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Together.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hey, everyone.

Welcome to the Tri Dot podcast.

This is part two of a series we are doing helping you, our athletes, troubleshoot all of the common problems that might happen to you when you're out on the triathlon race course.

And today we are talking about bike problems.

There's a lot of stuff that can go down when you're on the bike leg of a race.

It's the longest portion of a race.

And so here to help us troubleshoot the seven common race day bike problems is coach Kurt Madden.

Now, Kurt has three top 10 finishes at the Ironman World Championships and 51 full distance Ironman finishes.

So you talk about a guy who's been on the race course a lot and has encountered some problems.

He also has a master's degree in exercise physiology and is the head of coach development for Tridot.

Andrew, it's great to be back.

I'm pumped up.

I grabbed another CO2 just before we started here to make sure I'm read to go in case I encounter a bike issue.

Well, I'm Andrew, the average triathlete, voice of the people and captain of the middle of the pack.

As always.

We'll get started with our warmup question with me and Kurt kicking that around, we'll get into our main set conversation troubleshooting the seven common race day bike problems.

And we'll end the show with our cooldown where coach Kurt will answer an audience question.

Lots of good stuff.

Let's get to it.

Time to warm up.

Let's get moving.

So, to warm us up for this bike conversation, Kurt, I.

I'm curious, in all the racing you have done, what is the biggest race day problem you personally have encountered during the bike portion of a race?

I will give you full credit, Andrew.

You stumped me on this one.

I had to.

Really?

You did.

All.

All of your bike legs have gone perfectly.

No, no major issues.

Oh, come on now.

I had to really kind of take stock on.

Okay, which one was the best biggest race day problem?

I've had so many.

I had to kind of sort them out.

But I think I kind of selected this one for a certain reason.

This was in 2019.

I was in the ultraman World Championship.

And for our listeners, this is a truly ultra distance event that somehow I was in the first group in 1983.

And it's a three day trip around the entire big island of Hawaii.

So you swim 6 points, 6.2 miles or a 10k, you bike 90 miles, you're on the other side of the island.

On day two, you bike 175 miles, climb 8,000ft.

And then day three, you've got a very special treats.

You get to run a 52.4 or double marathon from this little place called Hobby where they serve great coffee.

And it's a turnaround in the Ironman all the way back to Kona.

So day one went really, really well.

I think I came out of the water fourth.

I had no issues on the bike.

I climbed a descent, I went through wind, I went through rain, I through everything you could imagine.

And I had to climb last 15 miles up to a place called Volcano, where Kilauea is.

So we're at 5,000ft.

The plan on day two was to have an epic bike ride with no issues at all.

It was only 100, only 175 miles.

So you can imagine I am literally at the starting line with not enough clothes on.

Someone in the sport that we know, Bob Babbitt, a longtime friend, tells me, coach K, you look really cold.

Put my jacket on.

I says, bob, not an issue.

And I threw his jacket on.

We start off the first five miles in a group.

And keep in mind with the Ultraman, your crew kind of leapfrogs.

And within five miles we hit a downhill descent and it starts to rain.

So you're traveling 35 to 40 miles an hour in a group and you've got a lot of debris on the road.

And all of a sudden, boom.

I get a rear flap.

Not really fatal until you actually have to dismount.

People don't wait for you.

They are gone.

And the long and the short of it is I was trying to really get the CO2 adapter onto the stem.

The stem broke.

My crew was not there.

Now I'm really toast because I'm in an area they can't get to me.

There's not a lot of support.

But the long and the short of it is it took about 10 to 15 minutes for someone to help me to have another tube to get it back in order.

But you can imagine that that 15 minutes seemed like 15 hours.

Yeah, because now I'm in a really good spot to.

Oh my gosh.

No one literally waited for me.

So for the next 169 miles, I literally burned matches all day long playing catch up.

And as I continued to climb and descend, I felt a little bit better.

When other athletes told me, don't feel bad, I've already had two or three flats.

And I said, oh my gosh, that is just terrible.

So sorry to hear that.

So that was epic because it just, headspace wise, my entire strategy just went out the window.

Yeah, so it was just one of those flat days, right, with, with the rain and the debris on the road and you, you got caught out in the wrong spot at the right time with a broken stem.

But I mean, thankful that someone came along that could help you with it.

Right.

Even 10, 15 minutes later, this answer for me, Kurt, thankfully, was not during an Ultraman.

It was not during a Ironman or even a 70.3.

So far, all of my bike legs during my longer races have largely gone fine.

This is during a sprint.

I did the sprint at PTO Dallas a few years ago.

The PTO organization, which I think is now rebranded, came through Dallas and did a race in the Dallas Metroplex.

And I, you know, Kurt, I hadn't raced in a while, you know, I was training, but I was kinda like, oh, it's just a sprint down the road, about 15 minutes.

You know, I don't need to do too much prep for this one.

And so I just, I didn't bother to charge the Di2 shifting, electronic shifting on my bike.

I didn't think about it, you know that when you charge that, it's not like a Garmin where you have to charge it every day.

Right.

You charge your Di2 every six months and you're good for six months.

And it just so happened my Di2 died at like mile two or three on this sprint triathlon.

So, you know, it was a 14, 15 mile bike leg.

So I just had about a 13 mile bike ride in one gear.

The gear I was stuck in graciously, it wasn't a hard gear, it was a pretty easy gear.

The downside to that was I couldn't really go very fast because I was just stuck in a, in a pretty easy gear, just spinning out all the way around the bike course.

And by the time I got on the run course, man, there wasn't very many people behind me.

Kurt.

Uh, I was, I was playing catch up by then, but that's the biggest problem I've ever had and it was kind of self inflicted.

So if you, if you're out there and you have electronic shifting, check, check that battery Level before any race, not just your major A races, people.

You don't want to get caught out like I did.

Well, we're going to throw this question out to you, our audience, like we always do.

We'll put this on the TRA community hub.

We'll put this on the I am trying to Facebook group and we'll put this on the Trot Instagram because we want to hear your stories.

What is the biggest race day problem you personally have encountered during the bike portion of a race?

On to the main set going in three, two, one.

All right, onto our main set where Coach Kurt is going to talk to us about these how to troubleshoot, what to do if you encounter any of the seven most common bike problems that you could have on race day.

Now, there's so many things that could go wrong during a race.

You know, we can't cover every single possibility, but we think we've come up with a pretty solid list of the things that are most likely to happen when you're on the bike.

And Kurt, the first one, we're going to start with common bike problem number one.

This goes straight to your story from the warm up question and really mine as well, to be honest.

Mechanical issues and the most common ones here are getting a flat tire, dropping a chain, or getting stuck in one ring or one gear.

Coach Kurt, if we're out on the course on race day and we have a mechanical, what do we do?

