta version of it where you can actually go search. like is anybody talking about 70.3 trombone. So that's the next big exciting thing that's coming up. Stay tuned. Yep. Thank you so much.

Okay, first question here is from Hannah. Hey, TTR fam, started triathlon as a challenging sport to participate in, but I'm quickly becoming a fan of pro racing. This is in large part due to the podcast and following your race recaps and seasons. Naturally, I tuned into Iron Man World Championships this past weekend in Nice. I have lots of questions about the race, but I'm specifically curious to know about Anne Haug's situation. What are the rules about bike mechanical help during Iron Man's?

Is it the same or different for T-100 races? In pro-cycling, the mechanics are practically central to the success of a team. Is assistance something you wish was allowed, or do you think we should let the fates decide if luck goes your way on the day and you avoid punctures or crashes? Thanks, Hannah. So to remind everyone, Ann Haug had a mechanical with her rear tire and was not able to fix the flat.

She got a flat. She's got a flat. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I know if I'd call a flat a mechanical. I guess it's under the umbrella of mechanical to me. But yes, she got a flat and she had this like latex tube or something and it did not,

or she was not able to fix it. Yeah, it's a little bit old technology. The latex tubes. Everyone's using tubulars now. And I don't know how bad the gash was to her tire. Maybe a tubeless would not have saved it. But I, having been immersed in the cycling world for one week and having eyes on how important it is to have a spare bike. And every person I raced against had had one or two complete spare bikes on the roof of the car following them.

And like to their spec, their own bike, Olivia, the other Canadian girl who is racing, two identical canyons at the exact same bars. she only rides to race and the other is a training bike. And if you get a flat, you're replaced within 20 seconds of the issue. I don't know if that's totally feasible for triathlon because we travel with our own bikes and we would have to track and fly with two bicycles, whereas a lot of these athletes have world tour teams who are driving the bikes from place to place. So logistically, it's a lot simpler for the athletes. And the other thing about triathlon bikes is there's so much stuff strapped.

app to them. Like all your nutrition, and they're so, they're so intricate in that way. So just having a complete bike replacement is maybe not that realistic. And the speed is not as critical as in a time trial where it's a 40-minute race. You can do a wheel swap. But do I think that every athlete should have the opportunity for neutral support or for their own wheels to be in a car following them for a professional? Yes.

And it's crazy to me that there was no mechanic there. to help her. Yeah, the way that triathlon works, just for if you are not understanding, is that there is neutral support allowed. You're not allowed to get support from somebody just standing on the side of the road. But theoretically, behind the major groups in a pro triathlon race, there's a little moped that has like a front, like six front wheels and six rear wheels and can at least help you out with that situation. They'll jump off and try to help you get your chain back on if you can't get it on yourself. So it's not that there's no support. It's just the

spirit of triathlon has always been a bit more like solo. self-sufficient and they haven't gotten to the point of where there's like five modos behind, you know, a motto for every athlete to where, you know, a mechanical has no impact. It still is going to

have an impact, but theoretically somebody should be there to get you back into the race and you maybe only lose a minute or two. Yeah, I mean, even if there needs to be a radio for the mechanic, like there's cameras all over the place. Someone was filming and struggling.

He needs to be able to radio the guy and say, come to this athlete. She needs help. Totally. Totally agree. A type of athlete like Anne, she loses five or ten minutes, she can still podium at this race. So it's, I think, totally unacceptable that she didn't have some kind of help. And the fact that that ruined her race is super tragic. That should not be a DNF. It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter what tire wheel set up she had, whose fault it was if the road was dirty or not. it doesn't matter. There should be support. And it's really sad to have to watch her walk off the course for that 200 meters or whatever it was into a nine-hour race that should have mentioned her day. So I'm in the camp of more neutral support. And to be fair, the T-100 is great at it. There's a mechanic that comes to every single race, the same one, so we know him really well. We can all drop off our spare wheels the day before. And because of the lapped course nature, we can change our wheels every lap if we need to. And there's also a

guide on the course for emergencies. So they do what they can. To where like how long is a bike loop here? Like 10K. Worst case scenario you ride on a wheel for like 9K and can get a replacement next time you come through their neutral support zone. Yeah, I guess Nis 180K loop.

