- With over 5000 bikes getting racked here
and setup for transition over the two days
for both the women and the men,
racing at Ironman 70.3 World Championships.
It would be rude if I didn't
go and take a closer look,
because every bike is unique.
Everyone's got their own setup,
their own little unique things that they've done
and I've already spotted a few interesting ones
and I want to share them with you.
(upbeat music)
- Now, you guys probably know that I love food
and the more real the food, the better for me.
Even when it comes to racing.
So I love to see these guys with waffles here,
but we've seen all sorts taped onto the top tube,
someone who's got enough Naked bars
for a meal, I think,
all sorts of different, interesting ways
of getting your nutrition onto your bike.
There really is no one-size-fits-all.
(upbeat music)
We love improvisation here at GTN
and problem solving
and cable ties usually come
in pretty handy for that,
but in this age group transition,
we have seen them used to the extreme
and here is one prime example.
This bike computer man is attached by,
one, two, three, four...
I think that's four, maybe five cable ties
and this bike has got several more cable ties
on it if you look further back on the seat tube,
the bottle cages behind that as well.
Cable ties are definitely
this rider's best friend.
(relaxing music)
If you're racing somewhere hot, like here,
obviously hydration is key
and there are lots and lots of ways
you store you hydration.
There are some slightly different options, again,
this one is quite unique,
you don't see it very often,
this Speedfil.
So you can actually refill it
just on the right-hand side, there
and it sits, obviously nicely, on the down tube
and then the tube to drink from
just, kind of tucks in either side
of your top tube and runs alongside
the aero bars at the front.
So, yeah a little bit more aero.
Another one that's slightly more unique,
so, Felt don't yet have an integrated hydration,
on the front,
so this one has been very much improvised,
it's the Vision Metron hydration,
by the looks of things,
but it has just been attached to the aero bars.
So the aero bars are wide enough that you can fit
this in on the side and there's a little catch
for the straw, so it can flick up,
but I'm not quite sure how it comes
to the refill side of things.
(calming music)
Now I think this athlete has listened,
partly, to one of GTN's tips,
but not the full part,
because, they have got lovely,
ice cold bottles here.
This bottle I can still see the ice in.
Problem being, it's 6 p.m. the night before the race
and right now, it's still probably in the 20 degrees
and the temperature is not
going to drop much lower than this
and that bottle is going to be just as warm
as the air, by the morning.
So guys if you are going to use ice bottles,
make sure you keep them in the freezer overnight
and put them into your bottle or onto your bike
the day of your race.
(calming music)
We've seen some different aero bars
and we've seen some different ways
of mounting your bike computer,
but this is different in many ways, again.
We've got these Team PI Wing aero bars,
or a type of aero bar which I haven't seen before,
but it's certainly attached in a different way.
So they've clamped it underneath
the handlebars here
on this side, I can't actually even see
how it's attached,
but it's of one single unit
and then it gets more interesting again,
because, instead of having a bike computer,
there's a watch here and the watch is just tied on
with cable ties underneath it
and then on top, instead of having any
arm cups or elbow cups for the aero bars,
they've just taped on some extra padding
onto their handlebars.
So, certainly an improvised aero setup.
This is another road bike
with an aero bar attachment
and I must admit I've never
seen aero bars this short.
I think they're too long for ITU racing
that was my first thought
that they must be for ITU,
but then you can see that
these are Profile Design bars
and they have been cut really short.
So much so that the Profile Design
is actually no longer fully on there,
but then it's the arm cups which look to me
like they are sprung,
but it's a very unusual position.
I'd like to see how this woman looks
when she's actually on her bike.
(upbeat music)
Well these aero bars have caught my eye.
I've not come across this brand before,
but these are Lixada carbon clip-on aero bars,
which this rider's got on their Scott road bike
and I like seeing road bikes
out at big events like this,
'cause it just proves that you
can compete at this level on a road bike,
but also the fact that
they've got attention to detail,
maybe they chose these
'cause they match the colorway
on their Scott road bike, who knows?
(upbeat music)
I think you know by know I love pretty colors,
well all bright colors to be honest.
This one caught my eye
and look at this lovely floral.
Feels a little bit Hawaiian,
maybe a few weeks early for 70.3 Worlds,
but I like it.
This is the Specialized lululemon
design on this S-Works.
And we've seen lots of other wonderful,
iridescent colors, matching bottle cages,
contrasting ones,
all sorts out here.
(upbeat music)
Well, this disc an the lovely color caught my eye
and then the fact that it matches the frame,
drew me closer to the frame
and when you look really closely,
it actually has Mirinda Carfrae's name on it.
So, I've no idea how it got here
and how this person got their hands on this bike,
but pretty cool to see.
(upbeat music)
Right, we found a bike
which obviously belongs to a rather tall athlete,
because they've had to improvise
in the transition here.
The saddle is so high the wheel is actually
pretty much touching the ground,
it won't fit under the bars to be able to rack.
So, I think they knew this and have come prepared
'cause there's some string,
which they're going to have to undo
when they come out of the swim,
before getting gon their bike
to be able to un-rack the bike.
Not sure what will happen
at the other end in T2
they might need some assistance there.
But if you come a little closer,
there's something else that's caught
my eye on this bike.
This guy has got some sort of order, of something.
Now, there's a knife and a fork
which I'm guessing is when to eat.
So, he plans to eat at 15K, 32K,
at another distance I can't see and then 73,
but there's another logo on here
and it's a spanner crossed with a screwdriver.
So, if you guys have got any idea
do let us know in the comments,
but at 37K and 73K he wants
to do something with a spanner and a screwdriver
and then at 64K and 90K there's a whistle.
I mean, 90K makes sense
that's the whistle for finishing the bike,
not sure what happens at 64K.
We saw that last bike had a problem
and the rider has rather long legs.
Well, here we are, sort of,
well above my bellybutton
with the saddle height
and this one has had to improvise
another level, again
and actually hooked on with
the handlebars at the front.
So, ingenious thinking for these tall guys.
(upbeat music)
- [Presenter] Well hopefully you've enjoyed this.
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And if you want some ideas
for our pure bike training sessions,
we've got a video of three sessions
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to keep your body in one piece,
that's just down here.