Well, the thing that I have learned over years and years and years of swimming, biking and running is that I think to be proactive as compared to reactive, as I look back on where I've come up short and being very objective.

So I want to echo this to all of our listeners.

Be proactive rather than reactive.

Really do your due diligence with all of your gear.

And I find in doing that and really kind of being ocd, that every single little fine detail needs to be on point.

That's going to prevent many of those problems.

However, there are going to be days when you're out there.

And what I've learned, most importantly is to try to manage it, whatever it might be.

And let's go through kind of the examples.

You know, if I look at a situation where a person has a flat tire, it sounds relatively easy.

It's like, okay, I know what I need to do.

I need to definitely get the tire off.

I need to get the tube out.

I need to put another tube in.

Be very careful that I don't pinch it.

Insert that CO2 if you're still using a pump.

You can use that too.

It's sometimes easier with two people, but I've learned in doing that you've got to go really, really slow.

Now, here's where issues start to surface.

Let's say you've got your gear on your bike, you've got your spare tube, you've got your extra CO2 or two.

There's only one problem.

You haven't looked at this tube in many weeks or many months, and in your mind you're thinking, I am good to go.

Well, that tire, if it hasn't been taken out recently and do a complete inventory, you just don't know.

Even with the CO2.

I recently had a session where we had a couple CO2s.

I pulled one out and I didn't even realize, oh, guess what, this one's already been used.

So getting your race day gear totally dialed in and spending more than enough time doing that is going to be really, really, really important.

So that is the first thing that I would say.

And also depending upon your, your setup, and again, if you're using tubulars or you're going tubeless, that sealant should be Updated in Current vs well, I haven't ridden on these in a while and I'll kind of see what happens.

And then all of a sudden you're losing air.

So those are things that you definitely want to check out.

The other thing too, when.

So with your, your issue with a flat tire, the thing that I've seen too is really know your tires and your, your tube setup.

So I know that I use a Continental 5000.

It is an extremely tight fit and you have to have hands of steel to just break that seal to get it open.

So just make sure you know that going into that rate versus I hope and pray that I don't flap because I'm not going to be in a good situation.

So that, that's with that flap.

But be patient, take your time, get some water, do the best you can, and go slowly versus going too fast.

Because many times when we go too fast, we're going to make a mistake.

So if you pinch a tube, then you're toast and then you're out of CO2s and you're in a bad spot with dropping the chain.

I remember this one vividly, Andrew, and I think you were at this race.

It was the Tulsa.

I was there.

Yeah.

Not racing.

To be clear, I was there cheering.

No, but brother, you were there.

And that was a wet, wet, wet nights.

It was a wet, wet, wet day.

And I Hadn't really ridden that course too much.

But I think because of the wetness and the rain and everything else, I think I dropped my chain at least three times.

The thing I've learned is that ideally, again, for any athletes that is going to get on a course where you're going to have some climbing and you know for sure you're going to have to utilize that small chain ring.

Riding those sections nice and easy, really, really important, and going very, very easy to get that chain to move over versus God, I'm pumping adrenaline, I'm maxing out my watts, and boom, that chain flies off.

Then you've got to get off the bike to get back on.

And if you're on an incline of say 4 to 6%, the one problem is you probably won't be able to clip back in.

So then you've got to go all the way back down and start that again.

So that's something that I think would be really, really, really important.

And then you go to the scenario that you talked about.

That gosh darn chain just won't move.

Well, that is rough.

It kind of depends.

I had this again on a very unique situation in Kona.

I think it was 20, 21 again.

It rained all night long.

And everything on the bike.

Soon to be a okay until I got to mile 100.

And at mile 100, with 12 miles to go, I was stuck in one gear.

And when I was stuck in one gear, it was a gear that I didn't need because I couldn't spin at 150rpms to keep moving.

And as crowds of people continue to go by me and say, are you okay, Andrew?

I actually put up the right finger, one finger to say, yes, I am.

Yeah.

Because at that point I couldn't do much.

And again, I, I think with electronic shifters, you're kind of stuck.

Back in the day when we had more cables, you could kind of pull on a cable and move it over by hand, but it wasn't happening.

And I, I think for me that was fatal because I probably lost 15 minutes right there on race day.

And then another story kind of connected.

But I think our listeners will appreciate.

I was on a training ride.

I was 50 miles from home.

I did not have cell phone service.

I was off the grid and my chain got stuck on a hill.

When I got off the bike to find out what the problem was, the plastic tab on top that keeps the contact for it to make contact so you can shift.

The plastic tab actually broke.

And I'm like, oh, my Gosh, how did that happen?

I think it was just tension.

It was just time.

So, again, for our listeners, when you look at your bike, anticipate those things.

What I had to do was stay in that gear, hoping and praying I could find some type of convenience store.

And somebody high above in the sky was watching over me to say, two miles later, I rolled into this convenience store and I was loaded for bear.

I wasn't leaving the store until I found duct tape and I let the person know at the counter I was able to get the only roll of duct tape.

I went out and I duct taped everything to hope and pray that I could get home.

It was again, over 50 miles and I was able to use, I think, three or four gears.

So I dealt with it and managed it on that day.

But long term is I had to get that little part replaced.

And I share with my bike McKenna, if that would have happened on race day, that could have been fatal.

So maintain that gear, be proactive, don't be reactive.

And talking about the getting stuck in a gear, a different manifestation of that in Kona a couple years ago, coach Joanna Namy, who actually was on our last podcast episode talking about the swim, same thing, helping us troubleshoot the seven most common swim problems in Kona.

She got out on the bike course and her electronic shifting wasn't shifting, and she knew she had charged it, like there was no reason why this shouldn't be happening.

And so she's literally just at an aid station stuck.

And a couple of people went by that she knew, and they checked on her and no one could figure out why is this shifting, not shifting.

And then finally a mechanic came through and he's helping her with her bike.

One of the race mechanics thankfully found her and it dawned on him, oh, you flew here.

You have the model electronic shifting.

You have has like an airplane sleep mode.

And so apparently her electronics on its own had triggered, or maybe it was her bike shop, I'm forgetting the details, but her electronic shifting was put into travel mode so that the battery wouldn't wear out while it was traveling.

And so her electronic shifting was more or less turned off.

And there was like a certain sequence of buttons you had to press to wake it back up.

And then she was fine the rest of the race.

But had that mechanic not found her and known that she would have been really stuck.

And so really, Kurt, like, like you said in the beginning, know your gear, know your tires, know your tubes, know your setup, know what's in that flat kit, know how to use it you know, know how your chain works.

Um, you know, and that knowledge is power.

Cause that knowledge is if you know your gear and you know the condition of your gear and you know what might happen to your gear once you're out on the race course.

