I am most definitely biased, but I think cycling is the best sport in the World. Unlike many traditional team sports, it’s something you can do far beyond your school and university days. It’s a lifelong sport and one of the most effective ways to see the world. Cars seem to go too fast to appreciate the scenery and walking doesn’t get your far enough. On top of all of the enjoyable aspects of cycling, it’s also therapeutic with the rhythmic motion being cited as meditative, the aerobic aspect being good for your heart, and the nature of the sport makes it a common rehabilitation exercises for various injuries. Even the best things have their limitations, though. Here are 5 things that cycling and cyclists often lack.

1.) Weight Bearing

Wolff’s law of bone explains that bones respond to the forces placed upon them. In other words, if you stress your bones, they will become stronger. This isn’t a completely novel concept; we are used to the idea of the body getting stronger due to stressors. We place stress or force on muscles and we expect them to grow bigger and stronger. Bones are no different. 

Bones will get stronger from forces such as weight lifting or even running where there is pounding and force going through the skeleton. Cycling, though, is considered a non-weight bearing sport. 

If cyclists don’t stress their bones through other activities, they are at risk for their bones to become weaker and weak bones are more likely to succumb to injuries. Cyclists should take special efforts to load their bones through other cross-training activities. Personally, I do weight training year-round. I supplement my cycling workouts with 2 heavy lifting sessions each week. 

2.) Lateral Movement

Cycling occurs exclusively in the sagittal plane. This means that in cycling we are only moving forward. Unlike sports like basketball or soccer that require athletes to move both forwards and sideways, cycling mainly uses the muscles that move our bodies forward. 

Since we aren’t stressing the muscles that move our bodies from side to side, these muscles will often atrophy or become weak. Despite not using them for forward propulsion, we still need these muscles for stabilization, injury prevention, and being a well-rounded human. 

The Gluteus Medius is a muscle often underused in cycling that can cause issues when it fails to fire. A weak Gluteus Medius can result in knee pain, IT band issues, low back pain, and hip pain. In order to strengthen your Gluteus Medius consider adding fire hydrants, clam shells, lateral leg raises, and/or lateral band walks to your pre-exercise routine. I spend 5 minutes before every ride completing glute medius exercises. Fire hydrants and clam shells are my staples. 

3.) Eccentric Movement

Cycling is primarily an exercise of concentric movement. Concentric exercises involves the muscles shortening when working against resistance (the upward phase of a squat). Eccentric movements involve the muscles lengthening (such as the downward phase of squat).

There are many benefits to concentric exercise such as building muscle mass and concentric exercises are easier on the muscles (causing less soreness). Eccentric exercises often cause more soreness, but they also help to strengthen tendons and can be helpful for injury prevention. In order to be a well-rounded athlete, you should work to include both concentric and eccentric exercises in your workout routine. For me, eccentrics are as simple as emphasizing the eccentric phase of certain lifts I do in my weight training routine. For example, I will concentrate on a slow and controlled downward phase of my back squats.

4.) Good Posture

In a world where we fight against poor posture constantly, cycling seems to only make things worse. After leaning over our laptops all day with rounded shoulders and a curved spine, we then head out on our after-work ride with rounded shoulders and a curved spin as we reach for our handlebars. 

Cyclists need to spend special time working on posture. In my own routine, I include exercises like wall angels, cat cow, bird dogs, and open thoracic books to encourage my body to return to neutral after all of my many hours of forward slouching on the bike. 

5.) Upper Body Strength

Cyclists never miss leg day! Upper body day, though, some cyclists are actually scared of it. If you’re a road cyclist then you may wonder why upper strength even matters especially when looking at World Tour Cyclists. If you’re a mountain biker, though, you understand that upper body strength is critical for controlling your bike, avoiding crashes, and surviving the inevitable crash without broken bones. Either way, we need upper body strength to be functional humans. Don’t be afraid of lifting weights. Some of my favorite upper body exercises are overhead press, landmine rows, and single arm dumbbell snatches. If nothing else, start small with body weight exercises such as push ups, pull ups, and tricep dips. You’ll be thankful for your extra efforts when carrying groceries inside, lifting up your child or grandchild, or putting your suitcase in the overhead bin.

Everything in Moderation

I’m definitely not telling you to cycle less! In fact, a great thing about cycling is that unlike sports like running, it’s relatively easy on the body which means we can log more hours than most sports. That said, it’s still important to take everything in moderation and to supplement our favorite sport with some additional exercises to keep us strong enough so that we can ultimately do even more pedaling.

The post 5 Things Cyclists Lack first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

The more I research the history of this industry, the more I realize how Dan Empfield has influcened the bike industry as we know it today. Let’s talk about something other than stack & reach, or X&Y, or the fact that he created the first Triathlon-specific bike. I want to speak for a second about how he has always influenced front-end design; if you go back in history, you start to notice that every time a bike manufacturer wanted to go with an integrated headset, he told that individual and or company to go pound sand. He would always give many reasons for the why, but in the end, it would be the simplest reason: because it made it too difficult for the user to adjust the bike position. You would sell someone a bike and they would go get fit and well, instead of changing out a stem or adding some tilt, boom you had to take out the old metal saw and find the super glue.

We can go back and look at the companies that have taken heed of Dan’s advice and those who haven’t. Specialized, Trek, and even Cervelo all had a lot of issues with the lack of adjustability in their proprietary set-ups. All of which were justified by the wind tunnel, tests, and a “sexy-looking” bike. When disc braked bikes started to come out, Trek sort of got it right, Cervelo was 2nd, and the Specialized Shiv missed the mark altogether. What the bike manufacturers forgot about was the need for the end-user to be comfortable (comfort = fast) for the long haul of 70.3 and 140.6 distances, which is precisely what they were making those bikes for. The fight over integrated water bladders, and the design on front-end to ensure the bike could be as fast as possible in the wind tunnel, missed the mark. Marketing consumed their time and engineering efforts, skimming over comfort and adjustability.

If you go to this year’s bike count at the IRONMAN World Championships, you can see the bicycle companies that have taken heed of Dan’s suggestions and created bikes that may not be so fast in the tunnel, but offer users the experience that they were looking for when it came to adjustability and comfort.

Back to my original question and title of this article: who really is leading the charge in the aerodynamics and comfort of the front end of the bicycle? Is it the bicycle companies that are making the fastest bikes, or is it the third-party specialists that look at how the big companies are screwing the front ends up and filling those gaps? If you look at the bike count, you see the same bicycle company leading the charge over the last 20 years. Cervelo has lost the bike count only once. But that gap continues to become smaller. If you look at other companies, they have come and gone based on marketing spend, product adaptation, and bike designs that need to be revised for the end-user. What has been consistent across the board is that the front end is always massively won by third-party aero bar manufacturers, and not the stock bicycle manufacturers. These either come from good relationships with OEM partners or simply the fact that the bicycle brands screwed up the front end so badly that the end customer needed to find a better solution to become comfortable for that rider to become faster.

