If you followed along with Slowtwitch’s race coverage of IM Cairns, you know it was a stunner of a day filled with top-notch racing across the men’s and women’s pro fields.

Aussie Matt Burton won the race – after hardly being talked about as a contender beforehand – and set a new course record of 7:45:24, besting three-time champion Kiwi Braden Currie.

Kiwi Hannah Berry crossed the line in first for the women in 8:44:31 after a dominant performance on the run where she passed superbikers Lotte Wilms (NLD) and Lauren Brandon (USA) and held onto the lead all the way to the finish. Two-time champion Aussie Kylie Simpson came in third.

While the racing itself was electric, the word that kept coming up among spectators, athletes, media and the IRONMAN staff was “experience.”

During my week in Queensland I quickly learned that IM Cairns isn’t “just” a race – it is indeed an experience that extends well beyond 140.6 miles.

The Town

Cairns is one of the most convenient and walkable towns I’ve ever been to, hands down. The many hotels, shops and restaurants along the Cairns Esplanade are all within walking distance of each other – and the 50-meter pool a quick Uber ride away.

As athletes dismounted their bikes near the Esplanade and began the run portion of the race, families were able to easily give high-fives, hugs, and cheers to their athlete – and then meet them along the course again and again thanks to the four-lap run course.

When an athlete wasn’t in view, families were able to rest on the well-shaded sidewalks of the Esplanade, treating kiddos to gelato and pizza or walking the quick distance back to one of the many hotels to regroup before heading back out to cheer.

Having a town this walkable and convenient does a lot for the spirit of the race. As race day draws closer, the Esplanade grew increasingly vibrant with that indescribable nervous yet excited energy emanating from IM participants.

Athletes bumped into each other by happenstance at one of the many cafes along the Esplanade, causing tons of “Oh my gosh, I didn’t know you were racing!” exclamations to be heard up and down the main drag.

Whatever your needs and wants are pre-race, the Cairns Esplanade is almost guaranteed to have them in spades.

Plus, while athletes agonized over every detail pre-race or recovered post-race, loved ones had the world at their fingertips with available helicopter tours of and snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, a gondola ride that stretches into the Daintree Rainforest, and plenty of opportunities to safely and legally interact with the diverse flora and fauna of the region.

The Course

The IRONMAN Oceania team wasn’t lying when they told me that IM Cairns is the “race in paradise.”

I’m not one to be easily swayed by terms like that – for example, I wouldn’t exactly call Kona a race in paradise, despite its beaches, blue waters and palm trees.

The swim course at Palm Cove truly looks like a sight of Jurassic Park, with many lush, hilly islands dotting the background of the calm waters of the cove and its wide, sandy beach.

There were both athlete and spectator shuttles for the swim, so families could see their athlete off and then build sandcastles while waiting for their loved one to finish the 2.4 mile swim.

Additionally, the ~60km turnaround point of the bike course is just a few blocks from swim exit, which makes it easy to grab breakfast or a quick nap before briefly cheering your athlete on when they need it most as they head back up the hills of the Captain Cook Highway for their second bike loop.

The bike has it all – rollers, significant climbs and a healthy straightaway that’s perfect for holding aero position. The rollers and climbs follow the coastline and treat athletes to a pleasant coastal breeze (although sometimes that breeze can turn more into a gale) and breathtaking views of the North Queensland coastline before giving athletes the chance to rip it in aero on the straightaway into T2 back in town.

The flat run is a welcome change from the incessant gear changes on the bike, and by the time the bulk of age groupers were on the run course, spectators dotted it nearly three people deep on the sidelines. Cowbells and vuvuzelas and cheers could be heard blocks away as the energy reverberated from the course.

Nearly the entire run course had an insane level of support from spectators – one of the benefits of a four-lap design. Whether you were having the best race of your life or needing to take a walk break, you were among some of the best crowd support I’ve witnessed yet at an IRONMAN race.

The Experience

Watching everyone from the winning pros to the final finishers cross the line at IM Cairns reminded me that while the pros go quite a bit faster than most age groupers, the feat of completing an Iron-distance race affects us all the same.

There were plenty of happy and relieved tears shed from many of the top pro finishers, and all of them immediately looked around for their support crews to embrace them in huge hugs of gratitude.

Seeing the elite professionals shed a tear or two was so raw and meaningful; it’s good to know that no matter how many IRONMAN races they’ve done, even the pros are still in awe of the accomplishment.

Welcoming in the final finishers was no different – the same tears of joy and thankfulness, the same giant hugs lasting for minutes on end.

It is easier than ever to get caught up in the many metrics of triathlon and trapped in the comparison game thanks to social networks.

However, I must implore you to remember that at some point, we pursued this triathlon adventure for the “experience.” To feel like we’d left it all on the line – and maybe even gone beyond that line, to feel proud, to share a moment with our families and friends, to thank those who supported us when doubt was all around.

So, yes, hit your power targets and heart rate zones and give a passive aggressive Instagram “like” to that one person you’d really, really like to beat at your next race. But don’t forget that above all, reconnecting with the complete experience of a race and its journey are what will stay in your memory for the rest of your days.

Photo credits to Kristin Jenny and her mediocre iPhone camera

The post Final Thoughts on the Race in Paradise first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Pristine beaches bordering deep blue waters, lush, coastal rainforests, exotic wildlife… you might think of somewhere such as Costa Rica, Hawaii, or Thailand. In this case, you’d be wrong.