You can do exactly what coach, what coach Kurt is talking about.

Stay calm, stay cool, stay collected, troubleshoot the problem and then hopefully get moving again.

So Kurt, onto common bike problem number two.

And this is tech failures.

So, so th, this is, this is probably my warmup story right where my Di2 wasn't working because it's just a failure of technology in this case I didn't charge it.

But if somebody has their bike computer isn't working, their watch isn't working, maybe their power meter just didn't connect to their power pedals or something didn't connect to the Garmin.

For you to read your wattage, there's a number of tech issues that can go wrong and suddenly you don't have the data you're used to having.

What do we do in that scenario when we're counting on that tech to work on race day?

This is somewhat similar to our previous question that you want to be proactive than reactive.

And what I want to share with listeners that I've learned is that we spend so much time training and prepping and honestly and objectively we want to spend time to schedule the finish.

And what I mean by that schedule the finish.

It's like you're kind of teeing everything up to have the best bike possible with no issues at all.

Spend time doing that versus it gets really hectic the day before the race.

The whole day is just consumed with drop off pickup.

But spend the time to make sure you can double triple check all of your boxes.

And I know when I travel the first thing I do is unpack my bike, get my wheels on.

I ride it around even in parking lot.

If there's anything at all that I think is not right, you know, take it and, and and have a bike tech personal look it over from head to toe, pay what you need to pay to have that peace of mind.

So let's kind of go through the things that might happen.

The first issue might be just your computer.

For whatever reason it was working fine at home.

You're, you're good to go before the race.

Everything appears to be good but if it's not good, you've got to get it taken care of.

I remember being at a race in, in California called Vineman and you can and our listeners can Appreciate this.

I'll keep it light because it was somewhat painful.

You're with your spouse, you're going to drop your bike off.

And when you say, I'll be right back, you should never say, I'll be right back.

Because these two guys spent over two hours, two bike mechanics, on my bike, to get everything to calibrate.

The temperature got warmer and warmer and warmer.

And I'm running back and forth and my wife's asking me, are you ready yet?

No, we're not ready yet.

So I had to eat a little humble pie.

They spent two hours and they had SRAM on the phone.

They're telling me, I'm really sorry, I can't, I can't do it.

So then you're like, okay, here's my reality.

At least I know that this is not going to work, so I'm not going to see my power.

However, on race morning, while I was literally in the bathroom doing my business, another bike person sent me a video on YouTube.

And in three minutes, when I followed the YouTube, guess what?

The power meter all of a sudden worked.

However, if you're out on the bike course and all of a sudden you lose that data, the first thing to do is don't panic.

You need to always think about technology is awesome, but you need plan A, plan B, plan C, have three or four parachutes on your back.

And ladies and gentlemen, no surprise what I'm going to say.

It goes back to one thing we all have.

It's called rpe, or your rate of perceived effort.

And sometimes in your training, it's good to cover your bike computer, to know your power, to know your heart rate, to know how fast you're traveling, because if and when it's going to happen, you are toast.

It could even be your chest strap.

That's very common.

All of a sudden, the battery just dies.

You've got no heart rate data.

You've got to go back to your training, all the reps you have in to make sure that it's good to go.

So that is something you need to be really mindful of versus I'm really dependent upon my technology.

It has to come through for me.

And if I don't have it working, I'm going to lose a head gasket or just my whole race plan goes out the window for an athlete.

Just remember that's going to happen.

So just continue to do the best with your gear, look over it, do the very best you can.

And if and when it happens on race day, you just really have to Manage it.

I wish I could say this is a 1, 2, 3, and you should be fine, but you just got to go ahead and do that.

Yeah.

The couple things I'll add here, Kurt.

We actually had a podcast episode just a few months ago at the time we're recording this, where Try to Coach Will Usher was on the episode, and we were talking about working out without technology.

Like Train without Tech was the title of the episode.

Is there an occasion where it's beneficial to go out and train without your watch, without your power, without your whatever, whatever?

And in my head, when I was crafting the episode, it was like, okay, there's probably some benefit throughout the season to do some sessions like that.

And Will made a great point.

He was like, you can still take the tech and like you just said, just cover up the garment or just put your watch in your back pocket instead of having it on your wrist and have some experiences where you're doing the training off of rpe, off of the way you're feeling, but you're still collecting the data.

So it uploads to tridot and you see how the workout went.

Right?

And the Try tech is able to calibrate your upcoming workouts based on how the workout went.

And so, yeah, that's another benefit here, right?

Doing some training sessions where you're going off of how you feel, so that if that tech fails on race day, you kind of have a sense of, okay, I've done this before.

I've gauged my effort and how my body feels.

I've been in tune with how my body feels on a workout before, and I'm just going to pace this race day with that knowledge and that experience.

So, really like you pointing that out.

Kurt, the other scenarios we talk about, you know, just tech failures, there could be times I think we've all encountered, especially when we're running, that you're looking at heart rate and you're like, wait a minute, this doesn't seem to be right.

And Andrew, I tell stories.

I don't know why you always seem to be there when these things happen.

I don't know if it's your aura or what.

I need to stop coming to the races where you race.

Kurt is.

I know.

Well, you've been there enough to know that, hey, stuff happens on race day.

So this is in St.

George, remember, at the world Championship?

Yes, sir.

You remember that day vividly.

So we had a cold swim.

We're on the bike.

The first half wasn't too bad.

It got really warm and really windy.

I think I was like at mile 80 or 90 going, oh, my goodness, this is the real deal.

So now we get to start climbing Snow Canyon.

So I saw John Mayfield, like at about mile 95, and he's like, oh, I think you're in second place by six minutes.

And I'm thinking, okay, I've got to climb Snow Canyon.

And for our listeners, if you want an epic experience, definitely go to St.

George.

Even though this, yeah, it's a good.

Climb, it's an awesome climb.

So I started climbing up that grade.

I think I'm approaching mile 100 and I'm looking at my heart rate on the computer.

It goes from like I'm in, usually in the zone.

My, my ceiling's like 135ish.

I know I shouldn't go over that.

All of a sudden, Andrew, it spikes to 2:44.

I just about lost it.

I'm like, oh my gosh, that is like 100 beats over.

Am I dead?

Dear Lord, I have, I have sinned.

I have sinned.

And if you're going to take me now, I am definitely way off the charts.

I felt okay climbing, but it's rough.

It was hot, but it literally got into my head.

So when I got to the very top, finally, for that nice long descent, I'm thinking, what just happened?

How can my heart rate be at 244?

I didn't feel as though I was hyperventilating.

So for our listeners know, sometimes you can look at data.

It's not perfect, but take stock.

And safety always comes first.

I think, honestly, if my heart rate was that high, that, that, that would have been it.

They would have called the medics and said, hey, this guy's done.