Just look at the current Specialized Shiv, for example. All of that time and energy in the wind tunnel testing that bike working around water hydration and internal bladder patents that, on paper, make it faster than the last one. And they made adjustments based on the feedback they got from the original. Yet the bike had zero to little tilt adjustability. In the end, Specialized got so irritated with the lack of sales from that bike that they ended up abandoning long course triathlon altogether, focusing on shorter-distance events. Not a single sponsored rider is using that bike anymore. If you go online and look at most of the Shivs being sold, they have different third-party aero bar setups. Why is this? Why didn’t Specialized work closely with an OEM spec partner that could help them with the design of that front end? Were they afraid that information about the bike was going to get leaked during development? Were they were trying to increase profitability by manufacturing the front end themselves?

I don’t know the answers to this, but what I do know is that every single time I look at that bike, I get sad. It is a speedy bike, but they just completely missed the boat on the front end which in my opinion, affected sales. By extension, it reduced Specialized’s commitment to long course triathlon (and all of triathlon as a whole).

Now, if you look at other companies that did listen to Dan’s advice and have made tremendous strides with growth, not only in triathlon, but as a brand in general:

KONA bike count over the last 10 years

Quintana Roo is an example that has always worked closely with Dan, not because they have always seen eye to eye, but because they knew Dan would give them the feedback that he gained from the community as a whole, and they would take that feedback and integrate that into the design of their bikes. QR’s history has almost always been to use 3rd party integrated aero bar set ups for any of their TT bikes; they would invariably seek advice and partnerships from third-party experts to help them. This could be because these small companies like QR that I am talking about did not have the budget or desire to work on the front end themselves, but regardless of the reason they didn’t, it seems to have worked out for them in the long run. 

This year in Nice, we learned the same thing at the bike count: overall, third-party aero bars always win over manufactured stock aero bars that come on bikes.

When it comes to the masses, the data points to the fact that either the bike brands need to come up with better approaches to their front-end designs, or they need to work more closely with these 3rd parties that are winning the aero bar race.

Looking at the 2024 Nice Count, only 35.3% of all bikes came with brand-manufactured front ends. 64.7% was with 3rd party OEM Partners or customers switching out for better solutions. Profile Design owned more than 1/2 of that 3rd Party result.

Even the pros are taking the bull by the horns and switching up the front ends.

2024 IMWC Nice, Pro Female Bikes

Is Profile Design the best? At the bottom (age group masses), it appears so, but if you look at the top (the pros), they even need to catch up if they want to continue being at the top. With all these other players in the mix, it’s becoming apparent when you are looking at purchasing your next bike, brand and frame are just one part of the thought process, followed by what bar you will put on.

Now, let’s keep one super important thing in mind: we haven’t completed the 2024 bike count yet; we are only half done. Kona is still to come, when we get all the men’s data, and then we can really start to hone in on all of the trends, including bars. I believe there’s even going to be a bigger gap between vendors. My guess is we will see a greater increase in third-party and 3D-printed bars.

This whole topic makes me think:

#1 There’s a lack of understanding that some of the big bike companies have when it comes to the front-end fit of endurance athletes.

#2 There’s an importance of specialists in the marketplace.

The post Who Is Leading the Charge with TT Bikes Front Ends? first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Now, just a reminder: to play the game, a rider must finish the race.

Equipment trends

• While Cervelo had the most bikes, Canyon took the fastest time
• Pro’s chose Shimano over SRAM, yet chose ceramicspeed over regular derailleurs
• Favero Assioma took the pedal count within the top 10
• No one in the top 10 was riding 1x
• Aerobars are no longer “Stock”

Big steep hills, fast steep descents

With an elevation gain of +8,895 ft and loss of -8,877 ft, the Championship course took a toll on some, yet 8 of these ladies ended up in the top 10 overall. Let’s start with some crazy facts from the GPX file provided by IRONMAN.

CLIMBS

With eight sections that qualified as a “climb,” athletes saw max grades over 20%

1. 6.1 mi 1,081 ft 3.6%: Starting mile 6.2 – avg grade of 3.6% and Max grade of 9.7 %
2. 0.9 mi 151 ft 2.7%: Starting mile 17.9 – avg grade 2.7% and max grade 8.1%
3. 11.5 mi 3,206 ft 4.9%: Starting mile 25.1 – avg grade 4.9% and max grade 23.3%
4. 1.1 mi 187 ft 3.2%: Starting mile 39.1 – avg grade 3.2% and max grade 4.1%
5. 0.6 mi 106 ft 3.1%: Starting mile 43.9 – avg grade 3.1% and max grade 4.4%
6. 1.7 mi 358 ft 4.2%: Starting mile 48.2 – avg grade 4.2% and max grade 8.6%
7. 4.1 mi 1,066 ft 4.8%: Starting mile 75.8 – avg grade 4.8% and max grade 7.6%
8. 1.1 mi 203 ft 3.1%: Starting mile 90.3 – avg grade 3.1% and max grade 5.1%

DESCENTS

With seven sections that qualified worthy of a “descent,” athletes saw max grades of -12.1%

1. 4.2 mi 687 ft -2.7% Starting mile 20.9 – avg grade -2.7% and max grade -4.4%
2. 1.4 mi 268 ft -3.1% Starting mile 40.2 – avg grade -2.6% and max grade -4.5%
3. 1.2 mi 391 ft -6.1%: Starting mile 53.5 – avg grade -5.9% and max grade -8.6%
4. 7.1 mi 1,774 ft -5.5%: Starting mile 68.7 – avg grade -5.5% and max grade -12.1%
5. 0.9 mi 147 ft -3.8%: Starting mile 79.9 – avg grade -3.8% and max grade -4.7%
6. 7.7 mi 1,766 ft -3.9%: Starting mile 82.3 – avg grade -3.9% and max grade -9.4%
7. 10.4 mi 1,950 ft -2.9%: Starting mile 91.7 – avg grade -2.9% and max grade -10.8%

#1 Laura Philipp: 5:02:25

• Speed Machine: Canyon Speedmax CFR
• Drivetrain: Shimano with SRM
• Aerobars: Canyon Custom
• Wheels: Swissside Disc / 800 front
• Pedals: Wahoo Aero
• Ceramicspeed rear hanger: Yes

#2 Kat Matthews: 5:05:46

• Speed Machine: Canyon Speedmax CFR
• Drivetrain: Shimano 2x
• Aerobars: Canyon Custom
• Wheels: DT Swiss Disc, 1100mm front
• Pedals: Wahoo Aero
• Ceramicspeed rear hanger: Yes