It's a lot harder to pinpoint where the outfits are. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, it's a tough subject. So I don't, do you feel like the DNF then, I mean, because eventually, I don't understand why eventually the wheel didn't get replaced and she tried to finish the race. Is it just that too much time passed and she felt it wasn't worth it? Was it not possible? Yeah. I would assume.

At some point it's been 10 minutes and you're like, there's no way I'm bringing back 10 minutes. Right. Especially someone who wants to win the race. So emotionally defeated. Like getting third or fourth place is not interesting enough for me to. Right. It's not why I'm getting it out. And it sounded like in that little clip, like she wasn't sure if the tire was salvageable,

but what she needed at that point was a full wheel swap. Yeah. So it wasn't even a matter of like, I need help fixing mine. It was like, I need a new wheel and that should have been available to her. Yeah. Is there ever a situation where there is not the type of wheel that you need, whether it's, you know, disc or rim brake or. Yeah, it's probably not going to be a disc.

It's most likely going to be a like a four or four. 5-4 wear or something. But in the T-100 anyway, they go through transition and make sure that they have the right type of rotor for every bike. Oh, got it. So they're really careful about making sure

there's enough where a wheel could fit on any bike that's in transition. Right, right. Because there's even different rotor sizes, right? Yes. Well, there you go. So T-100 is a little more dialed in that sense. It's kind of built in.

But the rules are the same. A little more dialed due to the nature of their courses. Yeah. I don't want to say Iron Man's bad, but yeah. Next question here is from Josh, short one. Are pros wearing off-the-shelf cycling kit sizes, or do they get them custom fit and or tailored? This is a great question because I feel like people think maybe you guys get super special treatment with this kind of stuff, but what's the reality? I would say it's probably a mix. Definitely a mix. Yeah, I just, I race off the shelf mediums. Paula has what you take like one inch off the length of your shorts. Yeah, I have a little bit

customization with my Castelli kit. Take a bit of length off the shorts, but that's kind of just a personal comfort thing. It's not necessarily a speed or a fit thing. But I think like Hoob, for example, does custom kits for their athletes that are really specific to their shoulder width and their bicep, girth, etc. But for the most part, I think that the Zoot kits that I wore in the past when I was working with Zoot and then the Castelli kits fit really well off the, off the rack. I would say it's almost more common to have a custom wetsuit because those are a little bit, they're not as stretchy as a triathlon kit and a little more finicky. I don't know anyone that has a custom wetsuit.

I mean, everybody who swims in a shit. Beepa. Yeah, we'll bleep that. Okay, great. Next question here is from Kinley. Hey, all, quick one here. Thoughts on these new really small electrical. bike pumps. If you don't use them,

how do you bring a pump with you when traveling thanks, Kenley? Are you familiar with these? Have you seen these yet? Yeah. We don't have one though. I put this question in because I'm curious myself. Do you guys think they work? I've seen them work. I've had one in a car a couple of times and then as I looked more into it

it was like, oh, you can pump up one and a half tires before the battery dies. They're like and I just haven't had the time to sit down and do enough research to feel really good about the purchase, but I'm definitely intrigued. I've seen it used on rides before when someone I was with got a flat and someone else had one of them. And they definitely work. They bring it on rides?

Bringing it on rides? Yeah, they bring it on rides. Yeah, yeah, you bring it with you on a ride. I haven't considered that at all, no. That's crazy. I don't think it's really designed for home use because you just use a floor pump. We're talking about just like. Oh, I see.