So just know that it's going to be inaccurate at times.

And even on the run we see that just with satellites, you could be running at say a 8:30 pace.

All of a sudden it drops down to 7:20 or it goes to 10 minutes.

No need to panic.

Use your RPE and just maintain your focus.

Yeah.

One more thing, Kurt.

With these technology tools, right?

And I think people get caught out on this more so with the bike than the run.

Because.

Because we all get outdoors, put our, put our multi sport watch on our wrist and go for a run.

And know how that piece of tech works in the field where a lot of cyclists these days, a lot of triathletes, especially when you're doing your training indoors on the trainer, which I'm a big fan of.

I do most of my rides on the trainer.

Indoors.

But because of that, I don't have as much practice with.

Okay.

When I go outdoors for a ride, is my Garmin bike computer or my Garmin wristwatch, is it connecting to my power meter and my heart rate strap?

And are those connections happening?

And if not, why not?

And so suddenly I'm out on a run on a race course, and I haven't done a ride outdoors in a couple months and things aren't connecting and working the way they're supposed to.

Well, okay, I probably should have gotten outside a little bit before, a little bit more often in training to make sure it's all connecting.

So I'll just point that out.

If, you know, you're a triathlete that does most of your, your bike training indoors, get outside with all of your race day tech and, and be experienced with how the buttons work, how the connections work, how to troubleshoot it if they don't work.

And then hopefully you don't have this problem on race day because you have that experience.

Common bike problem number three.

This is weather related, right?

You get out on the bike and sometimes some wild winds can sweep up.

Sometimes it can start storming or start raining, depending on the length of your race.

You're usually out there on the bike for a while.

So the weather ebbs and flows.

Sometimes this is expected.

You knew in the forecast this might happen.

And sometimes it can catch you by surprise.

You didn't know it was going to get chilly, you didn't know it was going to get windy, and all of a sudden it did.

So coach Kurt, riding the bike, some wild weather comes around unexpected or not.

How can we handle riding in those kind of conditions?

This is a tough one.

And this is something that we have to, again, be objective to say, I cannot control the weather.

I have to manage it.

And there are days when Mother Nature is going to win and just leave it at that.

So let's kind of focus on two things.

Let's start with wind, and then we'll definitely go to rain.

So we know that always.

And I'm going to say this professionally, that wind is our friend.

There's always wind, unless you're kind of inside, but maybe with a fan on, you still have a little bit of wind.

If there's no wind and you're traveling 28 miles an hour, you're going to have wind that's, I think, called air resistance.

You're creating your own wind.

Yeah.

If I go back to two experiences, how I managed it, I'm going to go back to last year.

In Texas, it was a very, very, very windy day.

So people that have done Texas, you know where I'm going to go with this.

And people that haven't be prepared.

But we can see it.

The gusts were supposed to be like 30 plus miles an hour.

And as we know, we head south on that toll road that we're going to have went.

So you've got to say, okay, I cannot change this at all.

But what I'm going to do is I'm going to remain very calm.

I'm going to follow my plan.

I'm going to watch my power, I'm going to watch my heart rate.

And I've got 20 miles of hell.

And as I look at 20 miles of hell, it's going to get rough, but I'm going to break it up into five mile sections.

I'm going to stay an arrow.

I'm going to watch my cadence.

I'm going to go back to just fundamentals and just ride it out.

And you get to mile five, it's kind of like doing an FTP.

It's.

Instead of 20 minutes, it's 20 miles.

Okay?

There's five, there's 10.

I've only got 10 more miles.

But the real cool thing is when you get to the turnaround now you have something that, remember, it's called tailwind.

And then that's almost like a drug because you're traveling 32 miles an hour, you're spun out.

Your cadence is just keeping you in a good spot.

Your power is down, you're not pushing too hard, your heart rate's in a good spot.

So now you have to say, and I only have one more to go.

But it's that mental thing.

Wait, I was traveling 30 miles an hour, so I've got to turn around one more time.

And now I'm only traveling 15.

But it's the exact same way the second time.

It's maybe every 5k.

I'm breaking that up, breaking that up, breaking that up, and then again, once you turn around, you're fine.

So stay calm, stay within your zones for your power, your heart rate.

Stay an arrow, and you should be fine.

And I know for me, even after that race, I think three days later, my core was so so.

And I couldn't figure out that I was in Arrow for like five hours in that position.

So that was a story that I remember for Texas.

But we've got to go back to the big islands because we do have the wild winds of Waikoloa, the famous.

Crosswinds that Blow people off the road.

Literally.

Literally.

I mean I've got footage, I've seen it all, but I can remember back in the 80s of just racing it.

Back then we didn't have a lot of technology.

It was a road bike head down and you know you're riding on the flats, you're in this small chain ring, you are going seven miles an hour on a flat and as you're actually racing and I would take stock on people that you hear a wide variety of words and phrases and cuss words.

Yeah, sure.

And I'm thinking it's okay.

Hey, the wind is our friend.

Aloha bra.

How are you?

I mean not trying to be a wiseacre but just trying to deal with it and know that.

And I remember that vividly.

But again I couldn't control it.

And I also remember back to the Ultraman in 2019.

I'm in a place called Waimea at 2,500ft in elevation.

It's rainy, it's 60 degrees.

We've got 40 mile an hour crosswinds coming off the Kohala mountain.

I've got my crew behind me on a downhill section.

The best I could do is 10 miles an hour because I was going to get blown off my bike.

Once I got to the bottom down by Kauai High, I had to make a right hand turn and I had headwind for the last 20 miles of 175 mile bike leg where my crew had to run up next to me to give me water, to give me gels, to practically feed me because I could not keep my hands off the handlebars.

I would have crashed.

So keep in mind that wind is ugly, it's nasty, but it's not forever.

Now the other element is rain.

If you haven't encountered rain yet, you're going to encounter rain.

We talked about the Ironman and Tulsa.

It rained all night long.

When I got to T1, I wiped my bike off because that's what I do.

And I'm like why would I wipe my bike off?

Because it's going to get wet all again.

But it rained all day long and you have water coming up, you have water coming from the side, you have water coming down.

I remember vividly there's still a video in my head.

I'm traveling on a downhill at mile 100 at 40 miles an hour in the RA and a truck is coming directly at me and I'm thinking, oh my goodness Lord, if you need to take me, take me now.

But hopefully you won't.

But I got through that.

So safety was a real concern.

Know also too that I did Ironman Canada.

When it rained all day long, you're at elevation, just the shivering, the dexterity, you couldn't grab your bottle.

Want to play it really, really, you know, safe on that with the rain.

So something is, is always going to happen out there.

And I remember one more race.

It was called the Lead man.

It was up in Oregon and it rained all day long.

I was definitely underdressed.