#3 Marjolaine Pierré: 5:12:27

• Speed Machine: Cervelo P5 (2019 Model)
• Drivetrain: Sram 2x
• Aerobars: Stock
• Wheels: DT Swiss ARC 1100 Disc / Arc 110 front
• Pedals: Favero Assioma
• Ceramicspeed rear hanger: Yes

#4 Chelsea Sodaro: 5:15:14

• Speed Machine: Pinnarello Bolide
• Drivetrain: Shimano 2x with SRM Crank
• Aerobars: Most
• Wheels: DT Swiss ARC 1100 Disc / Arc 110 front
• Pedals: Shimano
• Ceramicspeed rear hanger: Yes

#5 Nikki Bartlett: 5:17:42

• Speed Machine: Cervelo P5 (2019)
• Drivetrain: Shimano 2x w/Rotor Crank
• Aerobars: Drag 2 Zero
• Wheels: Rolf Prima Disc / Rolf Prima EOS front
• Pedals: Look Keo
• Ceramicspeed rear hanger: No

#6 Marta Sanchez: 5:18:00

• Speed Machine: Cervleo p5 (2019)
• Drivetrain: Shimano 2x
• Aerobars: Custom
• Wheels: Hed Disc/ Speedsix Ultra light front
• Pedals: Favero Assioma
• Ceramicspeed rear hanger: Yes

#7 Penny Slater: 5:18:36

• Speed Machine: TREK Speed Concept
• Drivetrain: Sram 2x
• Aerobars: Drag 2 Zero
• Wheels: DT Swiss ARC 1100 Disc / Arc 110 front
• Pedals: Shimano
• Ceramicspeed rear hanger: No

#8 Lotte Wilms: 5:22:02

• Speed Machine: Strorck Zeitjaeger
• Drivetrain: Shimano 2x
• Aerobars: Sync Aerobar One
• Wheels:  Xentis Mark4 5-spoke
• Pedals: Favero Assioma
• Ceramicspeed rear hanger: No

#9 Merle Brunnèe: 5:23:44

• Speed Machine: CUBE Aerium
• Drivetrain: Shimano 2x / Rotor Crank
• Aerobars: 3D printed
• Wheels: Citec disc/ 83 Front
• Pedals: Favero Assioma
• Ceramicspeed rear hanger: No

#10 Daniela Bleymehl: 5:23:50

• Speed Machine: Scott Plasma 6
• Drivetrain: Shimano SRM
• Aerobars: Rad Sport Ibet
• Wheels: Princeton Blur 633 Disc Wake 6560 Front
• Pedals: Shimano
• Ceramicspeed rear hanger: Yes

The post IMWC Nice: Women’s Top 10 Finishing Bike Splits first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

SuperTri kicked off its 1st of 5 races last week in Boston. Luxembourg’s Jeanne Lehair and Great Britain’s Alex Yee claimed victories. Lehair got redemption after a disappointing Olympic Games. Yee defeated his friendly rival, Hayden Wilde, in dramatic fashion, crossing his arms as he crossed the finish line replicating the same move Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe is famous for. It looked like Wilde took exception to the celebration, although the two congratulated each other shortly after. Some in the triathlon community seem to have not liked the move either but I would welcome some more personality into our sport. You see players in major sports leagues celebrate for a lot less (sometimes for a routine play that takes a handful of seconds). Our athletes are incredible. It is okay to show some emotion!

Stop two on the SuperTri tour stayed in the United States, as athletes took to Chicago’s lakefront to do battle. The race paired with the Chicago Triathlon, which welcomed more than 8,000 age group athletes over the weekend. The women’s race came down to five athletes on the final run. Olivia Mathias and Taylor Spivey used short chutes to edge ahead and try to chase down the victory. It was Great Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown, however, who eventually caught the leading duo and would go on to take the win. Olympic Champion Cassandra Beaugrand moved up for 2nd. America’s Taylor Spivey held on for 3rd. Taylor-Brown said, “It’s really nice to be back on top. I forgot what it’s like to lift the tape. It’s a nice feeling but it’s so hot out here. All the girls did incredible.” Spivey added, “It feels so good. I always seem to get 4th place so just being in the top-3 is really satisfying.”

Short chutes and penalties were the story in the men’s race. Wilde and Vasco Vilaca separated themselves at the start of the final run, utilizing their short chutes, while two of Tim Don’s Podium Racing athletes had to serve penalties. Wilde encouraged Vilaca to take a turn at the front towards the end of the first of two laps. Vilaca, appearing to be at his upper limit, could not go to the front and Wilde carried on ahead of him. That move proved to be decisive, as Wilde built a small lead from there and crossed the line first. France’s Leo Bergere passed Vilaca late to finish in the runner-up spot. Vilaca rounded out the podium, after missing the time cut in last week’s race. Wilde was excited to get the win saying, “(I’m) Super stoked to be finally back on top. It’s been a long time.” He said he changed his tactics from last week & committed to a more conservative race strategy, with less time spent off of the front of the race.

Women’s Race

Temperatures approached nearly ninety degrees fahrenheit for today’s race. The water temperature was in the mid-seventies and some wind created choppy swim conditions in Lake Michigan. Competing on home soil, Kirsten Kasper led out the swim and secured a short chute for Stars & Stripes Racing. Beaugrand and Taylor-Brown, teammates, pushed the pace on a very technical bike course, traversing the lakefront path. Leonie Periault fell behind the pace early. Brownlee Racing picked up the second short chute. Mathias and Jessica Fullagar got onto the run first. Several of the pre-race favorites worked their way back into the main group. Beaugrand picked up the final short chute for Crown Racing and created a small gap heading into the second swim leg. Nine athletes were separated by ten seconds heading onto the second bike leg. Mathias, Beaugrand, and Spivey were given the short chutes by their team captains. Brownlee Racing had to decide between Beth Potter and Mathias.

A group of four athletes were all in contention on the final bike leg. It looked like the winner would come out of a group consisting of Mathias, Taylor-Brown, Spivey, and Fullagar. Mathias and Spivey took their short chutes to gap Fullagar and Taylor-Brown by a few seconds at the start of the final run leg. Beaugrand moved up into 5th place, leading the chase pack. Taylor-Brown quickly closed down the gap and moved into the lead. Mathias and Spivey tucked in and let her dictate the pace. The pace proved to be too much for the pair and Taylor-Brown moved clear of them. A hard closing Beaugrand came through for second but she ran out of the needed real estate to catch Taylor-Brown, who won the race. Spivey rounded out the podium in 3rd.

Men’s Race

Similar to last week’s opening swim leg, this week started with what we might call a full contact swim leg. Matt Hauser and Chase McQueen led out of the water and went back and forth several times, pushing and shoving each other, trying to get the first short chute. McQueen struggled to locate his bike in transition and Hauser took the first short chute for Podium Racing. One of the announcer’s remarked that “bumping is racing.” Vilaca picked up the next short chute after the first bike leg. Eleven men were within eight seconds of the lead. Notably, Alex Yee was not in that group. Wilde, wanting to keep things that way, pushed the pace on the first run and grabbed the final short chute for Crown Racing.