I’m talking about Cairns, Australia.

This week I have the pleasure of heading to the northeast corner of Australia, in Queensland, specifically the town of Cairns to check out all the hubbub around IM Cairns, which serves as the Asia-Pacific Championship, on June 16 (or June 15, depending on where you’ll be tuning in from).

IM Cairns Overview

This year is the 13th running of IM Cairns and is the first race in Oceania of the IRONMAN Pro Series. IM Cairns features a total $150,000 USD prize purse for professionals and four qualifying spots per gender to each respective 2024 IRONMAN World Championship for professionals.

Last year’s male and female winners are both on the start list for next weekend; three-time winner and Kiwi Braden Currie and two-time winner and born-and-raised Australian Kylie Simpson will both be hungry to add one more victory to their legacies – or best their own course records set in 2023: Currie, 7:50:11, Simpson, 8:40:53.

With powerhouse names like Sam Long (USA) and Joe Skipper (GBR) on the start list, could this be the first year in IM Cairns’ history in which a non-Kiwi or -Australian male pro finds the finish line first?

On the women’s side, Lauren Brandon (USA), Lotte Wilms (NLD), Hannah Berry (NZL) and Radka Kahlefeldt (AUS) are notable challengers to Simpson’s desire for another win, and possibly to her course record, as well.

Nearly 2,800 age groupers will compete in either IM Cairns or 70.3 Cairns (which take place on the same day) on Sunday, as well, swimming in the rolling waters at Palm Cove, navigating the hills of the Captain Cook Highway, and giving it their all on the coastal run route before getting to the finish line at the Esplanade in downtown Cairns.

Despite it now being winter in Australia, Cairns retains a warm temperature year-round and should be in the 70s to 80s (Fahrenheit) on race day.

The Race in Paradise

IM Cairns is called the “race in paradise,” (by IRONMAN, anyway) for a reason.
IM Cairns and 70.3 Cairns are the only IRONMAN races that take place at the intersection of two World Heritage sites: the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.

The Daintree Rainforest covers nearly 500 square miles and is 135 million years old (yes, million), making it the oldest rainforest in the world.

The Great Barrier Reef covers more than 134,000 square miles and is home to 400 types of coral and 1,500 species of fish, as well as critically endangered species such as the large green sea turtle.

Imagine swimming in the waters near the Great Barrier Reef, biking alongside the Daintree Rainforest, and running along the Cairns coastline, all in one day, and becoming an IRONMAN finisher at the end of it. A few reminders to focus on the actual race and not the scenery might be necessary in your inner monologue, I would dare to guess.

Even though many of us are guilty of getting so into “race mode” that we forget to look up during race week, I imagine it’ll be hard not to in a place as stunning as Cairns.

Unless you already live in Australia, Tasmania or New Zealand, it’s likely a bit of a haul and financial investment to race in Cairns, which means if you’re making the trip, it had better be worth your while.

In an incredible feat of “investigative” journalism, I’ll be delving into all things Cairns, beyond just the race, to see what this unique town (population: ~150,000) has to offer in addition to its fantastic backdrop for swimming, biking and running.

I’ll be checking out the Daintree Rainforest’s vast canopy via a helicopter tour (slightly terrified, I’ve never been in a helicopter before), snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef (if a shark doesn’t get to me first), meeting my first crocodile and koala at a wildlife refuge, and exploring Cairns’ run routes and Olympic-sized swimming pools… oh right, and covering the race venue, pre-race pro panel and post-race results.

All of this, not just so that I can say I did it and write some articles about it convincing you to come to Australia (although I hope you’ll consider it!), but to remind the triathlon community that many decades ago, finishing an Iron-distance race was an experience, not just an athletic event where we decided if we did well based on metrics and placements.

If you’re going to truly invest in the authentic IRONMAN journey, it may as well be one you and your family will remember for a lifetime – and not solely because of the finish line, but rather because of the memories made in an extraordinary place, together, on and off the race course.

Stay tuned this week here and on Slowtwitch’s Instagram as I navigate words like “arvo” and “carpark” and see what this “flat white” coffee business is all about. See you in Cairns! (Which I’m told is pronounced “Caihns,” with no hard “r”… working on it!)

All photos credited to Korupt Vision

The post A Visit to the Magical Land of Oz for IM Cairns first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Above is the new home base for the workshop in Lincoln. We will be offering our first camp of the year in April. To learn more or to register, click here.

At our core – meaning the site and the community – we are bike lovers. Our top read articles each year are almost always bike related. That also means that bike fit is at the top of the list when it comes to our audience. But, on the other hand, F.I.S.T, in my opinion, had been left on the back burner due to COVID.

When I attended my last F.I.S.T workshop at Dan’s, I was greeted by a full class of attendees. Some were first-time students of F.I.S.T. Some were repeat customers that were there for the 4th or 5th time. Some of the repeat attendees were seeing if they wanted to start instructing at future workshops and some were just looking to engage with other fitters over the course of the week. We had people from all over the world in one little garage in the middle of nowhere.

It was awesome – learning from the best instructors in the world on fit fundamentals, discussions and all sorts of different theories from all the different campers.

