Bike shops are awesome.  The folks that work there are knowledgeable and (usually) courteous.  The products they sell are of high quality and reasonably priced, when you consider the range of selection they have to keep in stock in a small store, and the immediacy of walking out the door with a product guaranteed to [...]

One of the unique aspects of the cycling leg of a triathlon is the emphasis that is placed on individual effort.  Cyclists are not allowed to use the “slipstream” of another rider to speed their progress.  This process is called “drafting.”
With a few notable exceptions (professional and elite short-course racing), it is illegal to draft [...]

There is a time trial that happens every so often around here called the “Cemetery TT.” It’s a 7.1 mile out-and-back that starts and ends about 8 miles south of town on highway 441.
The Cemetery TT is a fixture of the Gainesville community. The Team Florida collegiate athletes use it as a benchmark [...]

Cycling in the heat can be just as dangerous as cycling in cold weather.  It’s tough to see the first signs of trouble, and by the time you notice there’s a problem, it’s too late.
In warm weather, especially when it’s combined with high humidity (like we have regularly here in Gainesville), your body does two [...]

The biggest difference between mass start road cycling and triathlon cycling is the importance of aerodynamics:
In road cycling, the draft effect is so huge that other concerns (maneuverability, handling, comfort) can, in certain instances, supersede aerodynamics. When a rider is in a paceline and getting a 30% draft benefit most of the time, she [...]

Stage 11 was not unlike the previous flat stages.  The only notable event was that Cavendish sprinted to victory in what was a considerably more impressive performance than his previous three stage wins.
Today’s stage 12 was unusual in that the breakaway (omigosh, wait for it) stayed away!  Evidently the sprinters’ teams were not interested in [...]

This is a common, but good question that deserves a simple, straight answer. Here it is.
The big three differences between a road bike are:

Tube shapes.  Road bikes tend to have round tubes designed for stiffness and handling.  Triathlon bikes tend to have airfoil shaped tubes designed for aerodynamics.
The handlebars.  Road bikes have traditional “drop” [...]

Today was the first real test for the GC contenders. The stage finished with a long climb of much more than the advertised 10k to a summit finish. As expected, Cancellara relinquished the yellow jersey, though not without two unfortunate strokes of luck (in the form of flat tires) on the approach to [...]

The last two days of the tour were both flat stages in the South of France. Somehow, Mark Cavendish managed to win neither stage, which was unusually depressing for me. However, this was offset by a gutsy breakaway ride from Thomas Voeckler of France, who wore yellow for 10 days in 2004 without [...]

Stage 4 was the much-anticipated team time trial of 39 kilometers around the city of Montpelier. Realistically, only four teams (Garmin, Saxo Bank, Columbia, Astana) had a chance of winning the TTT, but super-realistically, only one team had a chance. I’ll give you one guess. Hint: it’s the only team with Lance [...]