The second iteration of swim-bike-run saw Yee continue to fall off of the pace. He now trailed by more than twenty seconds. Tim Hellwig went down on the bike, into a hay bale, but was able to get right back onto the group. A large group of eight were all within contention heading into the final swim. Kenji Nener reached the bike first but the group quickly reeled him in. It was going to come down to a run battle. Tim Don expressed frustration with Crown Racing Manager Chris McCormack, who he accused of fixing Wilde’s bike chain in transition and tending to a bike shoe issue for a different athlete. Wilde, who had time to put on a Red Bull hat in transition, and Vilaca took their short chutes and gapped the field at the start of the final run. Wilde and Vilaca ran together for the first of two laps. It did not look so much that Wilde increased the pace but that Vilaca had reached his limit and dropped back. Wilde took the win. Bergere moved up to finish second. Vilaca rounded out the podium with a hard fought third place finish.

(Not so) Quick Take: Today’s race, just like last week’s, was entertaining. We are getting to see some of the best short course triathletes trade blows in a fast paced environment. The first two races have taken place in large US cities but, in general, away from where people live. The Chicago lakefront is actually somewhat difficult to get to. You have to cross a major highway (Lakeshore Drive) to get to where the race was. It can be difficult to find parking on the lakefront. The race course did not pass any residences. There seemed to be people around the start and finish but a lot of the course looked empty. I do not know what the fix is because there would not be a clean body of water to swim in other than Lake Michigan in Chicago proper. It looked like many age group racers passed on staying for the race. When you have professionals compete at the same time as age groupers you benefit from all of their family and friends attending the event. Watching today’s race I, again, thought to myself that this format is made for television and that a casual sports fan could watch on a summer in August, without a lot of other options to choose from. I watched it on TriathlonLive. There is still a sign-up requirement to watch through SuperTri directly. SuperTri can help grow the sport. It just feels like a little something is missing. More people should be seeing these incredible athletes racing like this right after the Olympics.

Photos: SuperTri

The post Taylor-Brown, Wilde Win SuperTri Chicago first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

The beautiful capital city of Tallinn, Estonia, played host to the IRONMAN 70.3 European Championships today. Stacked fields, consisting of athletes contending for the Pro Series and athletes transitioning from short course to long course, looked to make their mark on the race. Athletes were greeted by unseasonably warm temperatures that reached eighty degrees fahrenheit and winds that reached twenty miles per hour. This led to a healthy number of athletes not being able to finish the race. It was Greece’s Panagiotis Bitados on the men’s side and Germany’s Caroline Pohle on the women’s side who would prevail.

Bitados was a surprise winner but does have a pair of wins in 2024. After the race he said, “That’s the point for me to enjoy, to finish safe, and to push everything of my body, and for me I am happy for myself, and that’s the goal for me. So I am happy today.” He tried to do each discipline at a high level and was happy that his run came through today. Asked what comes next he added, “Training, and then training.”

Pohle was much less of a surprise on the women’s side but did well to hold off her challengers. Known as a strong swimmer, it was her bike and run that solidified her result today. She tells us, “I’m absolutely speechless. At the moment I think it’s just a dream. I worked so hard the last month and today it pays off the hard work the last month so, yeah, I’m absolutely speechless and happy and proud of myself.” Pohle continued, “I played my cards at the swim and at the bike. I tried to push hard from the beginning. I hoped for a good run and worked really hard on my run performance the last month.”

Men's Race Recap

Germany’s Hannes Butters led out the swim in 21:07. That was enough to put a small gap on the rest of the field. Great Britain’s Sam Dickinson, who you might know as Alex Yee’s sherpa for the Paris Olympics, came out of the water in second in 21:36. Dickinson was second at 70.3 Bahrain in 2022 in his only other start at the distance. Marc Dubrick, Jelle Geens, Panagiotis Bitados, Kevin McDowell, Kacper Stepniak, and Justus Nieschlag, all joined Dickinson up front. The main chase pack included names like Joao Pereira, Antony Costes, Peter Heemeryck, Leonard Arnold, and Robert Kallin. The Tallinn bike course is fast and flat. Butters maintained an early lead over the field. Kallin bridged up to the chase pack by halfway and then to the front of the race with 15km left to go. Kallin would only be able to gap Butters by thirty seconds heading into T2. The rest of the field, however, was much further back. Kallin had distanced them by four minutes.

Germany’s Leonard Arnold was the only person within three minutes of the leading duo. Arnold moved into the lead of the run early, with Kallin falling back. By the 10k mark, however, Bitados had moved all the way through the field and into the lead. Arnold was in second. Geens, one of the strongest runners in the field, was one minute back in third. From there, Bitados’ lead would only grow. He pumped up the crowd down the finishing chute, as he broke the tape in 3:36:09, splitting 1:09:18 on the run. Arnold and Geens would hang on for second and third respectively.

TOTAL SWIM BIKE RUN
1 Bitados, Panagiotis 3:36:09 21:46 2:02:49 1:09:18
2 Arnold, Leonard 3:36:45 23:06 1:59:58 1:11:04
3 Geens, Jelle 3:39:13 21:45 2:03:00 1:12:20
4 Stepniak, Kacper 3:39:52 21:50 2:02:53 1:13:04
5 Nieschlag, Justus 3:41:57 21:52 2:02:58 1:14:46

Women’s Race Recap

Germany’s Caroline Pohle took control of the race from the start and would lead wire to wire. She put approximately forty seconds on the main swim pack, which included Marta Sanchez, Kate Curran, Pamalla Oliveira, Sif Madsen, Lauren Brandon, Luisa Prat, and Grace Thek. You know that you swam well if you can put that much time into some of the strongest swimmers in the sport. Lisa Norden, Kaidi Kivioja, Kat Matthews, Maja Stage Nielsen, and Tamara Jewett were a little further back but still in contention. Pohle did not wait for anyone to catch her on the bike. She led by ninety seconds at halfway. Madsen and Matthews had broken away to form a small chase pack. Norway’s Solveig Lovseth rode in between them and a larger chase pack. Pohle’s lead would grow to more than two minutes, with only the three aforementioned women within striking distance.

The only question that remained was if Matthews could run Pohle down? Pohle maintained her lead early in the run and then her lead began to grow over the second half. Matthews was seen taking water and ice at pretty much every aid station. The conditions were clearly playing a role in deterring her comeback attempt. Pohle would not come under any pressure on the run, clocking a superb 1:20:17 run split in warm conditions to take the win. Matthews would have to settle for second. Lovseth rounded out the podium in third. Thek and Curran used strong runs to move up to take fourth and fifth place respectively.

