Pro Transition Tricks

Article: Triathlon

• Bring a 'one-shot' tire inflator and hide it.  The reason she mentions hiding it is to keep it out of the wind.  Triathletes can be very anal when it comes to wind resistant.  

• Rest your helmet and sunglasses on your aerobars.  Seriously, who DOESN'T to this.   Make sure the tail is pointing away from you so you can just flip it on your head.  Grab your sunglasses first so they don't go flying through the transition area.

• Suspend your shoes with rubber bands so you can get a perfect flying mount.  I started using rubber bands a couple years ago.  I finally have the flying mount down and I will still use rubber bands to hold my shoes in place.  It's not so much that it saves you time, but prevents you from losing time and momentum from the 'flying run'.  Also, from personal experience, keep the rubber bands clear of all down tube mounted water bottles.  I had a rubber band snag it before the band broke, sending my water bottle across the road.

• Stash extra nutrition on the bike.  I don't really do this for Sprint triathlons since those are usually 18 miles, but for anything longer there is always extra nutrition in case I need it.  I most particular the last few miles as I prep myself for the run.