Mark Threlfall: Now then, there are many ways in which you can mount your bike within a triathlon
as you come out of T1 but there's one that always turns the heads. It is the
flying mount, of course. Many people just leave this one purely to the pros
but actually, it's really not as hard as many people think. If done correctly and properly,
it can save you some valuable time. Here is how to do a flying mount the easy way.
[music] Let's start by talking through the kit you're
going to need today. You will need a pair of cycling shoes, a bunch of elastic bands, both of
which we're going to set aside for now because all we need is a pair of trainers, a helmet and some
grass initially, ideally not too soggy though. Let's get straight into this. We are going to
start obviously wearing our trainers and helmet. We need to figure out which side of the bike
we prefer to mount from. For me, I much prefer to mount the bike from the left-hand side of
the bike. We also need to set the pedals to the three and six o'clock position. Ideally,
we'd have the drive side, which is this side, pointing forwards. I'll explain a little bit
more on why that is later on in this video. For now, let's start by walking it through.
[music] Firstly, let's look at how we're
actually pushing the bike before getting on to it. For this, I'd actually advise holding the bike by
the saddle as opposed to by the handlebars where you might be quite hunched over. By the saddle
means you can be in a nice upright normal posture for running, also allows you to steer the bike
nice and easily and means you're not clipping your shins on the pedals and your shoes constantly.
Getting used to maneuvering the bike like this, getting really confident with that,
and then we want to move our hands down to the handlebars as we cross that T1
mount line. Get used to doing that switching from the saddle to the handlebars. Once you're
really confident with that, park that and move on to the bit that you've all been waiting for.
[music] Understandably, the name, flying mount,
puts a lot of people off because they imagine, envisage, jumping up and flying into the air and
landing heavily down on the saddle. That really doesn't need to be the case. I'll actually show
you just how little of a movement it needs to be, so I'm going to walk you through this.
First of all, hands onto the handlebars already as I mentioned already as you will do,
as you're about to jump onto your bike, and let's walk through this. I'm going to go up onto my toe
and the leg closest and nearest to the bike is going to come up, around, and behind the saddle
and I'm going to plant myself onto the saddle. That wasn't a very good movement there and I have
got myself onto the saddle. Admittedly, I did need to slide myself across the saddle a touch
and you are going to be doing this at a faster pace, so you might want to put a little bit of
a hop in, so try that again. Up onto the toe, a little hop, and onto the saddle.
That's a very small movement and probably nothing like you were imagining, expecting.
Practice this through on a nice soft surface, the grass, build your confidence up, build the speed
up with time, and away you go. [music]
Once you're happy and confident on the grass or softer surface, it's time to step things up
a little and take to the road. Carry on just as you are, by wearing your running shoes. You may
even want to slow things back down initially before you build your confidence and speed
back up with time. Again, focus on that small hop rather than a large leap.
Now let's do this for real-time. Get those running shoes off, we're going barefoot or at least with
socks on at least protect the bottom of your feet for this practice run. I'm going to bring the
bike shoes in and the elastic band so I'm going to show you what to do with both of them now.
First of all, we want to open up our shoes so you can quickly and easily get your feet into them on
the fly. With a specific triathlon shoe, you can normally open up the velcro strap and then lock
it out so it doesn't close again afterwards. Then attach the shoes to your pedals. They're
nicely fixed in place, and then using your elastic bands we want to then hold the shoes
up at a nice level ready to put our feet down onto. Put the elastic bands through the heel loop
that you hopefully have on the back of your shoes and attach that to a convenient spot on the bike.
Earlier I mentioned about having the drive side pedal pointing forwards at three o'clock position.
That will allow you to attach the elastic band to the front mech, and then on the other shoe,
you can only attach that to the rear stay or to your quick-release skewer.
[music] Let's do this. Initially,
you might like to drop the speed back down again just until you gain confidence running barefoot
and getting the technique right. Once you've hopped onto your bike, you should be able to place
your feet straight down onto your conveniently placed bike shoes that are obviously being held
up by elastic bands. Simply start pedaling to break those elastics. With your feet on top of
the shoes, continue to pedal to get yourself up to speed. Then coast whilst you lean down,
grab the heel of the shoe to help slip your foot in, and then fasten that shoe up.
I would then recommend pedaling again to get your speed back up before doing the second shoe.
Just be careful not to veer across the road as you do this.
Make sure you maintain a good line throughout. That is how to do a flying mount and hopefully,
the easy way without you skidding the floor on your knees. Do let me know how you guys
get on and if you have successfully done a flying mount in the past,
let us know in the comments section down below. We hope to see some of you doing flying mounts
at races very soon. If you enjoyed today's video, please do give it like, give it a thumbs up. Don't
forget to give us a follow over on social media and if you're not doing so already,
make sure you're subscribed just down below. [00:06:44] [END OF AUDIO]