When Dan called me last November and told me he was done hosting F.I.S.T clinics, I’m sure it wasn't an easy call for him to make. And it was a call that he took very seriously. I was the first one he talked to about it. I mean, I’m sure he probably talked to his wife and animals before me. But outside of that, I was first. To be frank, it was a call that I wasn’t expecting for another year or so. When we bought the business, F.I.S.T came with it. But, as the article opens, how do you take over something you yourself are not an expert in? It was always the understanding that Dan was able to keep F.I.S.T sort of his own thing until the time he was ready to, I guess, make this call to me.

When I got the call from Dan I started thinking: how can we change F.I.S.T without really changing it? What are the things that can’t be changed about F.I.S.T and what are the things that we can.

Here’s the list:

Things We Can’t (or Shouldn’t) Change
#1 Camp Instruction
#2 Camp Vibe
#3 Camp Value
#4 Camp Memories

Things We Can
#1 Comfort for everyone
#2 Ease of Location
#3 Real Life Lessons

Let’s get the big thing we’re changing out of the way: F.I.S.T. camps will live in Lincoln, Nebraska from here on out. The location of camp is just 12 minutes north of downtown, which provides tremendous amounts of lodging options for campers from hotels to great Airbnb/VRBO options. While we plan on having meals for all campers provided, it also allows for campers to be close enough to a restaurant or grocery store of their liking. It means campers can feel like they can take their personal time and space, if needed.

When it came to picking the new location, it was important to me that we had enough space for not only a slightly larger workshop class but more space for the classmates to function. And more space for equipment. Rolling up your sleeves is an important part of camp and we needed more space to do that. We also needed to make sure we had more options for people to pick affordable accommodations, and they needed to be closer to where camp is. I also wanted something that was more centralized to get too. Not very many places are as pretty as the Sierra Mountain range but, let’s face it: LAX sucks to get in and out of. For most past camps, LAX was the best option for flights. So campers would land in LA, deal with all the hassles of a large airport and then have to drive anywhere from 1:30 – 3 hours depending on traffic.

So why Lincoln? Two reasons: Location and Commitment.

Location
Being more centralized in the US allows for more people to get to camp easier and faster. It also allows for people to drive instead of fly. If you are coming internationally, while Omaha’s airport isn’t LAX, it is an international airport and it’s only 50 minutes away from camp with traffic. These things make it easier not only on the wallet but also on the time commitment from campers. That drives greater value for camp, and the return on investment that we will provide attendees. We have a more controlled environment now when it comes to the camp experience. We have a larger campus with more room. We have more accommodations when it comes to food and housing. We have more roads to safely run and ride on. We also have more pools for athletes to swim. And if the weather is crappy, we have access to a massive gym with dozens of smart trainers and smart bikes.

Commitment
We have a long-term agreement with Shane Peed to host F.I.S.T Camps. Shane is an adamant user and fan of our sports. He has, and continues to, invest in the space, whether through his companies and their investments in events and athletes or with his time. He loves the idea that people from all over the world can come to Lincoln to not only see what he and his companies are about but also improve themselves to be able to better serve the community of athletes they serve. Having this agreement in place not only keeps us away from hotel conference rooms but allows us to have long term roots that we can count on to be able to keep costs low and values high for campers.

For camp instruction, we are keeping the most valuable things in place – the instructors. Sadly I’m not sure if we will ever get Dan out to the new home of F.I.S.T (I hope he will come hang) but Dan is really enjoying his life these days. And to be frank over the last 3-4 years Dan really isn't the one that has been doing most of the teaching anyways. That’s why I begged Ian Murray. The only person that really understands F.I.S.T more than Dan and probably who understands where it needs to go from a tech side is Ian. He is not only a master fitter, but Ian is in my opinion a master instructor. The guy loves being in front of people teaching and he’s damn good at it too. It took me about 4 months to get Ian to take me serious enough for him to come out to visit the place I finally had to say, “it’s now or never dude.” I remember when he walked into CASA Bovina (the restaurant that will service most of the meals at future camps) He looked at me and said mostly paraphrasing “Eric, I thought you were nuts for wanting to move it here. I get it now.”

Ian is important to us for many reasons but the most important is that he keeps things easy going. He provides ample time to learn and absorb knowledge. He structures the camps in a way that makes sure we have time to get outside and get to know each other and move with one another. Ian brings instructors like Matt Hill along and others that we will be announcing as camps start to fill up. These teachers provide a great learning experience and camp vibe. Ian also understands that we can take F.I.S.T to be so much more than its current place in the marketplace.

The single most important thing anyone can do before purchasing a bike is make sure the bike will fit them. For this reason slowtwitch is doubling down on bike fit and F.I.S.T Camps are the foundation of that. If slowtwitch is going to continue to talk about bikes (which we are) and continue to help our readers make purchasing decisions that are best for the riders, we need to get F.I.S.T camps up and going again and going in a big way. The first step is to provide a place where it can not only find a centralized home but where it can start to grow again. If you have been looking at coming to a workshop, please join us this April and come see what Camp is all about. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.

The post F.I.S.T. Camps Moving to Lincoln, NE first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

A couple of trending notes: three brands each had three of their bikes ridden to the top 15, with Cervelo, Canyon, and Trek all taking that honor. More common, though, were two tire brands, with almost everyone riding Continental's GP5000 series or Schwalbe's Pro One series. And pedals were nearly the same story between Wahoo's Speedplay line and Shimano's venerable Dura-Ace pedal.

Photos by Eric Wynn.