I was so cold at mile 70, I actually went into a porta potty for three minutes just to get warm to come back out and get back on my bike.

But I wanted to be really, really safe.

As I came in a T2, my hands were so frozen I couldn't get my bike helmet off.

I think in some cases, if you know it's going to happen, you can have a jacket with you or on you or in a pocket or in a saddlebag.

If you're out there and you get caught up in it and the temperature drops and you don't have any of those things, is it just press on and barrel your way through it?

Not necessarily.

And this is why I think that there's days where you feel very driven, that you want to be the hero.

But there's some days and it's hard to do that.

You just have to face the music to say no.

Because if you can't control the bike and you're on a downhill, that's just a safety concern.

That, that's.

That's something that now you need to call it.

Then the other thing too, that's really a challenge when you have wind and, or rain, is you've got to think about your caloric intake.

I know at Ironman California a couple of years ago, it was so windy, people had the same situation I had when I was an Ultraman that they were not eating or drinking.

And you can really get behind.

So, you know, when you get behind on your fluids, your electrolytes, everything as far as your calories go, you're going to put yourself in a bad spot.

So it's a judgment call, but there's always going to be another race versus I will die on this hill.

I think the thing that Kurt, that I remind myself when I'm out in weather like that on race day, I remind myself that everybody's facing it right?

And, and sure, it is possibly going to derail me from a certain time I would like to achieve, but it's not.

It's derailing everybody equally and it's not putting me, you know, at a disadvantage with my competition.

It's not.

I'm not the only one out there suffering in this, in this bad luck of weather.

What we're all, all in it together, right out there on course in the wind and the rain.

And I try to remind myself of that.

If you're ever on a bike in a race and you have wind, you have weather, you have rain, and you know for sure that you approach an athlete or you see an athlete that is in really bad shape, you need to really assess right then and there.

It's kind of like you're driving a car down the freeway and someone is struggling.

If you don't stop right then, you're going to miss that opportunity to make sure they're okay, have a conversation.

Because as we know, the longer you're out there, you get this intoxicated feeling, and you're so focused on that.

You've got to do that.

And I think if, if you or I, Andrew, were in that spot, we would want someone to come up to us and say, hey, I'm watching out for you.

Let's.

Let's kind of see where you are right now.

And I think even though it's painful, you've got to do it with your head, not with your heart, or maybe a combination of both to say, hey, I've got to do this.

So it's a great reminder there, Kurt.

Um, common bike problem number four.

This is you're out on your bike, you're riding, and you start feeling some tingling in your feet or tingling in your hands or maybe even some, some, some legs.

You can start getting leg cramps.

People can start getting discomfort in the saddle on their butt, or they can start getting some discomfort in their shoulders and their elbows just being in the.

An arrow and pad.

So, so long discomfort in your hands.

And if they're out on the bars long enough, so.

So, Kurt, there's a couple different touch points between us and the bike.

And if we start experiencing discomfort or tingling or numbness in those touch points.

What do we do that makes it very, very unpleasant?

And I'm going to go back to what we've kind of.

The common thread in this is that try to be very proactive.

So as we look at the tingling of the hands, you look at the feet, it's really go back to when was the last time you had a bike fit.

So let's start right there.

And again, if you've got your reps, and like you said, Andrew, sometimes it's More convenient to ride inside.

But it's a different feeling when you're outside.

So specificity, if you're going to do a 70.3 right outside for three and a half hours on a course that is similar, that way those signs and symptoms, they might come up before all of a sudden on race day it's like, oh my goodness, I have not encountered this.

So if we go with the tingling hands, the thing that you want to think about as an athlete and again, myself as a coach, those fingers are just, yeah, feeling ugly.

Think about your positioning on the bike.

It's like, okay, what is causing this?

Am I really too far forward in my saddle?

Am I having too much weight in my hands?

Maybe I need to pull back a little bit.

And again, as we know that you can do one hand at a time.

So I would say the majority of time pull back a little bit and sit further back on your saddle versus you're so arrow, you're so hunched over.

And many times on a flat course that's going to happen right there.

So make sure your system is all good to go.

The other issue is with feet.

In fact, I encountered this kind of almost for the first time at, at Texas just, you know, two weeks ago.

Sometimes I would have a hot spot on my right foot about mile 80 I would see that, that it was manageable.

But at Ironman Texas, my reality is my feet got really hot at mile 30 or 40.

So I was in a situation I just, I couldn't change it.

I had to manage it.

What could I do?

Well, I decided because I am just a little competitive at every aid stations, I'm going to throw water onto my shoes, I'm going to loosen up my, my straps a little bit to get more air in there.

But it really impacted my ability to maintain power.

Some people actually get off their bike, they stretch a little bit, they get out of their shoes and they get back in.

And it's just one of those things.

So that's a short term management issue.

Versus if I use myself as the guinea pig of all the years of running.

I need a very wide toe box.

My feet are very flat.

I've come to the realization now after all these years that I have got to get a wide bike shoe.

Because if you think about it, bike shoes are typically, there's just one width.

The thing that I would have people do if your feet are kind of flat and wide like mine is take out your insoles, take a picture of your feet on your insoles.

But I found for me on both sides.

I was over by an inch and a half, and I'm thinking, wow, problem.

There it is right there.

I mean, it's so transparent.

It's kind of scary.

It's like, why didn't I figure this out?

I thought it was maybe the color of the shoe, the wrong size, but it was really the width.

But that's more long term.

And then you know that on race day, if you have that issue on the bike, it's going to impact your run.

So tick stock.

And I know for me, I'm going to go a different direction on that.

As we look at the saddle, there's various things.

I mean, saddle is like a pair of shoes.

Find the one that works for you.

The common mistake that I see with athletes, and I'm going to raise my hand because I am a center.

You get a race coming up and you haven't broken the saddle in, and it's just like back in the day.

True Grit, John Wayne, Robert Redford were riding horses.

It takes time to break that saddle in.

Same thing on a bike.

And I know it can really be a little bit uncomfortable.

That boy, I'm a little bit tender.

Why?

I don't want to be tender.

I'm getting an abrasion or chafing immediately.

So the thing to do to prevent, actually try to get that saddle way in advance.

Break it in.

So if you're going to do a 70.3 or a full, know that the other thing is think about your kit.

If you know for sure, you just don't do well.

That chamois is a little bit thin.

It's probably better to get a thicker kit and put that on with a better chamois and actually change when you come into T2.

I think that is really key.

But if you're in that situation where you have discomfort.

And I remember again, it was in Coeur d' Alene.

For some reason, my body and that saddle were not working together.

And we started getting a little chafed, and that wasn't fun.

I really.

I actually went by an aid station and I screamed out, does anyone have any Vaseline?

It was incredible.