Pumping up in the hotel room. Oh, I didn't think about that. Yeah. Maybe we were talking about two different things. I'm looking at something that's like the size of a peanut butter jar. for like a Oh no This is like the size of like us

A box of cigarettes or something like that A box? A pack Oh wow No why not just use a hand pump? Yeah exactly So what do you guys travel with? We have this I don't need they probably don't even make me more

But Paula has had it since before we were together Specialized like travel pump that folds up real small But it's still heavy Yeah it's a little heavy but it's small And then I have like a really small Just you know like hand pump for bringing and Jersey pocket and I'll bring that as well. Yeah, the specialized one works well because it's a full length floor pump that just the legs

fold out and the top pops on. So I take that with me. There's been races where I just decide I'm going to use the mechanics pump or I'm not going to bring one and then you're building your bike in your room and you want to go for a ride and your tires are flat. It's just always better peace of mind to have your own stuff. And if those electric ones work and have long enough battery life to pump up four tires or whatever, I think that that'd be a good solution because they're so much smaller.

Yeah. So if anyone knows, let us know. On the forum of the app. Yeah. Drop a link of the one you use. Small electric pump discussion. A sort of fiery discussion on the app. Small electric pumps.

Yeah. I'm my small. Okay. Next question here's from Maggie. Hey guys, does casual road cycling racing exist? I'm a 26-year-old female and love multi-sport training for the adventure aspect. but lately I have been feeling a need for more competition and pushing my limits physically on the bike. I have been road biking since I was very young, but always for casual rides with friends or adventure rides in the mountains and never racing.

Seems the gap between casual cycling and racing is much larger than that of running. Do local bike races exist or does racing require so much skill that it is only possible in the context of a team or club? What you recommend is the next step for someone wanting to see if they can hang in a more competitive bike setting. Thanks so much. You guys are continually inspiring me to try something new. Maggie. It's a great point, right? Because in triathlon, you can really be all levels in running.

You can really be all levels. But at least in California, the one road race I did, even the lowest level is people who obviously are really fit and who are very serious about cycling. This is actually an interesting conversation because, I mean, question, because we were just having conversation with some of the guys of the cycling Canada about this. And because in North America, especially, there's like a little bit of a crisis going on with cycling right now where 10 years ago there was a ton of these races.

You could go on Tuesday nights and race a Crit and you could go on Thursday nights and race a circuit race and race on the weekends do a road race. And there would be a beginner category and a cat five and four, three, two, one, the whole thing. But just like the way that how difficult it is to shut down roads and get permits and pay police officers, road racing, like as an age group, or anything other than an elite level has dropped off massively in the last 10 years. So it's admittedly a lot harder and I think that jump is a lot bigger. The one kind of racing where I have seen that there's a lot of variety of skill there was local crits. So I've jumped in the women's local crit in Ben, for example, and there's a huge variety of experience and ability in a non-intiminating environment.

And there's a little group in Ben that's like really into getting women on bio, and encouraging people to come into this not scary environment and try racing. And the turnout every week got a little bit bigger as this message was getting out that these things existed because everybody rides bikes and bend. But the ability to go and race, you're right, is intimidating. Feels like there's a barrier to entry because we watch the Tour de France and that's scary. But hopefully each city that you're, you know, if you look around enough, you could find a local crit race where there's different categories and it's a much more approachable environment.

And then you can stay after and watch the men's cat 1-2 crit and they go four times faster, but it's a whole scene. You're all doing the same thing. Yeah, I think it's a little bit luck of the draw of the city that you're in, but there are definitely some cities. I think the East Coast, like around the Boston, New England area, still has like a pretty good, strong crit scene. And then the other thing that you can do obviously is just like, I shouldn't say obviously.

The other thing you can do is look around, ask around for a hard group ride. Like Wednesday night worlds, Tuesday night worlds, just the Thursday Hammer Fest or something like that. There's a good chance that somewhere nearby, there's a group that gets together and just goes out and wants to ride hard. And maybe the stop sign at 49th Street is the sprint, you know, that sort of a thing. And this can be, you know, hit and miss a little bit with how serious is the group, how agro are they. but I would just ask people and try to get a feel for it. And that's like a nice middle stepping point where you're in the group. There's rotation happening.