Lucy Charles-Barclay
Bike Split: 4:32:29
Bike: Cube Aerium C:68X
Wheels: DT Swiss ARC 1100, 80mm deep
Tires: Schwalbe Pro One TT
Drivetrain: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2
Pedals: Wahoo Speedplay

Taylor Knibb
Bike Split: 4:34:00
Bike: Trek Speed Concept SLR
Wheels: Bontrager Aeolus RSL TLR (62mm front, 75mm rear)
Tires: Continental GP5000TR
Drivetrain: SRAM Red AXS eTap
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace

Laura Philipp
Bike Split: 4:35:52
Bike: Canyon Speedmax CFR
Wheels: Swiss Side HADRON2 Ultimate 800
Tires: Schwalbe Pro One TT
Drivetrain: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 (SRM Powermeter)
Pedals: Wahoo Speedplay Aero

Daniela Ryf
Bike Split: 4:38:34
Bike: Felt IA 2.0
Wheels: DT Swiss ARC 1100 (62mm front, 80mm rear)
Tires: Continental GP5000TR
Drivetrain: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 (Rotor crank)
Pedals: Look Keo Blade Carbon

Lisa Norden
Bike Split: 4:38:36
Bike: Scott Plasma RC Ultimate
Wheels: Swiss Side HADRON2 Ultimate 800
Tires: Schwalbe Pro One TT
Drivetrain: SRAM Red AXS eTap
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace

Skye Moench
Bike Split: 4:38:44
Bike: Trek Speed Concept SLR
Wheels: Zipp 858 NSW
Tires: Continental GP5000TR
Drivetrain: SRAM Red AXS eTap
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace

Jocelyn McCauley
Bike Split: 4:38:53
Bike: Ventum One
Wheels: HED Jet RC6, HED Jet 180
Tires: Continental GP5000
Drivetrain: Shimano Ultegra Di2 (Rotor crank)
Pedals: Wahoo Speedplay

Ruth Astle
Bike Split: 4:39:03
Bike: Argon 18 E-119 Tri+
Wheels: Parcours Chrono Max, 83mm deep
Tires: Schwalbe Pro One
Drivetrain: SRAM Red AXS 1X
Pedals: Wahoo Speedplay

Sara Svensk
Bike Split: 4:39:49
Bike: Trek Speed Concept SLR
Wheels: Bontrager Aeolus RSL TLR (62mm front, 75mm rear)
Tires: Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT
Drivetrain: SRAM Red AXS 1X
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace

Anne Haug
Bike Split: 4:40:23
Bike: Cervelo P5
Wheels: DT Swiss ARC 1100 (62mm front, 80mm rear)
Tires: Schwalbe Pro One
Drivetrain: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 (Rotor crank)
Pedals: Wahoo Speedplay Aero

Laura Siddall
Bike Split: 4:43:17
Bike: Factor Hanzo
Wheels: Parcours Chrono 68/75
Tires: Continental GP5000TT
Drivetrain: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace

Els Visser
Bike Split: 4:43:53
Bike: Cervelo P5
Wheels: Reserve 77/88
Tires: Continental GP5000TT
Drivetrain: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace

Daniela Bleymehl
Bike Split: 4:45:08
Bike: Canyon Speedmax CFR
Wheels: Swiss Side HADRON2 Ultimate 800
Tires: Schwalbe Pro One TT
Drivetrain: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace

Sarah True
Bike Split: 4:46:15
Bike: Canyon Speedmax CFR
Wheels: Zipp 454 NSW, Zipp 858 NSW
Tires: Continental GP5000
Drivetrain: SRAM Red AXS eTap 1X
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace

Hannah Berry
Bike Split: 4:46:31
Bike: Cervelo P5
Wheels: Profile Design GMR 50/65
Tires: Continental GP5000
Drivetrain: SRAM Red AXS eTap
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace

The post Top 15 Women’s Bikes From Kona 2023 first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Over the last twenty years, the IRONMAN World Championships have had change after change. This year, of course, featured one of the biggest changes, as it was the first split venue IRONMAN World Championship, with the women’s race exclusively taking place in Kona. Two things remain constant, though: Slowtwitch is there, and we help with the Kona Bike Count.

Here’s some of the big trends we noticed with the bike count exclusively.

Cervelo Retains the Throne: Cervelo has long been either the top performer, or near the top, for going on fifteen years, stretching back to the original versions of the P2 and P3. That dominance returned in Kona, after ceding the crown to Canyon at the men’s World Championships in Nice. This isn’t particularly surprising. Cervelo (and second place Trek) are two of the companies that are easiest to find in local bike shops in North America, with the United States and Canada representing 50% of the registered athletes in the field.

It also helps that the current generation P-Series bikes are also some of the more affordably priced options on the market, with a well-equipped 105 series bike at $3,500. And no, 105 isn’t shabby. It’s a damn good groupset these days.

Quintana Roo Moves Up: The big mover of the bike count, QR doubled its percentage of bikes on the pier in 2023 to third, at 11%. I think there’s three distinct reasons for that:

1.) Ease of Purchase — Quintana Roo bet and bet big on a hybrid distribution model. But their direct-to-consumer purchasing flow is, for my money, the best in the business. It’s incredibly easy to select any of configuration needs you want, and see how that bike changes in the tool. From wheels to hydration to bars to any other component, you pick it, and watch the bike change. It’s awesome. And the pricing changes quickly, too.