TOTAL SWIM BIKE RUN
1 Pohle, Caroline 3:59:40 25:10 2:11:50 1:20:17
2 Matthews, Kat 4:02:39 26:20 2:12:46 1:20:55
3 Lovseth, Solveig 4:05:56 27:12 2:12:44 1:23:23
4 Thek, Grace 4:08:23 25:54 2:18:55 1:20:42
5 Curran, Kate 4:09:35 25:49 2:18:44 1:22:28

Quick Takes

Quick Take #1 – Caroline Pohle was excellent today. It is not easy to go wire to wire and beat someone as good as Kat Matthews by three minutes. Matthews will not be happy not being able to take full points in the Pro Series. This looks to be Pohle’s best run result of her career. It also came on a warm day, not meant for personal bests. Pohle will only be harder to beat moving forward if she is able to replicate this kind of a run performance. It is not easy to run well, after being off the front of the race all day.

Quick Take #2 – Panagiotis Bitados is ranked 101 by World Triathlon. He was 8th at the Hong Kong World Cup earlier in the year, one spot ahead of Matthew McElroy. He is now three for three this season at the half distance, winning Challenge Walchsee and 70.3 Kraichgau earlier in the year. He took down some strong competition in those races utilizing a similar blueprint. He is a front pack swimmer and excellent runner. If his bike keeps him close enough to the leaders then he is going to be a threat in any race he enters. We do not know what is next for him except for, of course, more training.

Quick Take #3 – Let’s not be quick to anoint short course Olympians at long course. Geens and Lovseth both took 3rd today. McDowell was 19th. Dickinson was 20th. Bitados is more of a hybrid athlete, crossing over into both formats. This is not meant to put short course athletes down but to simply acknowledge how good long course racing has gotten. The bike is so difficult now that it does require specific training to figure out how to put a good run together. It will be interesting to see how more athletes perform who make the move after this Olympic cycle.

Photos: Brit Maria Tael for IRONMAN

The post Bitados and Pohle Take 70.3 European Crowns in Tallinn first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

2,000 riders will descend upon Lincoln, Nebraska this weekend for the various events at Garmin Gravel Worlds 2024. The main event, the 150 mile race, has (as of this writing) 269 entrants, with 63 of them the Elite/Pro fields.

Those Elite fields will compete for a primary prize purse of $30,000 — $15,000 each to men and women, with winners taking home $5,000. The Women’s field also has a $10,000 bonus purse, awarded as a $500 prime to each pro woman that makes it to Checkpoint 2 ahead of the general field. (Pro/Elite women start 25 minutes in front of the General field).

Unlike other gravel events, Garmin Gravel Worlds is fully self-supported — no drop bags, no outside support, no ditching equipment midway through the ride. There are two checkpoint aid stations with fluid refills and food and that’s it. It’s a run what you brung, pack in pack out type of operation.

The pro fields feature some heavy hitting names. On the men’s side, Peter Stetina could be considered the headliner, but defending champion John Borstelmann may have something to say about that, with other names including Zach Allison, Barrett Brandon, Ryan Standish, and Brennan Wertz. The women’s group including former Unbound champion Lauren De Crescenzo, Whitney Allison, Emma Grant, Angela Naeth, Emily Newsom, and Lauren Stephens. Find the full list of pro entrants here.

Live coverage of the race will take place here on Slowtwitch. Check our homepage all day on Saturday, August 26th, for a continual live broadcast starting with the men’s elite start at 6:55 AM Eastern / 3:55 Pacific. Commentators during the elite race are Amanda Nauman, Bill Schieken, Matt Lieto, and Dede Griesbauer. Once the elite race has ended, the broadcast will switch to a live feed of the finish line for the remainder of the 150 mile event.

The post Garmin Gravel Worlds: Exclusive Live Coverage on Slowtwitch first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

The Olympics are over and SuperTri is back. The four teams have been rebranded as Brownlee, Crown, Podium, and Stars and Stripes Racing. Today’s race took place in Boston, Massachusetts, paired with a longstanding event that saw age groupers race earlier in the day.

Sixteen athletes took to the start line in the women’s race, which consisted of three “mini” triathlons back to back to back. It was Luxembourg’s Jeanne Lehair who emerged victorious. The race came down to four women, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Kate Waugh, Taylor Spivey, and Lehair, on the final run leg. Lehair blazed ahead of the others just past the 50:00 mark. Lehair was a DNF at the Olympics and said after the race that “It was a bit of frustration from Paris in my run today.”

The men’s race, similarly, came down to a run battle. Just like a couple weeks ago in Paris, Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde ran neck and neck in the closing minutes of the race. Wilde had a small lead on Yee early in the final run leg but Yee worked his way back to the New Zealand athlete to move into the lead. The race leader would change again just 30 seconds later. Wilde stayed on Yee’s shoulder and passed him back. Would Yee be able to respond? The answer was a resounding yes, as 20 seconds later Yee would hit the lead again and sprint to victory. He crossed the finish line with his arms crossed, which left Wilde visibly upset. After the race Yee said that, “We want SuperTri to be exciting.” Today’s races definitely checked that box. Wilde, when asked about being so close to victory, immediately cut in and said, “Close isn’t good enough.”

Women’s Race:

Brazil’s Vittoria Lopes led out the women’s race and picked up the first short chute for Podium Racing. For those new to SuperTri, short chutes are awarded at different points in the race to the leaders’ team. The team captain (manager) can then pick any athlete on their team who can cut a small part of the run course later in the race. Most of the 16 person field stayed together through the first bike leg, with American Katie Zaferes being the only one to fall off of the pace. Brownlee Racing picked up the second short chute. A small group of 5 edged ahead on the run, leaving Olympic Champion, Cassandra Beaugrand, with the chasers. Georgia Taylor-Brown was the main aggressor, pushing the pace at the front of the race. Taylor-Brown and compatriot Kate Waugh led out the second swim, with Lehair closeby. American Taylor Spivey also bridged up to the front pack. The lead group whittled down to 5 on the second bike leg and then down to 4 after the second run leg.

The winner was going to come out of the lead group consisting of Taylor-Brown, Waugh, Spivey, and Lehair. That group would come out of the water together on the final swim. Lehair was last to get on the bike, opting to run with her bike a little longer before hopping onto it to avoid the tight first corner coming out of transition. The two Crown Racing athletes, Taylor-Brown and Waugh, attacked on the bike right as Spivey went for a sip from her bottle and opened up a small gap on her and Lehair. Lehair looked to be falling off of the back. Spivey managed to hang onto their wheels and emerged in first after the final transition. Taylor-Brown and Waugh were right behind her. Lehair was 6 seconds back but had a short chute to use. Taylor-Brown moved into the lead. It looked like it could be her day but then Lehair, utilizing her short chute, pulled even with her. Lehair made a hard move at the 50:00 mark and the race was effectively over. Taylor-Brown looked behind to see where Waugh and Spivey were. Lehair, possibly running on some anger after her disappointing Olympics, pulled away and even had time for some high fives at the finish line. Taylor-Brown finished in 2nd. Waugh was 3rd and Spivey was 4th. France’s Leonie Periault, who had been running great all day, moved up to take 5th. Beaugrand finished well off the pace in 8th.