And often they do.

Yeah, some of the aid stations will have that.

I.

I came back around and they threw me like a little something on a stick.

And I grabbed that Vaseline and I slowed down and oh, my goodness.

It's when we're hurting.

The fundamental things of all I want now and pray for is Vaseline.

See, that's the most important thing.

I don't care about anything But I need a sport.

Yeah.

What a sport.

Yeah.

But at the same time, what I use, I use desitin.

And Andrew, I know with your little one, if you could, I always tell people if you can put desitin on a baby's little butt.

For any age group athlete, desitin is your go to.

It has saved me many, many times.

So prepare in advance, especially for a foal and those sensitive parts of your body.

When you're saddle, a little bit of lubrication goes a long way.

Yeah.

And definitely, Kurt, this is something that hopefully in training an athlete has figured out.

What combination of shammy thickness and saddle makes my butt happy.

Right.

That can take some trial and error.

I, I, for years I very, I, I refer to them as dainty sit bones.

I just have sit bones that do not like being on a saddle for very long.

It's just the way they are.

Right.

It's, I just don't have that, that resilience in my sit bones, I suppose.

But, but I have figured out over the years, okay, this saddle I, I tend to do well with and I actually, Kurt, tend to do better with thinner chamois.

And for years I was buying the thicker ones, just assuming, oh, more padding is better.

And buying really padded saddle saddles.

Oh, more padding must be better.

And when I ended up on a thinner saddle with a thinner tri specific chamois, I tend to do better with that.

But everybody's gonna be different, right?

So you gotta work out in your training what is going to make your butt as happy as possible.

But even still, you get out on the race course, it's a long day, your butt's out there a long time.

And for me, Kurt, whether it's just feeling pressure on those dainty sit bones or feeling tingling in hands, fingers, feet, you have to change your position a little bit.

Right.

You have to get those body parts moving.

I'm wearing my Ironman Waco shirt today.

While we're recording doing Ironman Waco, I'm at like mile 70 or 80 and all of a sudden my left foot, I'd never had this happen before.

My left foot specifically, like my toes kept falling asleep.

And so every like mile or two, I was literally just like, like a little like bird doing this with my toes, just getting those toes moving.

And it would, it would get blood circulating down there and they would be fine for a couple miles and have to do it again.

And so whatever body part is giving you issue, once you're out there, even if it's A piece of gear or something you don't normally struggle with.

Get that body part moving.

Get that body part.

Let it change positions just a little bit to just, you know, if your calf's starting to tweak or cramp up a little bit, get that leg stretched out for just a second, kind of reset your body, and then keep going, and hopefully it'll run its course.

Yeah.

Real quick, Andrew, you said the C word, and I just want to spend a minute on that.

At any time, when you're on the bike and you notice a hamstring cramp, calf cramp, in your mind, ask yourself, where am I on my electrolytes?

I tend to always try to do my best to carry extra electrolytes.

It's better to be proactive on that, too, versus, well, it's kind of in my head.

It's going to go away.

No, no, no.

Because the longer you're out there in the elements with mother nature, that's going to come back and bite you real hard.

I don't want to brag, Kurt, but I'm so good at drinking electrolytes and taking in electrolytes, so good at this that I took in too many at Ironman Waco.

So anyway, common bike problem number five.

While we're talking about nutrition, Kurt is losing your nutrition.

Or maybe you're rolling up to an aid station on the bike.

This is a common one.

It can be crowded.

You're on the move, volunteers are trying to hand your stuff, and maybe you just don't grab what you're trying to grab.

And then all of a sudden, you've exited the aid station.

You didn't get the aid that you were counting on getting.

So if we're out on the bike, it's race day.

We either drop a bottle or misplace a gel.

Fishing a gel out of our pocket, we drop it.

If we find ourselves without the aid, we're counting on hydration or nutrition.

What do we do?

This one is really, really tough.

They're all tough, but this one in particular, because I think when you look at any race where you feel like we ask the question, let's talk about success.

How would you define that?

And I think I always come back to two big overarching themes.

Your pacing and your nutrition.

Do always do your best to make sure that as you're planning your nutrition, that you've got plan A, you've got plan B and plan C.

So I'll kind of talk through our listeners, you know, a couple different scenarios, let's say Plan A, you're good to go.

You've got all your nutrition kind of on your bike.

You've got it in your down tube and your bottle, you've got it maybe on your.

Your handlebars.

You're going to put things in your kit.

So you're good to go there.

And that should not be a problem.

However, it happens all the time with pros, age groupers all over the board.

All of a sudden you hit this bump and boom, that bottle flies off.

And all of your.

Literally, your refrigerator was right there and it just went out the window.

So what do you need to do?

Okay, well, that is going out the window.

I know that I'm going to need 200 calories per hour.

I know I'm going to use some salt.

So you've got to kind of make those adjustments to say, okay, those aid stations now are definitely aid stations.

And you've got to go a lot slower to say, I need to retool, try to use again your head and be very intuitive, like, what am I going to need?

And I know that if you pulled up to an aid station, even if you needed to get off your bike to make sure that you can get gels, you know, get anything you need, it's not perfect, but you've got to adapt.

It's like, I ordered steak and there's no steak, but I'm going to have something else on the menu that's going to be just fine.

So that would be the first thing that I would really recommend to people that you need to do.

The other thing, too is I found through the years is you kind of underestimate what you're going to need and this could be a reality.

And Andrew, again, you were at that race with John Mayfield.

It was Coeur d' Alene, and I think that day was hitting like 102.

Very hot, very hot.

And I think I was.

I was having a conversation at the start, and the conversation, well, it doesn't seem too hot right now.

And I'm like, you're absolutely correct because it's 5 o' clock in the morning.

We'll come back this 11.

So I.

I had planned out my nutrition to the point where I was using, you know, the electrolytes, I was using my nutrition.

I thought I was good to go.

When I started that second lap, I looked at my bike computer like, oh, my gosh, what's happening?

My heart rate was actually matching my power.

So instead of having a heart rate of 120 and my power's at 170 in watts.

It was like 120, 125.

And I'm digging into my little electrolyte kit, and guess what?

There's no more.

So here I am, so embarrassed.

It's like, can you put a sack on my head?

Because, like, I'm a novice now.

I'm supposed to be a coach.

I'm supposed to be someone that is knowledgeable.

I'm on a podcast and I'm on a podcast, but I'm now asking people, how's your day going?

They're going great.

And I said, cool.

Oh, you're cramping.

Excellent.

You know what I'm thinking?

Do you have any extra salt?

So sometimes when you're out there, you need to do that just like we would do that to others if you can give someone else.

So I literally had to pivot, hoping and praying I could find another person.

So I was leaning on athletes, which is so embarrassing.