2.) Ease of Customization — QR also offers their FitReady service, to ensure that a bike exactly matches your fit coordinates, for an additional fee. It’s well worth it. Getting the delivery and making your assembly take mere minutes, especially in an age of more and more difficult bikes to work on, is a life saver.

Then there’s the customization of paint. QR gives you far more options on paint choices than any other manufacturer. And although it does feature an additional fee, if the color of your bike is worth something to you, QR probably has that paint available for you. Having talked with a few women on board current generation QR bikes, the ability to pick paint was one of their top reasons for choosing to ride a QR bike, along with perceived value and fit.

3.) Ease to Work On — QR’s insistence on consistent bolt sizes for their bikes, beginning with the original generation PR series, just makes living with their bikes easier. And again, with bikes becoming more and more complex, having bikes that are easier to wrench is worth something.

Canyon to Watch: Canyon took pole position at the men’s IRONMAN World Championship, but slid down to fourth in the count in Kona. That’s likely due to a variety of factors, primarily related to COVID-era supply chain issues in North America. If you wanted to buy certain Speedmaxes, you had to be absolutely fast on the trigger to do so with few bikes allocated here. Although supply is improving, it’s still lighter than other brands, as Canyon hopes to avoid having excess inventory at the end of each year. It’ll be interesting to see how this trend changes with the women’s race in Nice in 2024.

Other Quick Notes: Traditional big bike brand stalwart Specialized continues to lose triathlon market share, now in sixth place, as it focuses less on the space. Liv was the largest of the women’s-specific branded bikes, with 82 of them on the pier. And Ventum cracked the top 10, tied with Cannondale, with 24 bikes.

The post Kona 2023 Bike Count Analysis first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

That's no different than what you'll find in Kona. Here's what we saw, captured by Korupt Vision.

The pier is ready to accept over 2,000 bikes during bike check-in Friday. Stay tuned for counts.

Thursday also saw our annual Slowtwitch Gathering.

Early attendees got to enjoy some quiet time pool side.

But, naturally, as the afternoon went on, more folks filtered through the door.

Some interesting goodies inside the front door of Slowtwitch's Kona HQ.

Everywhere here is just in sight of the ocean.

The Gathering always brings together an interesting bunch — racers, industry veterans, and more. Zoot's Shawn O'Shea was one to join us for a while.

We're not the only ones working at the party, either.

Time to wrap up. Back at it for Friday.

The post Kona 2023 in Pictures: Preparing for Race Day first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Hello! We're here.

Getting those final swim workouts in. (Editor's Note: I'm also on Team All Pull Buoy and Paddles, All the Time, too.)

We have our first Taylor Knibb sighting of the week, as she looks to win her debut IRONMAN on the grandest of stages.

Knibb was not the only athlete dialing her bike in for the week.

Putting the power down.

The island has a unique way of making cycling seem isolated, lonely, lost.

The Parade of Nations always features a lively crowd, with Brazil often the center of the party. This year was no exception.

The post Starting Scenes From Kona first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

When you think triathlon, most people’s thoughts go to long distance racing. Long course racing is inspiring, with tales of overcoming adversity and feats of human endurance. But in reality, how many non-triathletes are sitting down and watching a full or half distance race from start to finish? Or even the highlight reel? Yes, to someone deeply involved in the sport, its highly entertaining, but outside of that? Is triathlon capable of becoming a spectator sport? For me, I think Super League has the best chance of becoming a series that people want to watch.

I raced in Super League’s Championship Series in 2018, 2019, and made a guest appearance in this year’s Toulouse race. Though I was never a top contender, this continues to be one of my favorite styles of racing. It’s fast. It's technical. It’s chaos. It’s unlike other triathlon events out there due to their unusual formats and distances.

The courses are tight and technical with features like tight chicanes, cobbles, or off-camber corners. Crashes happen, as evidenced by the viral clips on social media. Are these courses inherently dangerous? In my opinion, no, but I wouldn’t be putting young or inexperienced athletes on them either. These courses are for professional athletes, and you need to have professional-level bike handling in order to ride them. Neither fans nor athletes want to just roll around the course. The technical sections make racing fun, and incorporating features makes for great racing and spectating.

This year is the fifth year of Super League’s Championship Series. Super League has changed over the years, finding their footing with race formats, rules, and teams. The evolving rules, I think, come with experience and discovering what works well and what doesn’t. For example, watching athletes absolutely destroy the bottoms of their feet by running the run courses barefoot, to save vital seconds through transitions leading to shoe rules. With the team aspect, I was initially unsure of the decision (Cheetahs? Rhinos?), but I think this year they’ve done a better job of it. Trying to follow the model of Formula 1 racing, they’ve brought in team sponsors and managers. From an athlete perspective, it brings an additional sense of comradery having teammates. That and it makes the swim less of an all-out fist fight, at least to start. Still, I have a few memorable swim experiences from Super League races in the earlier years. Considering the first turn buoy is often around 100m from the race start, you can’t blame people for having their claws out.

How it Works

There are both individual and team components to racing. Athletes finishing in the top 15 will earn points for their respective teams. Extra points are on offer at the season finale in Neom, Saudi Arabia. Athletes can also earn additional points for clocking one of the top fastest swim, bike, or run times.

