login
Striving for Mediocrity
-
No new posts
 2009-07-13 4:01 PM |
 4 |  Subject: Striving for MediocrityI’ve been running about 12 years. I have done a marathon and numerous smaller running races usually finishing in the middle of the pack. As I see it, I already have running shoes and a bike, if I get the $29 Aevero shorts on this website, and a helmet, I’m all set, right?But then I checked out the beginners section of this website and see that even a beginning entry bike is expected to cost $700-$1000! Are you kidding me? Am I at the “beginners section” of the www.beginnertriathlete.com website? Is there a www.okIreallyamabeginningbeginnerjustsignedupforatriathalon.com website?I found an article by Javier Gomez who states you can use a mountain bike, which I have. But even her minimal suggestions put me over what I would hope to spend for this 2 hour (hopefully) event.To be frank, spending $300-$1000 to improve my time by 10-15 minutes is not worth it. I’m sure it is worth it to many of you on this site, but not to me (yet).That brings us to my question. What would be the best improvements (under $100) that could be done to my cheepo mountain bike to make it carry me to my “middle of the pack” finishing goal? Could I get away with just “Toe clips”, the shorts mentioned above, and a good tailwind? |
| 2009-07-13 4:02 PM in reply to: #2282152 |
| Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity if you haven't already, buy slick tires and replace the knobby mountain bike tires. THat's good enough |
| 2009-07-13 4:06 PM in reply to: #2282152 |
Master 2571    Tiger's Den | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity You'll be fine to do the tri on your mountain bike... Like Chris said, put slicks on, that will help. But I think you need to lose the expectation of finishing MOP and just go out to have fun and finish... especially for your first one. But if you are dead set on time goals to put you MOP, borrow a bike from a friend. That's free. |
| 2009-07-13 4:28 PM in reply to: #2282171 |
Member 84 | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity Yep - I'd agree here. Buy some slick tires for your MTB and some pedal straps - you'll be all set! Good luck! -Tim p.s. - let me know if you get a pair of the Aevero tri shorts. I've been thinking of buying a pair too but just haven't pulled the trigger yet. |
| 2009-07-13 4:28 PM in reply to: #2282152 |
Regular 96 Novi, MI | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity Put slicks on. I train and race on a steel mtn bike with aerobars. My race average is 19.3 mph. Generally good enough for FOMOP. However, my swim and run place me solidly in the BOMOP. Have fun and try not to worry about the placing until the times are posted. |
| 2009-07-13 4:34 PM in reply to: #2282152 |
Champion 10471  Dallas, TX | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity Everyone already said it... put slicks on the bike. That brings us to my question. What would be the best improvements (under $100) that could be done to my cheepo mountain bike to make it carry me to my “middle of the pack” finishing goal? Could I get away with just “Toe clips”, the shorts mentioned above, and a good tailwind? Well have you looked at the times for the race from last year to figure out what you need to do in each area to get middle of the pack? What you are doing in training... will that place you middle of the pack? If not, what can you improve, get faster on to get to that point? I think with a mountain bike... if you are not an amazing swimmer and runner... and you are in the 30-50 age group for males... it would be very hard to get middle of the pack... unless it's not a very competitive tri. ???? Good luck and just go have fun! So what if you aren't the middle of the pack! Have fun no matter where you end up! |
| 2009-07-13 4:36 PM in reply to: #2282152 |
| 95 | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity strolltroll - 2009-07-13 4:01 PM But then I checked out the beginners section of this website and see that even a beginning entry bike is expected to cost $700-$1000! Are you kidding me? Am I at the “beginners section” of the www.beginnertriathlete.com website? Is there a www.okIreallyamabeginningbeginnerjustsignedupforatriathalon.com website?I think you've gotten some good answers on upgrades. I had the same reaction as you when I came here for advice on an entry level bike. I searched for used bikes, but I'm only 5'7" so pickings were slim. I ended up getting a new entry level Fuji road bike at a local shop for about $430. It's definitely entry level and was last year's model, and I do wish I had another $150 in my budget at the time - that would have gotten me the next level up - but I've been riding it for three months and it has done exactly what I've needed it to do. So get some slicks for your mountain bike and enjoy the race. If you really love the sport, look for a used road bike. You do get what you pay for, but if you really are on a budget and there isn't room for flexibility, you can do fine spending well under $1000. |
| 2009-07-13 4:48 PM in reply to: #2282244 |
Champion 10471 Dallas, TX | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity andysrc - 2009-07-13 4:36 PM strolltroll - 2009-07-13 4:01 PM But then I checked out the beginners section of this website and see that even a beginning entry bike is expected to cost $700-$1000! Are you kidding me? Am I at the “beginners section” of the www.beginnertriathlete.com website? Is there a www.okIreallyamabeginningbeginnerjustsignedupforatriathalon.com website?I think you've gotten some good answers on upgrades. I had the same reaction as you when I came here for advice on an entry level bike. I searched for used bikes, but I'm only 5'7" so pickings were slim. I ended up getting a new entry level Fuji road bike at a local shop for about $430. It's definitely entry level and was last year's model, and I do wish I had another $150 in my budget at the time - that would have gotten me the next level up - but I've been riding it for three months and it has done exactly what I've needed it to do. So get some slicks for your mountain bike and enjoy the race. If you really love the sport, look for a used road bike. You do get what you pay for, but if you really are on a budget and there isn't room for flexibility, you can do fine spending well under $1000. I want to add... that when I started tri's, I went to the bike shop to look at entry level road bikes... and was SHOCKED! The cheapest one was $600 and my jaw dropped to the floor. I was shocked. But that's how much a new bike costs. And you get what you pay for. If you pay $100 for a Wal-Mart road bike, you will get a $100 ride (rough, a heavy bike, gearing that doesn't work all that great). Some people care, and others do not. So when someone says that an entry level bike is $400-$600 they are just being honest. It's not about being a new triathlete or what this website it. That's the going price for bikes these days! |
