Whether you are riding a twisty sprint circuit course, or a long-distance epic, having boosted confidence in your cornering ability and bike handling skills will reduce unnecessary energy expenditure, improve your bike split time and increase your overall enjoyment of the event.
So how, I hear you ask, can you improve your bike handling skills? The answer is simple: Get off road.
It’s never too late to get off the tarmac and onto the muddy stuff, but the off-season is a good time to start, as it’s nice to have a change of scenery. Here’s how:
Gravel riding
When it comes to off-season training, you won’t go far wrong by hanging up your road bike and getting a gravel bike. Gravel bikes bridge the gap between road cycling and off-road disciplines, offering valuable experience on loose surfaces.
Having a bike more suited to loose terrain opens up more avenues in terms of route selection and will teach you to choose the best line, react quickly to changing conditions, and remain composed over bumps and unpredictable terrain. These skills are particularly useful for triathlons held on poor road surfaces or in varying weather conditions.
XC
A step on from the gravel bike, Cross country (XC) is another ideal discipline for building technical skills and fitness. Riding over rocks, roots, and uneven terrain helps improve balance, control and confidence on rough roads or pothole-ridden sections of a triathlon course. XC demands positive cornering inputs with an emphasis on trusting the traction of your tyres. One of the main transferable skills you’ll get from riding XC, is the ability to manipulate the position of your bike through weight transfer so you can pre-hop obstacles like roots and drops. These skills are directly transferrable to your road or TT bike and will make your riding far slicker from the get go.
Downhill
Enduro and downhill mountain biking focuses on the art of bike control and descending, skills often overlooked by triathletes. Confidence on descents can lead to significant time and energy savings in a race scenario. Learning proper braking, weight distribution, body positioning and on-the-go bike adjustments, will improve your riding helping you stay composed when faced with unexpected road hazards, gusts of wind, or tricky technical sections.
In all honesty, provided you pick the right trails (ideally woodland as opposed to hard-pack man-made trails), it’s not as scary as it sounds. There is so much fun to be had sessioning greasy corners and seeing how long you can hang on. When you do fall off, it’s soft damp mud and leafs. It’ll do you confidence and bike handling skills a load of good!
Cyclocross (CX)
Cross is an excellent way to develop bike handling skills in unpredictable conditions. The constant need to navigate tight corners on slippery grass and mud improves cornering ability, which translates directly to better handling on wet or rough roads during a triathlon. CX racing involves frequent mounts and dismounts, making it a great way to refine transition skills and confidence. The high-intensity bursts required in CX also mimic the surges needed during a twisty triathlon street circuit. An ideal way to blow out the post winter cobwebs.
What else can be done?
Trust your equipment. I think something that is underestimated is actually having trust in your equipment. Knowing that you have the best rubber money can buy really can increase your confidence
Inflate to the correct pressure.
Having the right tyres is all well and good but if they are over or under inflated, their performance will be compromised. Check out the Silca tyre pressure guide here for more help! https://silca.cc/en-gb/pages/pro-tire-pressure-calculator
Get a bike fit
A bike fit can improve handling for triathlon by improving weight distribution, balance and control. A well-fitted bike will increase confidence on descents by providing a stable position and reducing fatigue. Not a bad thing during a long race!
Insure your bike
Accidents happen and if they do, Pedal Cover are here to help you get back in the saddle. As well as theft, liability cover, personal accident cover and much more, Pedal Cover include crash damage during training, races and cover abroad. Having peace of mind if you do get it wrong is priceless.