During the race, athletes can earn shortcuts, or “short chutes”, for their team to use in a later stage. These give an athlete the advantage of taking a shorter run distance in the final stage of the event. Short chutes are given to the first athletes to cross various points of the course. Which athlete gets to use the short chute from the team is up to the team manager. Once the short chute is assigned it can’t be changed, meaning the Team Managers must choose wisely when making decisions for the team.

There are various ways athletes can make money. Athletes finishing in the top 10 at each race, as well as finishing top 10 in the overall season ranking will earn prize money. The individual rankings and overall season rankings are decided by an athlete’s two best results from the first three events (London, Toulouse, Malibu), plus their results from the Championship final in Neom. Team scores accumulate over the course of the season, determining the finishing order of the teams and their share of the $300,000 team purse prize.

In addition, at the end of the season, each discipline leader: swim, bike, and run, will also earn $15,000 for their efforts.

In total, it’s around 1.24 million dollars available in prize money over the season. Making this series a viable career option for short course athletes. With that type of cash available, it's a purse that could pull athlete’s towards becoming Super League specialists, and away from World Triathlon racing all together.

I, for one, want to see the series keep growing. The events feel very professional, from branding, to scheduling, to how they treat their athletes. They also do a great job of community involvement: conducting school visits, putting on swim clinics for kids, meeting with local officials. They’re able to gain support in the local community and draws large crowds on race day.

What to Expect in Malibu

As I write this, it’s up in the air as to whether the Malibu event will take place. A small, endangered fish called a tidewater goby has made its home on part of the event course. Because the event is only a few days away, race organizers have been unable to obtain permits to devise an alternative race route. So far, all appeals from race organizers have been rejected. A final verdict is expected to be delivered early next week.

For those who’ve never watched a race, I urge you to watch one. The races consist of various formats of super-sprint distance swims, bikes, and runs. Formats have prominent names like The Enduro or Triple Mix.

With most athletes racing the Grand Final in Pontevedra, it will be interesting to see who can handle the cross-Atlantic travel and recovery. Considering Pontevedra is an Olympic qualifier for several countries, including the US, some athletes are sure to mentally turn off after a WTCS season that started in early March.

The race will be home race for the Warriors team, which boasts an all American lineup. Hoping to gain back points on home soil, the Warriors have employed unconventional race tactics in the past to stay competitive. With a full roster, and whispers of including an American Ironman recordholder, they will be grasping for every point possible.

The race itself will be Eliminator Format: Three rounds of 300m swim, 4km bike, and 1.6km run with a short break in between. The total times from stages 1 and 2 combine to determine the pursuit start times for Stage 3. The athlete that crosses the line first of stage three is the winner. As in all Super League events, athletes that fall 90 seconds back from the leader at any point are eliminated. So, if an athlete loses by 45 seconds on the first round, and 50 on the second, they are eliminated and not able to start round three.

The surf will definitely be a factor. We saw at the race last year that an athlete’s ability to catch a wave can create huge gaps out of the water. “Huge” being a relative term, but to put things in perspective 30 seconds could be the difference between first and fourteenth place in a round. The bike course is punchy with athletes needing to push lots of power out of tight corners to stay in the race. On the run, athletes will need to be able to accelerate out of 180 degree turns to keep their speed.

If anything is known about this race, it’s that there will be drama. Whether it be from team tactics, crashes, impressive skills, or a flustered team manager yelling from the sidelines, it’s bound to be entertaining.

Watch Super League Malibu on Saturday, September 30th here.

Images Courtesy of Super League

The post Behind the Scenes of Racing Super League first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

When I started counting bikes at the Kona pier in 1992 it was a 200-horse race. There were 200 bike brands ridden by the 1400 contestants, and many of the brands dominating the count back then – like Kestrel, Softride and Cannondale – are not the big brands now.

Today, among Slowtwitchers, the choice of brand has winnowed. Sure, if you go out to a big race you’ll see a lot of brands with 1 to 3 bikes in the race. But there is a trend toward consolidation and it’s no longer a 200-horse race to be the brand of tri bike that dominates sales. It’s now a 4-horse race: Cervelo, Canyon, Trek and Quintana Roo. These are the only brands in double digits (reader preference) and 3 in 4 of you have elected 1 of these brands as your favorite for your next purchase. If you’re among the one-third of our readers who live in (say) Australia, the UK, Germany you will cry foul at these results and you’re justified. Remember that our readership is two-thirds North American.

Also, bear in mind that boutique brands continue to flourish and there’s a lot of enthusiasm for CADEX, Kú Cycle, PremierBike, Dimond and dozens more but what’s notable are the big brands that are no longer there.

Other

Our most recent poll tracks the fortunes of 10 tri bike brands in 4 polls since 2017, and all the other 200 or so brands are contained in “Other.” This “brand” is now the biggest loser in our most recent tri bike poll.

In 2017 almost 25 percent of you chose a tri bike not listed among these 10. That is now down to 7 percent because a lot of you choosing "other" back in 2017 have now thrown in with 1 of these top 4 brands.

That said, note that “Other” now includes Cannondale and Specialized, companies that used to sit at the top of the tri bike seller brand list. These brands have pretty much retreated from the tri bike market.