But I'm just, We're family, so we can talk openly.

That if it wasn't for their support.

And I knew because it kept getting hotter and hotter.

I'm like, nothing good's going to happen out here.

I've got to get off this bike course because now I get to run the marathon when it's like 102 degrees.

What a sport.

What a sport, What a sport.

So I know that it's just something that you learn from your mistakes, and I would tell everyone is to make sure you're bringing more than enough.

Another thing, too.

Two other things that I know that can and will happen.

It's unfortunate that I've learned that don't put everything on your bike the day before.

In other words, when you're putting your nutrition on your bike, do it on the morning of.

Because I've had athletes tell me they made that mistake.

They had everything on the bike the day before.

They didn't check it before they got on the bike.

And Andrew, right to your point there, the timer goes off.

They open that little bota bag, and guess what?

Everything is gone.

And then they lose it.

It's like, oh, wait a minute, all my nutrition's gone.

Now I've got to go ahead and pivot.

So that's something that I've learned that is really, really key.

The other thing, too, is personal needs.

Make sure you have extra stuff.

Because I know that kind of at the halfway point on the.

That's another thing.

So if you can say, okay, I lost my nutrition, but it's my personal needs bag, I can get more and I've learned sometimes in the excitement, they'll just throw the bag.

I had this at Texas.

I didn't quite get all my nutrition.

I got some of it, so I had to adapt.

But stop there, reload.

Because now you're like, oh, my gosh, I got another parachute on my back.

So utilize all those resources out on the bike.

I would say probably for every single age grouper, it is worth stopping.

Getting that bottle, getting that gel, getting that electrolyte tablet, making sure, particularly for middle distance and full distance, if you're doing a sprint or Olympic, okay, keep on rolling.

You didn't get that water.

So what?

But the longer you're going, the more vital those things are.

So make sure you're getting what you need.

And also, Kurt, I think you would agree with this as well.

Look at the course map.

Usually the course map for your race, whether it's an Ironman event or a local event, they will usually kind of point out, here's where the aid stations are.

You can kind of see how far apart they are.

Sometimes there's a lot of them, sometimes there's a few of them.

But if there are only a few of them, add some bottle cages to your bike.

Add some nutrition.

Take more than you think you might need.

If it's a little sparser on that.

To that point, Andrew, I totally agree.

I think that if you miss an aid station, it's better to stop again, swallow your pride, circle back around and do what you need to do.

Because if you're on the average 30 to 40 minutes, you've got to think about road surface, you've got to think about temperature, you've got to think wind.

Your heart rate is going to definitely elevate if you're dehydrated or your caloric needs are at a deficit.

So it's better to slow things down.

It's only two or three minutes, but you're much better off as the race progresses because we need to run after the bike.

Common bike problem number six is getting stuck in a crowded section of athletes.

When this happens, we need to avoid drafting.

So we have to stay, you know, keep a distance between the bike in front of us.

But we also don't want to get slowed down by people.

Some people, whether it's intentionally or not, you try to pass them and all of a sudden they speed up.

And now you're.

You're getting caught in a drag race trying to pass them, trying to burn a match just to get around somebody.

Navigating the field can be a whole thing, and it can become a problem when we're out there.

So, Coach Kurt, if we're on course and the triathletes around us are slowing us down, they're.

They're hogging up the road, they're clogging up the road, they're impeding our progress.

What do we do?

Yeah, this is a tough one, and I've seen this change over the years.

I'll play it really, really safe.

You know, when we have those crowded conditions with athletes and you kind of get in a situation where you're trying to avoid drafting, I would say the number one thing is just play it cool.

In other words, don't burn your matches.

Don't become, you know, a situation where you're just becoming very, very vocal.

It's better just to play it cool, maintain your integrity and be patient and be objective.

And it sounds real easy in theory, because things can happen out on a race course that you see a group of people going by that are in a pack and, you know, everyone knows what they're doing, but it's like, well, I need to, again, be very objective here.

The thing I've learned when that happens is I'm going to start with just safety.

I've seen this through the years, and it's no hit on triathletes, but generally speaking that we're not riding the Tour de France.

We're not riding every single day in large groups in very close proximity.

We are on tri bikes.

We've got a lot of stuff on, and sometimes just that etiquette probably is not going to be the best.

Plus, we haven't ridden in a group before, and it's a lot different than if you look at, say, a road race.

So I've learned that it's better to do your best to give space on the front, on the sides, in the back, and always kind of have your head up and be on guard, because it's very easy that if your back wheel gets hit, you're going to go down.

And that's a terrible sound.

I've heard it so many times when someone just says, oh, poop, and they go over the handlebars and someone's down and someone's down.

You can see it on tv and it's like, wow, that looks really.

But when you're actually there and you hear it, it's even worse.

Know, too, that when you're in that situation that if you're trying to get away from a group, you might be at 175 watts, you're going to burn up to 250 to pull ahead, chances are they're going to catch back up with you.

Yeah.

So again, your birdie matches.

The best thing is just give a little bit of space, pull back a little bit.

Know too that when you're in the group, I mean, again, just to be very objective, the big benefit is your heart rate comes down, your wattage comes down, you're going to run a lot better.

But do your best just to manage it.

It's going to happen in any race where you're on a flat or it gets really, really impacted.

But, you know, when you get to that finish line, you can check yourself to say, I did my best to avoid drafting and, or I got through those crowded conditions.

And if people did that, honestly, I've learned I just need to let it go.

They have to live with that.

And if they can look in the mirror to say, it was a time trial, I did my best, it's better just to let the chips fall.

Really great points there, Kurt.

I always try to remind myself, particularly in middle distance and full distance triathlon, I try to remind myself that, okay, I might not be thrilled with what the pack conditions are at this present moment, but it's going to change.

And within a mile or two, right, the bikes around you, the people around you are almost always going to totally change, whether it's you going around some people or the crowd thinning out.

So usually when you kind of get stuck and bogged down, it's very temporary.

So just be patient, play the long game.

Like Kurt said, the time you're going to lose is going to be negligible compared to keeping your cool, keeping your heart rate down.

Yeah.

And the other, the other scenario, and it's again, so vivid in my mind, is when any athlete is approaching an aid station, if you're behind somebody and they literally almost come to a stop, you're asking yourself, why are you stopping?

So you want to, as you approach an aid station, have your head up.

I always keep one hand on a break just in case you have to kind of be a little defensive, meaning that you're, you're defending yourself and you're doing that defensive driving because they don't know what's behind them and it's you.

So give yourself a little bit of grace versus, hey, I'll just kind of steamroll through this aid station and custom swear to everyone, that's not good karma, that's not good energy.

So just be prepared at aid stations, especially if you see people starting to stop.

Coach Kirk.

The last and final common bike problem.

