ROAD-RIDING Masterclass

YOU'RE ON YOUR BIKE FOR THE GREATEST CHUNK OF TIME, SO THAT'S ARGUABLY WHERE THE GREATEST GAINS CAN BE HAD. HERE'S ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW...

- JAMES WITTS

Learning to ride faster and stronger is essential in triathlon. Of course, it's one of the three disciplines, but it's also the one that L consumes the highest percentage of your overall time. In fact, according to website triathlonbudgeting.com, the average super-sprint percentage split is 20% swim, 50% bike and 30% run, while the average Ironman percentage split is 10% swim, 51% bike and 39% run. In short, whatever distance you plan to race, you'll be spending about half your time on a saddle.

This split should broadly transcend to your training, so if you have six hours a week to train, pencil in three of those for cycling, of which one of your rides should be long. What is long depends on your goal distance but it's generally over an hour. This is not only essential to acclimatising to the mechanics of riding, but also cranks up your fat burning and helps you to become more efficient at utilising oxygen.

What follows are the foundations for improving our road-riding performance. And we must stress these are the essentials. Marginal gains like deep-rim carbon wheels and teardrop-shaped helmets clearly have a place in the performance artillery but, certainly when starting off, you'll enjoy much greater gains by learning these simple tricks and techniques. (They also won't break your bank like swathes of carbon.) That said, whatever level of triathlete you are should apply some affordable and simple time-saving tricks like eliminating flapping (no billowing jackets, please) for less drag and ensuring your tyres are always inflated to their optimum. Right, off we ride...

10 TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR ROAD-RIDING PERFORMANCE

You spend the majority of any triathlon race in a saddle, so if you can make it as comfortable and hassle-free as possible, why wouldn't you? Here are 10 simple tricks and techniques to boost your ride time...