Tri to Road - By David Reaburn
It turns out that road cycling is very different to riding a bike in triathlon. Aside from the obvious difference in the type of bike, it’s the training & how you approach the race that sets them apart.
I spent 12 years as a triathlete. First as a total noob having done Around the Bay and some sporadic running & swimming over the years. Then training with a club, and then gravitating to long course triathlons (Ironmans & 70.3’s). Running & swimming most of the time, and always cycling.
When I finished with triathlon, I wanted to focus on the bike. But there was one obvious weakness. I had a decent diesel engine, but fell apart whenever hard efforts were called for. It was obvious triathlon training just doesn’t stress your body in the way you need to for cycling, or in particular road or crit racing. I found that whenever I had to put in a decent effort, I’d have nothing left afterwards and dropped off the back of any fast group. Whether it was a race or a fast bunch ride, I just didn’t have the top end capacity beyond about a single effort. A one hit wonder!
I remember vividly the first training session I did with The Hurt Box. The interval part of the ride was multiple repeats of a 4km undulating loop. Steggles rode with me and said not to push too hard. On lap one I was way off the back of everyone else, and absolutely at my limit. It was like this for the next few laps, getting harder each time. Steggles was still there. Seems like he was barely trying. I struggled through the set wondering what the hell I was doing here & if it’s always this hard. And how was it that the other guys were so much faster? I thought I was an ok rider!?!
It took a while for the adaptations to happen. But now, doing 6 laps of that same course, it’s bearable. And I don’t feel like quitting on lap 2,3,4 or 5. Maybe on 6…
This is so different from triathlon training. Doing regular VO2 efforts was a new experience! Triathlon was all pretty steady state efforts, the occasional harder effort, at about FTP, and sometimes on a hill. But more as part of building endurance rather than being able to push hard, recover & repeat.
I don’t miss Ironman training. That’s a whole other level of commitment. The last few months before an Ironman you put your whole life on hold. No time for anything else, fatigued all the time, 10 training sessions a week. Afterwards (and during) you really wonder what on earth made you do it.
So here we are a year later. I was most interested in the competitive part of cycling & wanted to learn as much about it as I could. As a triathlete, it’s all about racing and events. No one does triathlon just for the training or enjoyment. You train for events. Cycling offers both. Pure enjoyment plus competition. The Hurt Box has been great as there’s a good mix of enjoyable rides as well as hard training. But also learning heaps about racing - strategy, reading the conditions, reading your opponents, overcoming your weaknesses, knowing when to put in efforts, understanding your abilities. So much to learn!