There might be a sprint, but it's not. Nobody's trying to get points and whatever. It's slightly more casual. The thought I had when I heard this question is, what do you guys think about something like a fondo where there's like these big organized rides? And you don't have to go fast if you don't want to. It's more about the completion of the event and experiencing the event, but there are usually people, I mean, depending on what the rules are of

the event, but they're usually people who kind of do race it. So you can treat it as a race for yourself. Yeah. Yeah, I thought about fondo as well. I just don't know how expensive fondos are, how often they are. And if it's like really, you know, the nice thing about the crits or like the weekly rides are that you could get into the swing of it versus, oh, there's one fondo within 100 miles of me this year. But yes, you're totally right, Nick. There's a wide. variety of how serious people are taking those typically. And what about gravel racing? Do you think that also falls under this category of very different levels, can be very

serious at the front, but is a little more like run races like marathoning or triathlons where there's this widespread? Gravels are just off-road fondos, yeah, I think. Yeah, I think it's more approachable. Even the Cascade 100 that Eric did where the front end of the race is extremely fast, there's people finishing, you know, eight hours later. and it's anyone can come do it. And there's also a cyclocross scene in Bend.

That's another type of riding. Right, right. Yeah, it's not just road riding that has hopefully more community-driven events like this. It could be off-road as well. I didn't even think about that. Cool. Okay, well, good luck, Maggie. Hope you get some racing in.

Next question is from Scott. Hello, all, hope all as well. I have a question regarding bike etiquette while racing. For context, I'm a below-average swimmer, but an above average biker. Because of this, I find myself passing lots of athletes on the bike. I am with you, Scott. My question is, should I be saying on your left to every rider I pass?

Or A-I-T-A, which is, am I the asshole, for not doing it every time? Thanks. I'm a day-woner and look forward to the show every week. Cheers from Wisconsin, Scott. There were two questions like this this week, the same one. This is applicable while being out on a ride or riding on trails. well so i don't know not as much though because in a race you're all trying to get the fastest time you're all out there trying to get the most out of yourself so you might be passing someone but

they're also trying to go as fast as they can so what's the polite way we'll start by saying do you guys do it to the other pros first of all they on your left no then can you on your left yeah like fall off his bike laughing if i said that you know sometimes i'll say it if there's drifting a bit. Like if they feel, it feels like they're coming into me and they're moving over the road, I'll just say like,

I'm here. Please don't like continue to cut me off. Is that what you say? I'm here. Please don't continue to cut me off. I mean, minus, I try to be as polite as possible

to my peers while I'm racing. I think we're all on this together. We're all trying to keep the thing fair. And you expect people to kind of come by you or you go by them in a race like this. The T-100, there's only 20 women. So it's not really happening that often. but in an amateur race,

I think about this a lot where people aren't great swimmers, but they get out and they're so good on the bike that they're just passing people every five seconds. And actually, I had a bit of experience with this with the second lap in China because we were merging with the age group athletes who were getting out of water. That's right.

So I was passing, I probably passed 100 amateur athletes on the second loop. And yes, I yelled at them. How do you say on your left in Chinese? I just said on your left. Every single person I did because I was, scared they were going to verge into me. And I wanted them to know where I was coming.

So, yeah, that's the thing is like, you're not necessarily telling them because it's polite. You're telling them for your own safety. For everybody's safety. For everybody's safety. You don't want to hit them. They don't want to be hit. It just keeps it cleaner.

And yes, it's so annoying to say it. But I think ultimately you kind of have to. Yeah. If it's congested. I was going to say in my experience, amateur racing, where this happens a lot and you will be whatever. Different age group starts times and like different levels of people starting 10 minutes before or after. So you are passing people sometimes way faster or they're passing you way faster. And it's just you can't say it to every single person.

And I don't think it's appropriate to. You just say if you feel like, oh, this person needs to know that I'm behind them because there's some there's some drifting happening or something like that. Yeah, you can read it. You know, and if you're moving a lot quicker than them and you're. them and you know you're going to pass without them even noticing, then yeah, you can kind of read the situation. You don't say anything.

Yeah. Sometimes it's worse if, like if I'm riding with Eric and we're out in a congested area or on a bike path or something. And we don't say anything and Eric passes them. And then they look and verge over to me. Oh, right. So there's like so many situational, you know, differences.