Men’s Race:

The first 100m of the swim made triathlon look more like a combat sport instead of an endurance event, with athletes jostling for position. Matt Hauser beat Max Stapley out of the water to pick up the first short chute. The first bike leg went to plan for most athletes, with 14 of the 16 starters within 6 seconds of the lead. The first run started to break the field up a little, as Hayden Wilde and Alex Yee hit the front of the race. A group of 7, including Yee, Wilde, Hauser, Vincent Luis, Tim Hellwig, Dorian Coninx, and Sergio Baxter, emerged from the next swim leg in the front pack. Wilde made the next bike leg difficult on the others and, at first, dropped two riders. He could not find any solidarity among the other leaders, as nobody else wanted to take a pull at the front of the race. That allowed the two dropped riders, Hellwig and Hauser, to latch back onto the group. Hauser would lose contact with the group on the next run leg and then the race was down to six athletes.

Coninx picked up a 5 second penalty for not putting his goggles into his box at the end of the final swim leg. Wilde was definitely trying to inject some pace into the final bike leg but he, again, had no takers to share the work and the pack was content to let the final run leg decide things. Yee had a bad transition, struggling to rack his bike, and came out of the final transition in 6th. Coninx used his short chute to move into first but still had to serve his penalty, which he did take halfway through the run. That dropped him from 1st to 5th. Wilde took over the lead. Yee had moved all the way up from 6th to 2nd. At the 48:00 mark, Yee pulled even with Wilde. The two would trade blows from there to the finish line. Yee went ahead of Wilde first but that move was only good for 30 seconds. Wilde passed back and injected more pace into the run. It was not enough to shake Yee, as he would be passed 20 seconds later. Yee charged to the finish and seemed to let up a couple steps before the finish to cross his arms in celebration. The two shook hands shortly after but Wilde seemed unhappy with the celebration choice. Wilde said after the race that it was a shame that some of the other boys did not want to share the work and that he has been seeing too many silvers in the last couple of weeks. It would be nice to get gold in Chicago. We will see if he can do one place better next weekend.

Not so Quick Take: I have been covering a lot of different races for SlowTwitch this summer and SuperTri, perhaps, seems like one of the most compelling formats to take to mainstream viewers. I do not know why today’s race was buried on Triathlonlive or a sign-up link on the SuperTri website. SuperTri racing is exciting from start to finish. Its fast and furious racing style, with real time statistics and tracking, should appeal to casual fans. You can shut down a small area of a major city and really put out a great product. Obviously Formula 1 is not a fair comparison for triathlon but my mother-in-law, who is not the biggest sports fan, watches it and is fascinated by all the little things they detail for their audience, like tire pressure and type of tire. There is no reason a stream like this cannot dive into equipment selection that casual fans would understand. Are athletes using clear or tinted goggles? Are they wearing a wetsuit? What tire pressure are they using? What kind of tires do they have on their bikes? What super shoes are they wearing?

My mother-in-law is also a huge fan of the Olympics. This window that we are currently in only exists once every four years. A lot of people just watched Yee and Beaugrand win gold. There is no reason a series like this cannot have a Sunday afternoon time slot on a real network at a time of year when some of the major sports are in their offseasons. I would love for everyone to sit down and watch an 8 hour IRONMAN with me but it is much more realistic to pull folks in with a race like this. Both races were full of excitement today. Both gold medalists were on the start line, racing right after the Olympics. There has to be some sort of pathway to get more eyes on the sport. I think there is an opportunity in front of us, right now, with SuperTri.

Photos: SuperTri

The post Lehair Gets Paris Redemption, Yee Over Wilde at SuperTri Boston first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

For someone coming off of the Olympics simply hoping to validate for the IRONMAN World Championship, Kristian Blummenfelt had himself a day in Frankfurt. The Norwegian superstar was coy in his pre-race remarks about his chances of winning today’s race. Blummenfelt said: “Last week we had a mixed relay in Paris. So, it's like almost 10 days ago, and that's like a 20-minute race versus seven hours, 40 minutes or eight hours – it's a completely different energy system.” It was not unrealistic to think that Blummenfelt would have his hands full with such a strong field assembled. As the race progressed, however, Blummenfelt was always near the front. The strongest swimmers in the field were not able to get any separation, as he came out of the water in the lead group. Uber-biker Kristian Hogenhaug built a small lead in the back half of the ride. Blummenfelt was in a perfect position in the chase pack and would run into the lead before the 10k mark. From there, the only question was if he would set the fastest marathon split ever recorded in an IRONMAN. In the end, he would clock a 2:32, good for the 3rd fastest split all-time, only behind two marks held by Patrick Lange. Blummenfelt crossed the finish line in 7:27:21, setting an IRONMAN Frankfurt course record.

After his stellar performance, Blummenfelt said, “I’m quite surprised. I felt I came in with really not much preparation, really lack of riding the TT bike, barely done any long runs. I was realistically thinking go out as normal and expect the wall to hit me quite early on the bike.” Blummenfelt would go on to say that at the 160k point of the ride he realized he was towards the front of the race and could run for the podium if he was feeling good. It was clear that that was the case, as he reached the lead quickly and went on to win by nearly 5 minutes over a class field. Kieran Lindars, donning bib number forty-eight, was a surprise 2nd. Gregory Barnaby came 3rd. Blummenfelt reasoned that he might have trained a bit too heavy on the aerobic capacity side of things heading into Paris versus training his speed. He can now put his Olympic campaign behind him and look forward to trying to win for the first time in Kona – maybe the only thing missing from his very impressive resume.

Race Recap

The European Championships attracted a strong field, looking to secure Pro Series points at the final full distance race on the calendar aside from Kona. An $87,500 prize purse and 6 Kona slots were on the line today. Germany’s Wilhelm Hirsch led out the swim in 45:51 on home soil. Pristine conditions at Langer Waldsee did not allow the stronger swimmers to build any sort of lead heading into T1. Hirsch towed another 15 competitors with him to the front of the swim. Plenty of big names were in the main group including Menno Koolhaas, Braden Currie, Kristian Blummenfelt, Gregory Barnaby, and Kieran Lindars. The chase pack, led by Robert “The Wolf” Wilkowiecki was 2:00 in arrears. That group included Paul Schuster, Kristian Hogenhaug, and Clement Mignon. Patrick Lange, Pro Series Leader Matt Hanson, and Jackson Laundry were 4:00 back. Sam Long and Trevor Foley were 7:00 back.

