A mate and I are keen to enter the London Triathlon team event. He's got the 1.5km swim, I've got the 10km run, we are looking for someone to do the 40km cycle. I'm pretty sure you need a geared bike to do the Tri, otherwise I would be doing the ride.

It would cost about £60 each, but would be worth a lifetime of memories... or maybe just a chance to ride around central London with no traffic. So who's up for it?

Maybe.

When?

How fast do I have to be?

I can fix my shopper up with a sturmey archer 3 speed hub gear - any good ?

It's all about leaving the shoes on the bike man.. got some rubber bands?

hi andy,

we met on sat night.

the relay is on sat 9 aug 2008.

it is a great event. i can recommend it. the biggest triathlon in the world. the bike leg is very fast. no traffic lights. no traffic. big fast roads.

i am competing on sunday in the solo olympic. so i do not want to ride on saturday.

good luck guys. c u there.

i could do it just depends on how fast?
sounds like good fun

My mate's done it (once on the Westminster circuit, and once on the Tower Bridge/Docklands drag strip). He's about a 1h05 to 1h10 pace rider for a 40km.

I don't see why you couldn't do it on a fixed. I've done most of my timetrials on a fixed, some with tribars some without, anything from 72" to 87", and faster than my geared times.

PS. I'm not volunteering though.

I have got some old trainers I don't need and some matches, I could melt them onto the pedals.

The more I think about this, the more I think I am the man for the job.

Oh, and aerobars. Defo need aero bars!!

Yeah, heard about those, thought I would get them on the day, I mean, on a 40km course there are bound to be a few newsagents.

One question, do the triathlon riders keep their locks in their messenger bags or on the bike in one of those bike mount holders ?

I did Triathlon before and would be up for it but I do not have a geared bike.
Sounds fun

It looks like you keep them on your running shoes..

an idea is born, I am thinking about it as well - as a one man show I guess.

I can not find any information about bike requirements on the website.
can you point me to the regulations where you read it ?

thanks

I'm out. I'm already booked to do the Devil Ride in Wales that weekend.

How good do you want the bike person to be? I've done crits and a team tri before but would acknowledge from a fair number of DNF's and mid-rankings that I am most certainly 'average' at such events. If you need someone to fill a hole and are just doing it for fun then I can definitely complete the course in an average time... if you need someone to set a blazing time then I know that isn't me as when the pain comes I tend to take it easy and find someone to draft behind ;)

I did the bike part in a relay team when it used to be in the Docklands....it was the worst course ever, loads of broken glass ( I punctured ) and you even had to go over traffic islands!....it's much better now though, and although it's flat, not sure fixed would be the best way to go...

done this for the last five years and will be there again for the oly distance AG race on sunday morning.

If your race is on saturday - you'll only go as far as the fly over bridge (turning back before the roundabout) and NOT on and through the limehouse link and up to the west end - they only close that part of the course for the sunday olympic distance races and the trip to parliament is only for the pro and sub 2.30 races. Everyone else turns back at tower bridge

the course is kinda flat, but the few short sharp lumps and the crosswind can make it feel more of an effort than it should be. The worst bit is the twisting and turning around excel. Catch a wheel on the kerb of a roundabout and you're picking gravel our of your arse that night - done it myself and seen lots of others do it every year.

as far as bikes go - i've seen people on mountain bikes with full-on knobblies, shopping bikes and fixies. Just ride what you like and enjoy riding. A club mate of mine did windsor last year on his fixie, with a a bike split which wasn't far behind me on my all singing and dancing tt bike - so as always it's not the bike - it's the legs.

If you've any leaning towards tri - London is a must as it's such a huge event. But as there's such a huge number of total newbies it's quite different to events like windsor, eton or milton keynes. With that in mind just remember to engage your brain on the bike course - you'll need it when someone just wobbles out in front of you.

Hey Phil, after talking to you on Sat I'm keen to get back in the pool and start training. Maybe next year I'll do the whole thing.

