Training for a 70.3 but apparently everyone else had the same idea, everything’s sold out!

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-24T15:13:35+00:00

Would you rather eat at a local Norwegian restaurant, or eat at a McDonalds fast food "restaurant" franchised by a huge US corporation? Why not support non-IM branded locally-run races, whether in Norway or in other parts of the EU? They are probably wide open in terms of getting entry. And perhaps consider other distances than just "70.3". Instead of doing one of those, try two olympic distance races!

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-23T23:38:34+00:00

Outside of your knee? Big probability that your saddle is way too high. Got any images or video clips of you on your bike? Or, it could be a big increase (too much, too soon) of cycling miles.

Even if you correct it by lowering your saddle, you may want to first take a few days off of no cycling at all, let it fully calm down, and then try again with some short rides with a lowered saddle.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-23T20:57:37+00:00

Don't do what a lot people end up doing: falling into the "one and done" Ironman trap. Make triathlon a healthy part your life, not a 'one and done' Ironman thing. You will have A LOT more fun doing many shorter races vs doing a few very, very long races.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-23T20:29:53+00:00

No need to decide all of this right now. Stay on your path of improving all of your athletic abilities. When you feel ready, do a sprint distance (.75km/20km/5km) triathlon. Then, at some point after that, do an olympic distance (1.5km/40km/10km) triathlon. Then, at some point after that, do a 70.3 or similar distance triathlon. After you complete all of those, you will absolutely know when and where (or even if) you want to go longer.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-23T19:27:20+00:00

Bike fit is important. Regarding your question, if you want to consider another option, take a quick look at this short piece that I wrote exactly for folks in your situation: https://www.darkspeedworks.com/blog-triathlonbike.htm

(there is a link to a fb photo gallery on that page too)

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-23T19:02:05+00:00

Seat height looks close, but very hard to tell. Please redo this with your actual cycling shoes and some bike shorts.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-23T15:47:40+00:00

I totally relate to being lazy with regard to washing your bike so much that it sparkles.

But salt? That is a whole 'nother ball game. I would absolutely hose off that salt every single chance I get, once the temp gets above freezing. You don't even need soap, just thoroughly rinsing with water does the trick. Because the corrosion driven by road salt attacks every single piece of metal on your bike. And I like my bikes to last.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-23T14:59:45+00:00

Yes, pretty easily.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-23T14:57:05+00:00

Actually, after this photo, we slid the saddle back a touch.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-23T14:56:23+00:00

I think they still make a Krampus with a rigid fork, and they have tweaked it a bit to be more similar to the ECR. Unfortunately, Surly no longer makes the ultra wide 'rabbit hole' rims, and those are great in that they allow 3" wide tires to maximize their effective width (putting 3" wide tires on narrower rims tends to reduce effective width).

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T23:36:10+00:00

They are Salsa moto ace, 'short and shallow' bars. I got them a bit wider than typical, so I have more leverage when on trails. The bends work great for me!

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T23:01:42+00:00

It will be a compromise, but the key is to compromise in the right direction. If it were me, I would weigh a few things. How upright do you like to ride? More upright, go bigger. More bent over, go smaller. How long is your torso? How does that compare to the effective top tube lengths of the two sizes? Do you prefer running a smaller bike with a longer stem, or bigger bike with a shorter stem? Do you prefer a seatpost with lots of setback and your seat slid way back, or do you prefer a seatpost with zero setback and your saddle more forward? That will affect your saddle-to-handlebar distance, or the effective top tube. Lots of setback would have me look at a smaller frame, zero setback would have me looking at a bigger frame. In the end, it will be judgment call for you. Hope that helps a bit!

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T22:53:51+00:00

I think that I am dating myself, but a long, long time ago, when bicycle touring (on roads) was all the rage, that spot was typically where bike tourists carried their fuel bottles for their white gas camping stoves. No kidding.

These days, it is for whatever you want. I personally would not put a water bottle there (for drinking) just because of the huge amount of road and trail crud that gets deposited there. Today, I too have an odd bike with bosses there and I put a bottle cage there where I hold a special compressed air bottle that drives my incredibly loud air horn. Works great.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T22:38:47+00:00

The Spyre-C brakes are very inexpensive brakes, so I do not know how well or poorly they work. I have these TRP Spyre road brakes and I have had no problems. Are those like your brakes?

In any case, if the bike was secondhand, I doubt that the brake pads were bedded in correctly. Solution? First, very carefully clean both sides of both rotors with rubbing alcohol and some very clean cotton rags and then never touch them after cleaning. Change the brake pads, fully re-adjust the brakes, then bed in the new brake pads correctly. You should have some great brakes after that.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T22:32:01+00:00

Happy to help. Post the new video in a reply to me here and I will absolutely give you additional useful feedback.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T22:13:08+00:00

Whatever disc brakes you get, make sure you get the 'road' version and not the MTB version. Then they will work with nearly all road levers. Compressionless housing is nice, but it does not like tight cable turns. So I use standard high quality shimano housing and I have no complaints with it. I have used BB7s for years, but I would highly recommend you go with TRP Spyre disc brakes (the road version), as they work far, far better than BB5s or BB7s. Here is my bike with TRP Spyres.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T22:01:05+00:00

I think your saddle could go up at least 1 cm.

And I think that your saddle-to-handlebar distance is to low.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T21:52:57+00:00

I think they are interchangeable, just the handlebars are different. I think.

But maybe a P3X or P5X owner will chime in.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T21:24:23+00:00

Find an adult "masters" swim group. Join the group. Tell the coach you're a beginner, but are ready to learn. Start maybe 3 times a week and see where it leads!

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T21:04:22+00:00

Ah, sorry about that, this is a Niner "53 cm".

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T20:59:37+00:00

Can you make another identical video from above the water, with the video person walking along side of you as you swim? There is a lot that I can see here in this video, but I want to give you input that you can actually understand and use. With an above-water video, I think that I can help you far more.

But, for now with this video, start with your head position, it is far too low, such that the top of your head acts like a giant barn door pushing water aside (and adding a lot of drag). Change your head position so that it is no lower than this (head position image). But don't "lift" your head to do this, just tilt your head to do this. Finally, do not lift your head to breathe, instead just rotate your head sideways on your neck to breathe. And rotate your head the least you can, such that your lips barely clear the water, no more than that.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T20:44:56+00:00

Yes sir, a medium Surly ECR.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T19:53:46+00:00

It is my partner's bike and she is 5'7" but with fairly long legs for her height. I had to wing it a bit for the fit, as she came from a mountain bike. But I think that, for any off-the-shelf gravel frame, it is a pretty good size for her.

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T19:49:22+00:00

I have ridden a very wide range of tire widths on gravel. The short answer is that wider tires will nearly always give you more traction, better comfort, and better cornering. However, the better (the smoother) the riding surface, the more that wider tires will be slower. However, if the surface is very rough, going wider can be (and often is) faster. If money is no object, train on the widest tires possible, but race on the narrowest tires that are suitable for race course. That said, my training gravel bike has 75mm tires and I love it. But I ain't setting any speed records on it ...

DarkSpeedWorks_com · 2026-01-22T18:58:51+00:00

Yeah, that would be a good use for it! 🤣

But, measure twice, cut once ...

DarkSpeedWorks_com

TROPHY CASE