By the halfway point of the bike, Kristian Hogenhaug had reached the lead and had begun to put time into everyone else. Hogenhaug was in control of a Kona Qualification deep into IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz just a month ago, before seeing the slot slip away in the closing kilometers of the run. Would he be able to better hold things together this time around? He played the card he had and made the bike difficult on the chasers. He would increase his lead to 2:00 by 112k and to nearly 3:00 at the bike finish. He split a 3:57:09 for the 180k ride. Ruben Zepuntke came off the bike next, 2:44 behind Hogenhaug. Blummenfelt led the main chase group off next, close to 5:00 behind Hogenhaug. Blummenfelt’s group included Barnaby and Lindars. Koolhaas was nearly 10 minutes down. Lange and Hanson were 12 minutes back. Long rode a surprising 4:09:05, 25th fastest in the field, to come in 17 minutes behind the leader. Foley was more than 24 minutes back and eventually DNF.

The 4 lap run course was perfectly flat. Temperatures reached 70 degrees, with some humidity. Conditions were far from perfect but Blummenfelt looked like he might break 2:30 halfway through the run. He caught Hogenhaug before 10k and did not look back from there. He would go on to run 2:32 and set a new Frankfurt course record. Lindars ran into 2nd place. You could see the raw emotion on his face in the closing kilometer and how much this performance meant to him. Barnaby rounded out the podium in 3rd. Hogenhaug would hang on for 4th and earn that coveted Kona slot. Koolhaas ran 2:35 to move up to 5th. Lange wound up 8th but importantly finished ahead of Hanson in 14th. The two were running together at the 25k mark, before Hanson fell off of the pace. This result could have major implications in the Pro Series standings.

Top 5 Results

TOTAL SWIM BIKE RUN
1 Blummenfelt, Kristian 7:27:21 46:06 4:03:14 2:32:29
2 Lindars, Kieran 7:32:14 46:29 4:03:26 2:37:05
3 Barnaby, Gregory 7:33:44 46:15 4:03:33 2:38:53
4 Hogenhaug, Kristian 7:35:32 47:57 3:57:09 2:45:13
5 Koolhaas, Menno 7:35:51 45:55 4:08:36 2:35:54

Quick Takes

QT #1: Kristian Blummenfelt is my favorite for Kona. He might have sand bagged a bit before this race but he still took down a class field by 5 minutes and should only get better with a couple months of specific training. We might get to witness something truly special in October when we add in a few other big names into the mix. Rumors have been swirling about a move to professional cycling for Blummenfelt. Kona is the one thing he has not won in triathlon. He is going to want to win there before moving on (if that’s what he chooses to do).

QT #2: Be honest, where would you have slotted in Lindars pre-race? Maybe top-20 or top-30? Very few would have put him in the top-10, let alone 2nd to arguably the best long course triathlete of the last few years. Lindars had some strong results last year, including a 2nd place finish at the prestigious full distance race Challenge Almere, where he more or less crawled to the finish line after pushing it to his upper limits. He had not found the same success this season but showed up to this race with a great attitude. He spoke post race about not having the same resources as some of the top guys. He couldn’t escape the rainy season to go train somewhere warm and took the morning rain as a sign that he was ready to perform in these conditions. He talked about how he has assembled a team of volunteers who guide and support him. He started with bib number 48 and is now heading to Kona. What a ride!

QT #3: Gregory Barnaby has been quietly putting together a strong 2024. He was 3rd at 70.3 Mallorca, 8th at IRONMAN Cairns, and 10th at T100 London. Add in today’s 3rd and he has been a model of consistency this season.

QT #4: It was great to see Kristian Hogenhuag bounce back today after losing a Kona slot late at IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz just a month ago. The Kona bike record is officially on watch.

QT #5: Max Neumann was unfortunately a DNS so he has not qualified for Kona. Will IRONMAN exercise its Wild Card Policy on Neumann or anybody else this cycle?

QT #6: We will do a story on the IRONMAN Pro Series next week. Today was the last race to score points at the full distance, outside of Kona. Lange finishing ahead of Hanson is significant. Foley’s DNF is significant. Long finishing 22nd basically takes him out of contention. Look for a deep dive into the Pro Series standings and how we see things shaking out as we approach championship season.

Photos: Getty Images for IRONMAN

The post Blummenfelt Validates with Big Win in Frankfurt first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

I rely a lot on BicycleRollingResistance.com. But a drum roller like the one BRR uses is only a proxy for tire speed and is limited in what it can tell you. For example, it’s a good process for sussing out who’s got the best “compound” (tread material) and who makes a good casing.

On a drum roller a 28c tire will outperform its 25c cousin every day and twice on Tuesday when the tires on the testing unit are pumped to identical pressures, but the casing on that 28c tire at that higher pressure is too stiff to be fast on the road. So you take air out of the 28c tire to normalize. Drum rollers are not just terrible, but worthless, at helping you choose your optimal tire pressure.

What are you normalizing for when you take air out of a 28c tire to reach its ideal pressure? Casing tension. You want the same casing tension in the 25c tire as the 28c tire, the 30c and 32c tire, and each wider tire needs a correspondingly lower pressure. One way to know how much to depressurize a larger tire is to use a proxy for casing tension, and one such proxy is what people call “sag” or “drop”. This is how much the tire sinks down when its rider hops aboard. Frank Berto’s data from the 1990s still holds up for high-quality, supple tires: The drop should be 15% of the measured width (assuming we’re taking really high quality, supple tires). But measuring drop is hard. Here’s the easy way to identify the right pressure: Attach yourself to an online air tire pressure calculator you trust and follow that calculator’s guidance. (More on which calculator below.)

Why a wider road tire is more comfortable

At face value it might seem that a wider tire should be no more comfortable (nor should it be faster) than a thinner tire, because the wider tire is depressurized to hit that optimal casing tension and be its “best self.” But there’s more to it. One way to look at a wider tire is to think of it as a shock absorber. The larger volume in a wider tire is like a shock with a longer stanchion. It can suck up more positive space (bumps, rocks) above the road as the tire rolls overtop, and the “preload” (remember that 15% drop?) is better able to fill negative space (holes in the road).

Why a wider road tire is faster

What makes the tire more comfortable – explained above – also makes it faster. But even on smooth roads the prevailing theory concerns the shape of the contact patch. A narrower tire has a more oval patch, longer front to back, narrower in width. The shape of that patch generates more friction than the rounder contact patch formed by the wider tire.