The other big decliner is Felt. This brand enjoyed 14 percent Slowtwitcher user prefence in 2011 (see the poll below) and remained at a healthy 14 percent Slowtwitcher tri bike preference all the way up to our 2017 poll (see the chart above). Jim Felt and Bill Duehring – founders of this brand – sold their company a month before we conducted that 2017 poll. Perhaps successive owners of the brand – Rossignol Group and Pierer Mobility – chose to focus on categories other than tri. Regardless, Felt moved from 14 percent to 7 to 6 to 3 over this 6-year span of this poll.

Scott, Giant, CUBE have remained at 3 percent or very close to it throughout these polls, but all these brands do better than this in the Kona Bike Surveys. This is (I believe) because: 1) our polls are heavily North American weighted and Scott does well in Europe, while Giant does well everywhere (and especially in Europe and Australia; 2) the Kona counts are rearward looking and contain a lot of legacy bikes whereas our polls survey desire for next bike purchased. BMC sits at 1 percent in our poll, but it just launched a new tri bike and that may make an impact forward-going.

Just above is what you all said you would buy in 2011, when Canyon was not yet selling on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Remember, this poll was taken in February of 2011 and Trek’s Speed Concept was unveiled in May and June of 2010, hence that brand’s very high ranking. As for Specialized, Chris McCormack won Kona a few months earlier and that brand had a lot of athetes under contract. Cervelo had important athletes riding its bikes as well, notably Chrissie Wellington, though Felt’s Mirinda Carfrae had won Kona in October of 2010. That 2011 poll was probably taken during the height of triathlon’s popularity, which drew keen interest from major bike brands. How things have changed!

How have the 4 brands that currently dominate our poll earned the status you’ve granted them?

Cervelo

This brand continues to be both good and lucky. It makes terrific tri bikes and road bikes. It makes a pretty terrific gravel bike. It makes its own aerobars that work quite well, while also accommodating the aerobars made by other brands (notably Vision). Its bikes fit well, handle well, and are appropriately adjustable even when the bikes are made to optimize aero (like the S5 road bike). It’s got terrific graphics and sometimes sells bikes largely because of cosmetics. Its bikes are placed in the best pro shops. This is all because Cervelo is better at what it does than any other bike brand.

Lucky? It not only arguably makes the best bikes in class, its bikes are routinely won not only by triathletes but by pro cyclists and there’s always a bit of luck required for that. The single most likely tri bike model you’ll buy (Cervelo’s P5 Disc) is the bike that appears unbeatable underneath not just one by a pair of Jumbo Visma’s riders. But it’s not all luck if it keeps happening. This follows in the tradition of Dave Zabriskie and Fabian Cancellara being Cervelo’s most important “triathletes” for sales purposes.

We’ve polled this question – which tri bike do you intend or expect to buy next – many times since 2007. Cervelo’s current number in this poll – 29.5 percent – is the highest it’s ever been since 2007, when Cervelo’s Slowtwitch user preference number hit 31 percent.

Canyon

Canyon’s breakthrough, its secret sauce, its killer app, has been the ability to send a product direct to the consumer and actually pass (rather than just promise) the savings along to the consumer. In my opinion Canyon’s rise has not been a product play, but a sales channel play. This is not to say that Canyon doesn’t make terrific product. It does. But I’ve never felt that Canyon has made (for example) a road bike (let’s take the Ultimate, my favorite of their road bikes) that is strikingly better than a Specialized Tarmac or a Trek Madone. Rather, Canyon says (if I can put words it its mouth), “We make bikes that will stand up to any other brand’s bikes, and we trust the consumer to not need to give a third of the money they pay to a bike shop if they don’t need that bike shop.”

Now, for sure, that savings of one-third has shrunk a bit because selling bikes consumer-direct does not occur at no charge. Retailing costs, regardless of sales channel. But Canyon remains a red hot brand because of the value it delivers. It – like Cervelo, like Trek – makes its own aerobars for its higher end Speedmax tri bikes.

In my opinion, Canyon could have equaled Cervelo in this poll right now. In fact it did In our last poll, taken during the pandemic in 2020: Canyon earned 24 percent user preference and Cervelo 23 percent. Canyon had finally bridged the gap to Cervelo. What happened? Only a guess, but I think the current poll is a response to Canyon’s performance post-pandemic. The entire cycling world made bets during the pandemic, notably a wager in favor of the kind of bikes people bought in droves in 2020 and 2021. As a result, we have a huge glut of those bikes and we still haven’t been able to deliver all the tri bikes triathletes have wanted since 2019. Speedmaxes included. This is partly the fault of bike makers making poor forecasting decisions; and partly the fault of component makers who chose to produce according to those bad forecasting wagers. Canyon’s Speedmax was a casualty of the post-pandemic shipment schedules and a lot of Slowtwitchers were frustrated through not getting the bike they wanted.

Nevertheless, Canyon’s brand image is so sky-high that it continues to outpoll every brand by a pretty good margin – except for Cervelo. Canyon can earn back what it’s lost, but here’s the reality: Canyon remains sky high in user regard; but Canyon is the only one of the top-4 brands to dip in this poll since 2020.