Because the body follows where the head. The head goes, right? So it's just like, oh, God. So if you're alone, it's okay to sneak up on people. But if you're with a little group, sometimes it's better to just give a heads up. We're all coming through or something. Eric, what's the etiquette in mountain bike racing where you're on like a single track? Is like, do you let someone know, hey, I caught you on this descent or I caught you on this climb?

Is there an understanding that they should let you pass or it's like, nope, your job to figure out how to get past me now. I'm going to keep doing my thing. It's a little bit of both. Yeah. I had this when in the high cascade, like a guy caught up to me climbing, like minutes before the top of the climb. And I was a significantly better descender.

But he came up behind you and was like, hey, I'm back here. And I'm kind of like, I'm going to let you go. I know you're going faster than me. And there's a chance that if you go in front of me, we'll be able to go a little faster together. And we didn't have the conversation out loud. But that was my train of thought.

And I let him go. and he blew up a little bit and I was able to stay with him no problem and then the second we started going downhill he was slowing me down significantly and I said hey I'm back here anytime I can come by be awesome knowing that it's not like he's not required to

and he didn't right he waited like five minutes of me sitting back there breathing down his neck trying to get around him any chance I could and there were just like no chances before we finally got to a part of the road where he was like trail that was wide enough He's like, okay, go.

You know, and then I just had to sprint my brains out and try to get around him. And so, like, that's kind of how it's like in a pro race or in any sort of a race, like, you're not obligated to let somebody buy you. If they're good enough, they should be able to get by you. But I do think it's personally in everybody's best interest to let the better, the significantly faster person go, you both could benefit. That's my attitude. Right.

I don't want to just, like, I don't know. I don't want to, like, trap somebody behind. behind me just because of, you know, I can. That's just... Are there rules on blocking or anything like that in mountain bike racing? I mean, I would just be prepared for somebody to push you off your bike if you're being an asshole like that. Yeah, yeah, right, right, right, right.

That's just like totally not the spirit of the sport. And I think mountain biking especially is a little more, I don't know, less agro like that. Yeah, yeah, cool. Okay, and then final little question here from Sam. Hi, gang, I have a quick equipment question as we get into the off season for background. I'm a 56-year-old man in the third year of my triathlon journey. I've completed 570.7.3s and I've signed up for Iron Man, a full Iron Man, in Ottawa in August of 2025.

For the last two years, I've been using an entry-level Xtera sleeveless sweatsuit, which has been doing an admirable job with some repairs, has been holding together. I've been pretty consistent two-minute per 100-meter swimmer. is there much benefit to replacing this sweatsuit with a more expensive model? I ask because they are pretty expensive, and I'm going to wear it twice a year. Would I be better off spending that kind of money on something like a rocker plate for these long, long winter rides on the trainer? Thanks for everything you do for the triathlon community.

I can't wait for the new tri-kits to drop so I can get myself a sweet new outfit, Sam. So what's worth it is always so subjective because what's worth it in terms of your race time in terms of taking minutes off of your race time or in terms of your experience racing, in terms of your comfort racing. But what do you get? Let's start with like your race time. Where do you think that money should be spent in a nicer, newer, more performancey wetsuit or in something else? It's a tough question to answer. There's so many variables. We could just like make a list of here is the best bang for the buck time wise. No, but when I read this question, I thought it's a long thing. He should get a new wetsuit for sure.

That's my feeling. They last so long if you look after them. I mean, he said he's racing in an old exterior sleevel sweatsuit. If you upgrade to a mid-level full-arm wetsuit for $400, that you're going to have that for four or five years or more if you look after it properly. And it's significantly faster than a sleeveless old wetsuit. And I promise you that. And feels, oh my gosh, like you could.

I could not swim in an old sleeveless wetsuit anymore. I would just not even want to swim. Yeah, the technology is better. Sleeveless is a lot slower. And your desire to go swim, like even to go do some training swims in it is going to be higher. If it's something that feels good and comfortable and it's flexible, I can't recommend it enough. Yeah, yeah. So yes, of course, there's other avenues where you could drop $400 and get also some performance benefits.

but because you're even wondering, I think it's worth going down this road. Yeah, like you could drop 400 bucks on an arrow helmet and guarantee that you're going to be one minute faster over your 70.3, but you're not going to be able to tell that it's there. This, I bet you can get a minute faster swim. That's interesting.