So, why not just make the tire really wide? For us oldster today’s road tires already are. For the last 15 years of the 20th century a 20mm tire was considered by many the fastest TT tire. The tires ridden today in road races (from 29mm to 31mm measured) and more increasingly in time trials or triathlons (29mm measured) are already 50 percent wider than they were back then and pressures, instead of being in the 120psi or 130psi range, are now often in the mid-50s psi. But the rolling resistance value of the wider tire isn’t infinite. You get a little less benefit every time you go wider. The Crr savings of a 34mm-wide tire over a 32mm tire is much less than a 28mm tire over a 26mm tire.

While Crr savings when you go wider diminish, the extra width is absolute and there is a point where the weight of the wider tire and even more so the aerodynamics of the wider tire overwhelm the rolling resistance savings. Where is that point where the aero and weight penalties forestall going wider?

What is the optimal tire width for road and TT?

What is the optimal tire size for road racing? This is a moving target for sure! One very clued-in observer, a former professional cyclist who now manages the careers of top athletes said to me last week, “Now when I look at a 28mm tire it seems skinny.” To me, the really stunning event of 2024 was Tadej Pogacar winning the Giro on a 28c tire during the road stages and then winning the Tour on what is reported to be a 30c version of that tire. I think we’re at the point where 28c is the thinnest tire that makes sense in road racing and draft-legal triathlon.

For tri and TT? A very popular combo these days in pure TT is 25c front and 28c rear. The idea is that a 28c system is faster, so use it when aero is of less importance. Use the 25c in the front. But this is easier on a TT than on a tri bike, where you probably don’t want to carry spares in 2 sizes. For tri, it is my guess that many or most of us will be riding 28c on equipment we’re buying new between now and 2 years from now.

Just, let us for a moment revisit the topic of pressures. We can’t really think of riding wider tires until we settle on a process for choosing the right pressure. I referenced the Silca calculator. The other end of the spectrum is the Rene Herse calculator which, like the Silca tire pressure calculator, is based on roll-down testing. You’ll note the Rene Herse values are quite a bit lower, as in, 10 to 15psi lower. (Rene Herse claims that Pogacar uses the Rene Herse pressure calculator values as guidance.)

How do you square the difference between 2 calculators that were constructed using the same process? I don’t know. In my own rolldown testing I come up with values more in line with Silca for these wider tires. It’s at that Silca calculator pressure my tire rolls down the hill fastest, but only by a minor amount and when I ride at those higher pressures on my local roads I get the livin’ jeebus beat out of me. So for my own riding I favor a lower pressure and in the loops I ride I’m actually faster at the lower pressure. Your best pressure might depend on how much abuse you can take; or how much vibration absorption there is in your equipment. In any case just note the for a 28c or 30c tire the optimal pressures are low, as in, the right pressure might be 75psi (that pressure in a 28c tire is makes for a hard tire!) and it might be 55psi but whatever it is it’s lower than you’re used to riding if triathlon is your activity.

How Systems Inform Ideal Tire Width

Here’s a by-product of disc brakes in road and tri bikes: You can run whatever fork blade width and shape you want, and you can do whatever you want to the rear triangle of the bike because you don’t need a rim brake caliper anywhere. This has led to bikes that have grown wider but remained aero and this even includes track bikes that have no brakes. (Did you see those wild Lotus bikes the UK team was riding on the velodrome in the Paris Olympics?) Blades, stays and wheels are all free to live their best individual aero lives. Wheels have changed as well because their designers are not burdened by rim braking surfaces. As a result the wheel/tire combo can become wider without an aero penalty (or with a very slight penalty that is more than compensated for by the faster rolling tire).

Here's what this means for TT and tri: If your bike, and your wheel, is optimized for a 25c tire your fastest tire is probably that size. If your wheel and, ideally, the bike the wheel goes into is optimized for a 28c tire then the fastest tire is 28c. If you are riding a late model Canyon Speedmax, a current model Trek Speed Concept, BMC or Cervelo P5, these bikes are either optimized for 28c or they are can at least be ridden with 28c tires with no penalty that flows from the design of the bike itself. Likewise, certain wheelsets are designed around 28c and Zipp is one obvious example.

I have never seen tire size as a driver of bike design. Until now. Whether for road, tri or gravel riders – and because of this bike designers – start with one design input that is paramount and can’t be ignored: tire size (which is tire width but also tire height, as wider tires are also taller tires). Riders choose their tire size and this allows or disqualifies the wheel; and likewise the bike that best mates with that wheel. Tires are growing wider and they’re doing so at a faster clip than I’ve ever seen. Pogacar, for his road races, appears to have graduated from 25c to 28c to 30c inside of about a year. I can’t tell you for sure where it’ll end up in 5 years. But I don’t think 28c for tri and 30c for road is a bad bet, especially when the entire bike is optimized for these tire sizes.

The post Why Wider Tires Are Faster and More Comfortable first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Nearly 2000 registered athletes took the stage for the 30th anniversary of the epic bike race through the high elevation of the Colorado Rockies. With over 12,000 feet of elevation gain, getting to the peak of 12,600, athletes learn really quickly if they have pushed themselves too hard going up Columbine.

The racers from 27 countries were greeted with nearly perfect weather on the day. Cloud cover early in the morning kept the early morning chill away, just long enough for the sun to come out and burn off the morning fog hanging around the first 20 miles of the course. And with light rain almost every day from the week prior, the dirt was nice and sticky for almost every tire choice athlete made.

Smiles at the start seemed to give athletes a break from the pre-race nerves. Hannah Otto and Sofia Gomez Villiafane were all smiles and fist bumps.

We caught up with Sir Willie. He was enjoying a lazy morning while Dad Alexey was out suffering.

Michaela Thompson, at mile 70ish. She would end up 3rd on the day.

Keegan Swenson added another feather in his cap with a dominating win, with a margin of victory of over 15 minutes.

From drop bars to fork holding, we are starting to see all the new tricks in aero savings.

Women's champion Melisa Rollins would later talk about how she didn't even know she had won until just before the red carpet.

Unbound winner Lachlan Morton would end up finishing 4th on the day, just out sprinting 5th place Payson McEleveen by 3 seconds.

Of course, it wouldn't be a day for us without seeing triathlon legend Heather Jackson. She continues her pursuit of dirt glory

The drop bars seemed to be a good choice for the tight sections at the bottom of Columbine.

Fellow Journalist Ben Delaney was on site getting one of the Shimano Reps to explain some of the feed station strategies.

Life Time is doubling down on the self-produced content side of the series. If you are planning on showing up with a drone, make sure you have a license and keep it low.

Shimano providing neutral support at the event.

The family cheering squads were out in force all day

Lisa Becharas from the Real Triathlon Squad was one of many current professional triathletes representing the endurance community.

I think Sofia might be telling Michaela where she made her move, or she could be super proud of her.

The post Through The Lens at Life Time Leadville Trail 100 MTB first appeared on Slowtwitch News.