Trek

This company decided to make the state of the art tri bike – it launched the Speed Concept in 2010 – and it was an immediate hit. There have since been 2 updates to this platform and every update has been well-received (tho many lamented the disappearance of the Speed Box). But here is an object lesson for those who – understandably! – complain about the high cost of tri bikes. Trek sits 3rd in this poll while not offering a bike that sells for less than $9,000. While you can usually get a Quintana Roo for $3,000 if you wait for the sales, QR's upscale models (e.g., X-PR and V-PR) outsell its $3,000 or $3,500 bikes. Vocal triathletes scream angrily at the high prices of tri bikes and, boy, I understand this. But the much more quiet majority of triathletes spend more money to get exactly the bike they want, and then keep that bike for many years (which we know from the data we get at the Kona Bike Count). But back to Trek…

This is one of the few companies that can afford to invest in its own aerobar design, because of the assist it gets from its Bontrager division. The aerobars, saddles and wheels are all very highly regarded because Bontrager is really a much better P&A brand than is often recognized. Two more things about this company: It and Quintana Roo follow the parallel strategy of painting at the point of sale. QR has its own version of Trek’s Project One but Trek was the brand that debuted paint-and-assemble to order. The only difference is that Trek has a brick and mortar retailer in the middle, for better or worse. (I would say for the better, except that I’m not convinced Trek’s retail stores have the expertise to perform anything other than final assembly and service.)

Trek is the brand that launched – back in 2010 when the Speed Concept first came out – a model-specific sizing scheme. This thing of, “tell me the rise and run from the BB to the armrest and I’ll tell you your exact bike prescription,” Trek started that. Trek’s management never (in my opinion) really understood bike fit, bike geometry and so on. But it’s engineers did. Down at the engineer level Trek keenly understood how to make bikes that fit and adjusted, and how to relay this info to the consumer, and whenever Trek’s management has let its engineers drive tri bike product design and fit messaging the result has been great. Whenever it hasn’t, it hasn’t.

Quintana Roo

Of course, this is the brand that arguably started it all. (If I do say so myself!) Theirs was the first bike built from the aerobars back, debuting in 1989, and always has retained that commitment to placing the rider aboard his or her bike in an optimized position. Beyond this, the hallmarks of this brand today are as follows…

The mechanics of the transaction – from idea to design to manufacture to sale to delivery – is designed for efficiency. Carbon monocoque frames are arguably most efficiently built in some country other than the United States and Cervelo, Canyon and QR do this. But these bikes are most efficiently painted here – thinks QR – and so these guys wear the bearings out on their twin paint lines painting the bikes you order from them. By doing it this way they keeping down the inventories (since it warehouses its frames ready-to-paint), and are able to deliver the bikes you want in a more timely fashion. Likewise, it assembles in its Chattanooga plant and gives you a number of assembly (e.g., Fit Ready) and shipping options. This willingness to pivot to a smarter logistical process paid off in spades as all the brands tried to work themselves out of the pandemic. Finally, QR chose to invest attention on what it does best: frame design and logistics. It forewent the manufacture of its own wheels and aerobars. This isn’t good or bad; it’s just a decision. During and since the pandemic – where tri bikes an tri accessories are still not easy to come by – that choice has paid off.

The post Tri Bikes You Want: It’s Mostly These 4 first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Tomorrow the worlds best off road triathletes take on what will be the last open full distance race of the inaugural XTERRA World Cup series. The final of the series will be the XTERRA World Championship in Italy on September 23 2023.

The new series features 12 races to earn points, including 7 full distance races, 5 short track events, and then the final event, the World Championship. This new format allows professional athletes to compete for the World Cup Championship Title while athletes can still claim individual country top rankings. And now all prize money bonuses are centered around the series.

To compete in the series, athletes are required to choose 4 full distance events and 3 short tracks to tally up points. You can find all of the information on the World Cup here.

In my opinion, the new point system seems to be a good solution to help unify the off-road community. While it makes this a little harder for an individual pro to claim individual country titles that include pro title prize bonus money, if you’re committed to the World Cup you have the ability to make more of it than in years past. The only thing that I'm not a super big fan of is that it allows for outsiders that aren't committed to the whole series to shake things up.

If you look at the standings you can see that some pros that have dabbled in the series and do well at one-off events kill the available points for some of the pro’s that are fully committed. For example, Lesley Paterson and Timothy O'Donnell are here and they are currently NR which means they have zero points. Will they do well enough to steal some points away from the top current athletes in attendance, Suzie Snyder and Ruben Ruzafa, who are in the overall points mix? Probably not T.O., but you can't count out Lesley. And you can't blame them for racing – in fact, we welcome it. But my point is that it might be something to consider in next year's point system. Or maybe it’s just fun to be able to poke the bear a little with this sort of deal.

As you can see HERE Things are starting to get pretty tight in the top podium spots. And the weather looks wet for tomorrow, which should make it very interesting.

Some of the top athletes in the search for global points include: 1st number is current world ranking 2nd number is bib assignment for tomorrows race.

Men
– Ruben Ruzafa, ESP
– Sébastien Carabin, BEL
– Kieran McPherson, NZL
– Sullivan Middaugh, USA
– Sebastien Neef, GER
– Sam Osborne, NZL

Women
– Suzie Snyder, USA
– Samantha Kingsford, NZL
– Carolyne Guay, CAN
– Maria Doring, GER
– Lorena Erl, GER

We caught up with some of the Xterra athletes and staff on the podcast this week. We talk about their history in Xterra and what they think about some of this year’s changes.

We’ll have a post race story on our own race experience and thoughts. We have six people racing – 4 of us doing the long course, and 2 on the sprint. My personal goals are to not crash on the bike and not walk parts of the run course and maybe, just maybe, beat some time from 2 years ago.

The post Meanwhile in Avon, CO… first appeared on Slowtwitch News.