It's NOT as easy as riding a bike

I'll bet there aren't more than 2 percent of healthy, able bodied kids over the age of 8 in the US who haven't ridden a bike. Of course, nowadays (I love to date myself) we have computer games, twitter, iPods, iPads, satellite TV, and facebook, which we didn't have when I was tormenting my parents with "there's nothing to do around here!" which response always promoted: "go outside and ride your bike."

Bike riding was one of the ways we got around as kids, when the world was a lot smaller. We all rode our bikes everywhere, until we got cars, and then we tended to put them away or sell them at garage sales. Very few of us kept up the bike riding habit through college and beyond--those of you who did, are in much better shape.

When I got my first "serious bike" five years ago I bought a hybrid. This bike is sturdier and heavier than a road bike, can be taken off road (with the correct tires), and has flat handlebars like the ones you had as a kid. It's not built for speed, but it can cruise faster than a mountain bike on the road, and I love the fact that it would take a giant tank to make it fall over.

Well, after a while I got tired of my friends zipping past me on their lightweight little road bikes, so I had to have one. I found a great used one--a Trek 2300 with excellent components--on eBay for a super price and sniped it. A couple of rides later and I realized it wasn't the hybrid that was necessarily slowing me down--it was me. Lance says it ain't all about the bike, and ya know, he's right. The rider comes first.

Biking is a LOT harder than I remember as a kid. There's hills, and wind, and lots of cars that seem to have one purpose and that is to drive as close to you as possible. You can't (shouldn't) ride in the dark, or a thunderstorm, or a blizzard. Biking is a fair weather prospect. Plus, look at the time it takes to get ready for a bike ride--you have to clean and oil the chain, pump up the tires, get on your bike clothes, find your shoes, helmet, gloves, load the water bottles--by that time you're tired out and American Idol is coming on the TV.

So it's easy to neglect it. But biking is a crucial and critical part of the triathlon program. You can fake the run by walking some or all of it. You can fake the swim by backstroking or sidestroking it. But you can't fake out your bike. You ride it, or not, as Yoda might say.

I've read until my eyes cross that the important part of a triathlon is how well you run off your bike. I agree with this, but I also think how well you bike comes first. If you swim like a demon, and run pretty well, you will still gnash your teeth if you can't post a decent bike -- because if you can't ride well, you will be too tired for the run, and you will also lose a tremendous amount of time. The difference between a 12 mph ride and an 18 mph on a 56 mile course is--well, a lot of lost time. Even on a 12 mile course it will affect you--you ride it in an hour at 12 mph, or you ride it in 40 minutes at 18 mph--a savings of 20 minutes. You think you can save 20 minutes on your swim leg?

Of course, you can't just go out and start riding at 18 mph unless you are incredibly fit, which if you are, you have no business reading this unless you are laughing your rear off. You have to start small, and get faster in increments by working distance, speed, hills (yes, you have to), wind, and sprints.

Even a fast rider can't ride up a steep hill into the wind at a fast pace, so hills and wind will affect your pace.

Both your legs and your lungs come into play on the bike. You have to have enough leg strength to carry you up steep hills and to keep up a high cadence on the flats, and you also have to have enough cardio to keep pushing for a long time on tough courses. Nothing trains you better for a bike than...well, riding the bike. Spin class is fun, and on rainy or cold or dark days, certainly better than nothing, but you gotta get out and face the wind, sun, hills and bumps before you can get better on the bike.

Aerobars are a great invention if you learned to drive your car with your elbows while texting. If you were smart enough to have avoided that problem (and let's hope you were), you will have to practice using the bars. It took me FOUR months (which seems to be my magic number) before my neck and shoulders accepted the fact that I wanted to fold over like an envelope on my bike. Until then, they hurt like fire in the areo position. Hint: go to a reputable bike shop and get fitted on your bike, AND your bars.

Do you have to have aerobars? Of course not. For a sprint race, definitely not. But I am slow enough on the bike to want incremental speed help, and I notice that if I am sitting up and going 13 mph, if I drop to the bars, same pace, I will go 14 mph. In a long race, that will make a difference. Plus, it helps your rear get a break.

It's been a long time since I've enjoyed biking, because I have been focused on getting better and faster. Lately, on Sundays, the spouse and I are going on what I call the "donut bike rides"--we stop for a donut halfway. Not a bad idea, and when you are powering up those hills it's good to know that at mile 17 or so you can stop for a fritter. We are going longer and harder each Sunday by a little bit, yesterday was 29 miles at 13.9 mph average. And on the turnaround leg (post donut) I found myself ENJOYING the bike ride--the sunshine, the fresh air, the people out walking dogs. Now this is what biking is supposed to be about.

Happy trails!