| 2009-07-13 4:50 PM in reply to: #2282152 |
Champion 7547 Albuquerque, New Mexico Bronze member | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity Biggest improvement comes for free! As Bear (and a few others) would say: "Ride lots!" If you're OK with the vibration of the mountain bike tires on asphalt/concrete (they were OK before, weren't they?), you don't need to change a thing, just make sure they're aired up to the max and ride, ride, ride. I was out on a training ride and trying to catch up to my buddy who had a 5-minute head start (so I was humpin' it pretty good) and some guy on a mountain bike rides past me like I'm standing still. I (briefly) thought about trying to keep up with him and realized "ain't gonna happen" but I did catch my buddy a couple miles later. I did my first two tri's on a mountain bike (not even changing tires). If you do get some smooth tires, get the narrowest tires that fit your rim (maybe as narrow as 26x1.5). Someone at the Local Bike Shop (LBS) should be able to help you get the right size for what you want to do. Make sure you have your bar-ends plugged for the race. |
| 2009-07-13 5:54 PM in reply to: #2282171 |
| 4 | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity First, I'd like to say I'm impressed. Not one, cyber point-and-laugh
|
| 2009-07-13 6:03 PM in reply to: #2282152 |
| Expert 658 | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity Javier Gomez is a guy... Get slick tires and 2x bottle holders. |
| 2009-07-13 6:25 PM in reply to: #2282152 |
Extreme Veteran 3177 | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity as others have said ride lots, slick tires, and if you want a slightly better grip then just platforms give you add in some Powergrips (google it, sorry cant pull it up at work) which I have found for me are more efficient than cages and easier to use. all together that might run you 60 bucks depending on what tires you get. Probably a lot less. add in teh 30 dollor shorts and you are under your hundred dollor mark! Good Luck! |
| 2009-07-13 6:55 PM in reply to: #2282152 |
Extreme Veteran 444 Olathe, KS | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity x10 (or however many) on the slicks & toe straps for your shoes. But I'd also say, if you really want a road bike at some point, but don't want to spend a lot of cash, check out Craigslist for your local area. My husband is into vintage bikes and is always looking on there - he's bought a ton of '80s and '90s road bikes in very good shape from anywhere between $80-$250. There are some good deals on there if you look enough! Good luck at your first race! |
| 2009-07-13 7:19 PM in reply to: #2282152 |
| New Haven, CT | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity You can get a perfectly useable road bike for $500 or less. Look on crags list and you can probably get one for less than $200. Go to a bunch of tag sales and someone will be selling a workable one for $50. Have fun |
| 2009-07-13 7:34 PM in reply to: #2282152 |
Expert 2189 Dodge County, MN (out in the corn) | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity RE: Avero shorts- I bought them last month when they were giving away a free jersey (now it's just a hat). I ordered a small for my husband (his normal size). They were WAY too big. He wears a 29 in jeans and the small was huge on him. Looked like he was wearing a pair of mtn bike shorts. Sadly, they fit me better, but they are still big on me. I am between a med. and large in womens. They also bled yellow dye the first time I washed them (strange). Other than that, for $29, you can't go wrong. Order a size smaller than you normally wear (don't expect good fit), and wash separately the first time. / hijack. |
| 2009-07-13 9:56 PM in reply to: #2282545 |
Master 2372 | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity rowdypaint - 2009-07-13 7:34 PM RE: Avero shorts- I bought them last month when they were giving away a free jersey (now it's just a hat). I ordered a small for my husband (his normal size). They were WAY too big. He wears a 29 in jeans and the small was huge on him. Looked like he was wearing a pair of mtn bike shorts. Sadly, they fit me better, but they are still big on me. I am between a med. and large in womens. They also bled yellow dye the first time I washed them (strange). Other than that, for $29, you can't go wrong. Order a size smaller than you normally wear (don't expect good fit), and wash separately the first time. / hijack. The tri shorts run big and the bike shorts run small. They were great about replacing my tri shorts to get the right size, though. And to the OP on a bike, good deals do exist on Craigslist and other places. I ended up with a 3 year old Trek 1500 (in great shape) for $500. The deals are out there. You just have to be patient and vigilant. |
| 2009-07-14 7:57 AM in reply to: #2282377 |
Master 2571 Tiger's Den | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity strolltroll - 2009-07-13 6:54 PM borrow a bike from a friend. That's free. Wouldn't you have to train with that bike too? That would be a good friend. Well there are many of us out here that have more than one bike, so if you had a friend who had multiple, it would't be a big deal to lend you one of them for a couple of months.  It's been done before... |
| 2009-07-14 8:58 AM in reply to: #2282152 |
Extreme Veteran 787 The Woodlands/Magnolia, TX. | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity did my first tri with a mtb and slicks. i think i paid about 100 bucks for the slicks and two tubes at my bike shop. i went with above avg quality tires and tubes so i get you can get it all cheaper. imo...it's the biggest bang for you buck when upgrading a mtb. |
| 2009-07-14 11:30 AM in reply to: #2282152 |
| New user 34 | Subject: RE: Striving for Mediocrity Ebay is your friend for tri clothes and bike parts.....I bought a "tri lot" on there that included: -Desoto Tri Suit -Zoot tri shorts -2x Zoot tech running shirts -Zoot running shorts Grand total?? $49!!! |
|
|
|
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK