Muppet on wheels

As I consider my first open water triathlon in the upcoming days my thoughts have been dwelling on the nature of the sport and how much cash you have.  Specifically the amount of money you have available to spend on a bike.

I spent around 1000 pounds on my bike including the pedals (still bemused that the bike didn't come with pedals attached) and a few bits and bobs.  I managed to do this through the bike to work scheme run by my company (thanks GDST).  In terms of racing though this is very much entry level stuff, although I see lots of other people riding similar beasts during triathlons.

Now, the legs are the engine and they power the bike.  I am aware of this and this blog is not just an excuse to make up for my lack of mojo on the ride section.  However..... People riding time trial or triathlon bikes do have a distinct and real advantage (ok, you might argue stuff about terrain but you take my point).  This was brought home to me during the duathlon at Goodwood motor circuit as these extremely expensive dream machines were flying past me on a regular basis.

The point is this.  How much money you have or are prepared to sacrifice on triathlon has a direct result on how fast you will go.  You could argue there are lots of sports like this.  Golf is dependant on your equipment and you can spend a fortune on clubs and gadgets, but I am still not convinced that it will make that much difference whatever the manufacturers say.  Top of the range clubs won't fix my dodgy swing.  Unlike cycling.

So the long and short of it is if I had pots of cash and a great, super fast, carbon bicycle then I could beat Javier Gomez no problem.  Or perhaps the top of the range bike won't fix my dodgy riding....

Triathlon Muppet