Common bike problem number seven we're going to talk about today is you're out on the bike on race day on the course, and you gotta.

You just gotta go to the bathroom.

This is the real deal, Kurt.

It's the real deal.

It's a big problem.

What do we do?

We're on course on our bike, and, man, it hits us.

We got to go.

You mean, Andrew, this is something that you've encountered before?

I've encountered this, yeah.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

Well, I'm going to be very politically correct, but I'm going to get down to the real nitty gritty.

Yeah.

There's a couple of scenarios where you're in the bike.

When a person has that urge to literally pee, then your body is telling you your bladder is probably really full.

And when you're sitting on those little sensitive bones in that part of your body, it's even more uncomfortable.

So if you can master the craft and you feel okay with it.

I don't do this in training, but I mastered it on race day.

Is that okay?

You have to relieve yourself.

What I found that works very good.

It's tough if the course is perfectly flat, but even if you get a few little rollers with bridges, you would get in your big chain ring for sure.

Make sure that you can come up out of your saddle, and as you're lowering your cadence and you're up off the saddle, you're actually going up the hill and literally just taking ap.

Now, it takes a little bit of practice, and timing is everything, but I think I've learned that it's just much more comfortable than doing that same thing on the downhill.

If you can plan things that you're coasting, lift yourself up off the saddle, keep your.

Your feet position at nine and three, and it's actually not all that bad.

The one challenge is this.

If you don't have some type of water or something soon, you could have a lot of irritation that I go back kind of that desitin thing.

So I think that is a little bit easier.

Some people just cannot do that.

And I totally get that.

The only thing that you can do literally is you have to get to a porta potty, knowing that's your best option.

I would tell anyone, honestly, I'm not saying peeing on the bike is the best thing to do, but it's different than getting off your bike and going to the bathroom there.

That would cause some major issues with race officials, and it might lead to A disqualification.

So that's the easier part of this dilemma.

But let's say you over fibered.

Let's say for whatever reason your stomach is feeling a little queasy and then you get a call for number two, not number one.

This is number two.

That can be fatal.

I've had a couple situations where I've been able to find a porta Potty, but that is something that is got to be taken care of sooner or later.

You can't just say, hey, I'll suck it up and I'll wait till I get off the bike.

You know what, that's not probably going to happen.

I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

So if that situation comes up, just pray that you can have enough muscle control to get to that porta potty.

I would back off on your intensity.

Stay focused on again.

That's the most important thing.

I know what I need to do.

I've got to take care of my business.

So that is just something that is kind of your worst nightmare.

But I know going into races through the years, I've really tried to eliminate that by shifting my diet and just making sure it's on point.

So I have a small amount of solitude the day before, knowing that a small amount of solid food should be out of my body before as compared to, well, we'll stop by the favorite Italian restaurant and we're just going to eat pizza and eat pasta till we puke.

Not a good choice the night before.

Great set everyone.

Let's cool down.

All right, Coach Kurt, onto the cool down of today's show and we have a question from the audience.

We are overhauling our cooldowns every show of the try.podcast on the cooldown.

For the near to mid future we will be featuring one question from an audience member of the Try Dot podcast.

And today's question comes from Eric.

He says, quite often the power I can hold outdoors on my bike is less than what I can hold riding indoors on the trainer.

Why is this the case and can this be overcome?

And when I saw Eric's question, Kurt, this is my experience.

Spot on.

I struggle with this as well.

Even as much as I know the platform and as much as I know how tried out works and how riding indoors, work versus outdoors and having a podcast and talking to coaches like yourself, this can be tough to do.

It's kind of like in swimming, right?

Where a lot of swimmers will refine their technique in the pool and they get faster in the pool and they hit open water and their swim pace is the same it has been in open water.

It's.

It's very much the same thing.

So, Coach Kurt, for our cyclists who are seeing improvement on the bike indoors, whether there's lifting, full gassing, ruving, and they get outdoors and man, those.

Those watts just aren't there.

Can we overcome this?

Why.

Why is this.

Why is this happening to us?

Yeah, there's maybe.

And this.

This does come up often.

And I know as I work with my athletes, we always have this conversation.

I would say the first thing that I would pose to Eric is, is look at your setup on your trainer as compared to outside.

In other words, are you using the same bike or using two different bikes?

Because maybe your power meter indoors is set differently on that trainer as compared to what you're going to do outside.

If you go to inside, it's a very controlled environment.

You're looking at your computer, you're holding 200 watts.

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

When you get outside, you have so many elements that you're dealing with from wind, road, you're turning, it's definitely going to fluctuate a little bit more.

And I think, like Eric said, it is really hard to maintain that power.

It seems to bounce around much more when you're outside, and that leads to frustration.

It's like, well, how can it be 120 and then 150, then 170, then 150?

It feels like my RP is very, very consistent.

I wouldn't.

I wouldn't overly focus in on that, but probably what I would do for any rider is I'm going to definitely look at my normalized power.

So you can see your average power.

When you're on there, it seems less, but spot check that normalized power.

That's probably a better indicator if you're going to ride longer than an hour to say, okay, I know how much I'm putting out, and then start to log that if you see that's very, very consistent.

It is what it is.

But I know every time we ride outside, usually the weather is a little bit different.

So it's hard to kind of match up from, you know, over six weeks.

I did five or six different rides, and every ride is a little bit different outside as compared to inside.

You're on the trainer, it's very, very controlled.

So no need to worry about that.

But make sure your cadence is smooth, that you're light on your pedals, that you're spinning.

You find that sweet spot.

Yeah.

Something else Eric included in his comment, Kurt, that that as I'm Hearing your response, other TR AT athletes in particular might be wondering this.

If our bike assessments are done indoors where we do have some more watts because of the reasons you're saying.

And then, you know, for our race X on race day, we're, we're basing our pacing, we're basing everything we're doing on that indoor wattage.

Should we, should we be doing some assessments outdoors to kind of find out what our real 20, 20 minute power is outside or how do we reconcile the difference between those two watts to make sure that we're pacing ourselves correctly on race day?

Yeah.

And I think the beauty of Trident is we look at our race X and look at our training platform that really trying to simulate a race rehearsal outside on a course similar to what you're going to ride on, I think that's really key.

And some people, because of the geography and the weather, they have to do those indoor.

But riding outside is going to be probably your best thing that you can do.

So at least you can match up and know that I'm 5 watts off, I'm 10 watts off.

But when in doubt on race day, I would tell anyone the thing that we have learned.

And a lot of people it's kind of you could versus you should.

Well, I could go faster on the bike.

I can push more power.

That is really awesome.

And then let's talk about your run.

So five minutes faster on the bike and it's going to cost you, we have learned is that be conservative on your bike, so you're going to run a lot better.

Thanks for joining us.

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