@plingboot, cheers mate, thanks for the tips. I didn't realise you could use any bike. Maybe I should have done the ride! No, I've committed to the run, so I'll stick with that.

@everyone else, I'm not at all worried about times, we are really doing this for the fun, excitement and experience of it all. And since we don't have a third yet, anyone would be welcome. All we want is someone who will definitely commit to this. VB? danzel? flickwg? First in, I guess.

I'll do it then. Will be a great laugh and I like having things to look forward to... last year it was the London > Canterbury.

I will do some training for you though, don't want to turn in a time too shabby.

I've got a geared bike I can use, I'll put it in the diary and start attacking the spinning classes down at the gym and a few of the club rides again :)

ill do it if spot is still available

Shitty fuck. I can't.

Just checked my calendar to put the entry in, and it appears I'm organising an all-weekend music festival and parties on the 8/9/10th August.

Argh, no fair. I wanted to do this too.

Sorry... but I'm out.

Bugger.

do'h

oh ok. am i in?

I can't make it, so I guess so :)

fatboyralph, looks like you are the winner(?). Excellent stuff. Welcome aboard mate. Swimmer Mike is putting our entry in, so I'll let him know we have a team. We'll have to sort out the entry fee at some point. And catch up, I guess. I'll whisper you my number so we can keep in touch.

Really looking forward to it now.

too bad vb...and thanks! up to andyf, some may have whispered. how about we do a prologue around richmond park. 40kms = 4 laps. winner gets the spot ;)

always wanted to do a crit in proper race conditions (inspired by last year's smithfield nocturne). this should be interesting.

Crit? This is a 40k TT innit?

yeh i guess. does that mean i cant shoulder others out of position? might do it anyway for effect :p

Non-pro tri TT = no drafting. You'd get time penalties if busted (very unlikely in this event I'd reckon).
Of course, passing someone and then 'catching a gust of wind that forced me into the rider I was passing' honestly officer! is still probably race legal. :-)

It is in fact likely to happen to a few peeps.. given the amount of numptys riding on aerobars for the first time ever, or the ones racing out of transition, not being able to get their feet in their pre-clipped pedals (because they never tried it before, just saw it on TV) and swerving all over the road.

Tri's are basically great fun for watching people unable to ride in a straight line. Keep your head up and your eyes peeled! :)

You can't ride fixed in Triathlons - they consider it unsafe (why, I don't know). I rode Eton SS and was about the only person doing so.

Hippo is right about the drafting - 4m spacing is required but you have to be really obvious to get penalised. Anyone in to bikes enough to be posting on here will be a good enough cyclist to drop most of the field. Just watch out for the full on TT guys with their carbon wheels and twat hats.

London is a horrible Tri - you swim in the Thames FFS. Blenheim is the nicest swim, the ride is a bit up & down.

I stopped and watched the cycle stage for about 20 mins last year by Tower Bridge and can confirm the bikes being used ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous as did the competitors. There was some morbidly obese 25+ stone guy on an old Pug who I thought was going to die in front of me. I think there were few challenges he could have reasonably set himself before attempting a tri!

i really want to race things now!...cars on the way home will have to do.
i recently changed from flat bars to bullhorns,im loving it! its like the karma sutra in handle bar form :)

...well, if you pass me do wave and say hello (nimble carbon wheels, white giro twat hat)


ps: victoria dock isn't "THAT" bad - Windsor is much worse - diesel on the water, duck shit everywhere and swans at pecking height - those f**kers are big when you're in the water with them and most have a major axe to grind with gimps in swimming caps.

this seems like a great idea, would be interested in forming a seccond just for fun team aidan? any one?. no way i can do the swiming, but running is ok, would rather cycle.

I am on the verge of entering myself for this event today. Will my fixed gear be ok or will I be told off/banned or laughed at by all the lycra clad super humans?