And you're going to feel better and be ready to ride faster. That's a really good point. Because at the end of the day, to us, amateurs, what's the difference between feeling like you're going faster and then actually going faster. Who cares if you're actually going faster, right? We just want to feel like it's working. Totally, yeah.

I mean, not just damages, pros as well. Yeah. I mean, like, we would definitely take a wet suit that is, for example, just wet suits like an easy thing here, right? Like, that is 20 seconds slower, scientifically proven in all the ways. We would rather swim in a suit that's slower than the faster suit that just feels like it's part of my body

and I was born in it every time. Yeah. Don't have to think about it. Peace of mind. Get out ready to do the next thing. You guys kind of did this with your wet suit situation where you wanted something that fit you better, that felt more comfortable. You wanted something that felt like it was part of your body and you found it with

orcas suits. I think that also another big bang for your buck and this person's probably already done this, but is carbon shoes. $200, $300. Huge. Way faster. Those are the two equipment upgrades I would recommend if you're currently. not using them is new wetsuit and carbon running shoes.

Carbon running shoes. Specifically the on cloud boom strike. Which if you want to buy them, go through the TTL website. Are the strikes available? Yeah. Okay. They're really limited sizes. Yeah, I saw them.

Like they're selling out. Yeah, even if you just go onto the website and click on Cloud Monsters, we'll get credit for you buying strikes. Please do that. That really helps us out. Kids. All our questions? Yeah.

Those are all our questions. There are more if you're feeling giddy for them. But yeah, those are the ones I picked. Getting the jog in before dinner time here. Yeah, I know you're trying to run. He's going to try to run for an hour. And it's already 636. I need to go eat alone, I guess.

Because I'm eating my arm off. I said I'm signed up for a 50K. So I'm trying to run more than 50K a week. And it's a challenge when you're traveling internationally. Yeah. By the way, Eric, sorry, I forgot to text you back. Yes, I am planning on coming to Smith Rock and doing that race. as well, but I'm going to do the, I think there's a 25K.

Oh, okay. So we will both be racing. Yeah. I don't think I can handle a 50K, a 50K right now. But a 25K, I think I could do a good job at. Yeah. Totally. I'll be sweet, man.

I can't wait. I can't. It'll be my first trail race and it'll be at one of the, my favorite places in the world to run, if not my favorite place in the world to run, which is Smith Rocks just outside of Bend. And it's not full. You can still sign out. Oh, I didn't really think about that.

Dude, you're lucky. Like, you're lucky that this is one. race on the earth right now that is not sold out. Although you better sign up before we release this podcast. Because I bet you there's going to be some extreme super fans who are going to sign up. Take all the spots. Yeah, okay, okay, okay, okay, I'll sign up. I'll sign up right now.

Scary. Sign up, okay, okay, okay. Okay, well, if you guys want to watch T100 Abiza, we all, we race on Saturday. The men and the women race on the same day. The men start at 8.30. We start at 10.30 local time in the morning. And as always, PTO will have great coverage. of the race.

And also, if you want to watch T100 Vegas, we're going to be doing a thing. So get yourself a plane ticket. Don't even bother watching on the internet. We're going to do a thing. We're going to have a little spot. You can hang out with other TTL crazy people and cheer on Paula and your loved ones.

Yeah, it's pretty actually cheap to fly to Vegas from anywhere in the U.S. Because they want people to come and gamble. Yeah. It's a hack. Yeah. So go to Vegas. We're just gambling with our health and fitness.

but people gamble with money too. Go to Vegas, get a cheap hotel room, and then come and hang out with... It's going to be sick. TTL. We're going to have special edition things you can get. We're going to have giveaways. We're going to have cheering devices. The PTO is like helping us out.

It's going to be read. Yeah, I love it. Nick, are you racing? You're racing, right? I'm racing. Oh, yeah, baby. It's sick. Oh, yeah.

Everyone's racing. It's real. Yeah, we're doing. Sorry, Eric. Later, everybody. Thanks for listening, guys. Bye. Bye.