- Right, there is no beating around the bush
with this one, triathlon is expensive.
After all, we have three disciplines
and that means three different sports to buy kit for,
and that all starts to add up.
But rather than just throwing your money away,
it is possible to get very good triathlon kit
for a fairly reasonable price.
So today, I've given myself the target of under 100 dollars.
(electronic sound effects) (upbeat music)
Now this first one is one of my favorites,
it is an aero disk wheel cover.
Now, we all know the benefits of an aero disk wheel,
they smooth out the airflow over the wheel
as opposed to normally being disturbed by
the profile of the wheel, the spokes.
But the downside is that they're normally pretty pricey,
well in excess of 500 dollars,
so this is a really good compromise.
These come in at well under 100 dollars,
normally somewhere between 40 to 50 dollars
and you simply can attach this
to your current wheel and make your own disk wheel.
Now, they do come in a number of different designs,
this one here actually you use cable ties
through these little lugs here and attach it to your wheel
and then tape on using something like electrical tape
and you've got a pretty aero disk wheel.
The only thing that you are missing
is that satisfying (whooshing noises).
Next on my list is a heart rate monitor,
and you'll be hard pushed to find
a pro triathlete that isn't using
a heart rate monitor regularly in their training.
And there's a good reason for that,
because this tells you how hard your body is working.
Whether you need to go harder,
or perhaps you even need to back off
and go easier so that you don't overdo it.
You could argue that it's not quite as instantaneous
as something like a power meter on the bike,
you have to allow time for your heart rate to catch up
and react to any changes in intensity.
But you're also gonna find it very hard to find
a power meter that will come in at under 100 dollars.
But that aside, I actually think this is really valuable
in the sense that it can actually tell you
if there's any external factors
that are making your heart rate higher such as illness.
It also can tell you whether your fitness is improving,
whether actually you're finding it easier
for the same speeds or the same power.
So, all in all, a very valuable piece of kit
and all for around 30 to 50 dollars.
(upbeat music)
Okay, a really cheap one for you here now, elastic laces.
These literally come in at around five to 10 dollars
and can save you so much time through transition,
in fact, I'd go as far as saying that these relatively
have the biggest time saving per cent or penny.
Now, you just need to take your current laces
out of your shoes, replace them with the elastic laces
and then when you go into transition, you can just
whack your feet straight into your shoes and you're away.
Another time saver for you, clip on aero bars.
Now this is one of the biggest time saving upgrades
you can make to your road bike for a triathlon.
By using these clip on aero bars,
we can reduce our frontal area
and therefore our aerodynamics, which is why we see
so many people using TT and triathlon bikes.
But again, they come with quite a hefty price tag
whereas these clip on aero bars
can dramatically improve your aerodynamics on a road bike
by just simply clipping them onto
your current bars, all for under 100 dollars.
Obviously it's not going to be as fast
as a TT or triathlon bike where they're super optimized,
but it's gonna be a heck of a lot faster
than a road bike without them.
And whilst we're talking about the bike
how about a triathlon specific saddle.
Now these are slightly different from your standard
road saddle because they're designed for using
aero bars, being in a slightly more aggressive
and forward position, predominantly with that front
third to two thirds of the saddle.
Now, other than just increase padding
at the front of the saddle, we also see some of them
having this cut-out design to relieve the pressure
when we're in that more forward position,
we have our hips tilted around and using the aero bars.
I'm gonna be honest, I don't like the look of them,
they're not the nicest looking design, but I always use one.
It allows me to tilt my hips around
to really lay the power down and it works.
So what I would say, particularly with saddles is
don't go for what you like the look of, go with what works.
Some of these can be a little bit pricey
but it is possible to get them for under 100 dollars.
Now let's talk swimming, and these are two things
that you'll never see me going to a swim session without.
A pool buoy and a pair of paddles.
And the nice thing is, they're relatively inexpensive.
Both come in at around 10 to 20 dollars each,
but can bring so much to your swimming.
The pool buoy, well that helps to obviously
isolate the arms, make them work harder,
but also helps to highlight any dead spots in your stroke
as well as being quite nice just to pop in
when you're a little bit tired.
The paddles obviously also help to increase
that workload of the arms, but also really help with that
initial catch phase as your hand just enters the water
to get that perch just on the water, the feel of the water
and really accentuate that pull phase of the stroke.
Now, turbo trainers have advanced loads over the years
so yeah, you are gonna struggle to get an all-seeing,
all dancing turbo trainer for under 100 dollars.
But then on the flip side, this has meant
it's pushed the price of some of those
more basic designs down, so you can get what was
a top-end turbo trainer for under 100 dollars.
Granted, it's not gonna be any Wahoo Kicker or Elite Direto,
but it's still a very valuable training tool.
And we talked a lot about indoor training
here on the channel, it's a good use of time,
it saves us time, it's a very efficient use of time,
it makes us work harder, and also,
it just allows us to get the job done without having to
worry about any junctions or traffic lights.
Okay, my final one and it is a
fairly obvious one but it is the trisuit.
Again, you can pick these up for over 100 dollars
but equally there are just as many
if not more well under this value.
When you come to choosing a trisuit,
do not underestimate the importance
and the performance benefit of a good, well-fitted trisuit.
At the end of the day, it's so so important
that you're comfortable in the suit, particularly if you're
gonna be racing in it for a long time.
Now if you're someone that's worried about aerodynamics
and going faster then do consider getting a suit
that's well-fitted and with sleeves.
Well there we go, there are some of my favorite bits of kit
that you can pick up for under 100 dollars
and have some huge performance benefits.
There is just one last one and that is a bike fit.
Granted, this can come in at 100 dollars upwards,
but having your position perfected and tuned in
on a bike has a massive massive advantage.
Not only does it improve your comfort,
it can also improve your aerodynamics which probably by now
you've guessed I do like aerodynamics.
Now if you like this video do hit that thumbs up button.
If you'd like to seen more from GTN
you can click on the globe and subscribe.
And if you'd like to see our eight best valued
triathlon upgrades video just click down here.
If you'd like to see five ways to improve
your average speed on the bike, just click down here.