Zoot Wikiwiki Wetsuit

Whilst a session in the river - on a warm evening as the sun goes down - is the hilight of any training week, I've never considered myself a strong swimmer. As a result I've stuck to the mantra of Buoyancy Above All Else - on the understanding that weaker swimmers are often better off in the lower-end (and less flexible) suits.  However, after hearing about the new Wikiwiki and getting a chance to see it up close at the Outlaw Half, I jumped at the chance to give it a go.

SHFT.run - Initial Thoughts

My photoshop skillz are second only to my running style

As a rule, triathletes are data and gadget freaks - and I am no exception. In the pool, you can usually spot a triathlete by the selection of "toys" they bring down; on the bike cyclists despair at our covering our beautiful machines in power meters and storage boxes; and I feel the run revolution is just getting going. Garmin's Run Dynamics (now a proper ANT+ profile) and Stryd's power measurement are well known - I had the opportunity to try out SHFT.run's two-pod system and report my experiences from my first few runs here.

Zwift on a Budget

In the last month or so I've found myself getting into Zwift, the online cycling game. Last night I attended one of their events, where I ended up demonstrating racing in front of a large crowd (who were mostly looking the other way), and showed conclusively that turning up late to the race start with no wifi isn't a brilliant idea! (Much respect to the colleague who managed to build his computer for me in the 4 minutes before the race started and managed to get me starting only 15 seconds behind the main pack!)
A few people have been concerned about how much it might cost to run Zwift, particularly if you're going to end up leaving the computer in the garage for ease of access. So I thought I'd document my setup to show you can run it on fairly old kit.

Zoot Makai Shoes

I've been racing and training in Zoot Makai shoes since joining Team Zoot Tri Europe this season; having accumulated a fair few miles on various terrain, and races from 10K to marathon, I felt it was worth jotting down some thoughts.

Cheap solution to prevent bottle launching

I'm a big fan of XLabs and their behind-the-saddle bottle mounts; but I'm sure most people who have mounted bottles there have at some point experienced 'bottle launching'. This is at best annoying, and at worst could totally derail a long distance nutrition plan. I'm aware XLabs sell a 'Gorilla' cage which they state will prevent launching, but they're very expensive and British road surfaces are pretty ingenious in that regard.

I've always used the cheap 'Elite' cages which are available in all sorts of colours, and have a rubber tab which holds on to bottles fairly well. However, after a recent launching episode I thought I'd try something new.

Step up, 80mm nitrile rubber o-ring. (I bought them from Amazon but I'm sure you can find them elsewhere). Wrapped as per the photo, they add a bit of friction to the cage and seem to work very well - certainly no issues in a recent race where I saw quite a few cages (Gorillas included) shedding their load.

Feel free to share any other top tips in the comments!

Triathlon Bike Setup

Triathletes. Covering bikes in food and drink since 1974...

Xiaomi Mi Band 1S

I wasn't a great believer in fitness trackers for athletes, but this little device has changed my mind. For $18 (and a bit of waiting for it to make it from China) you get something that's as good as any of the basic fitness trackers, and even has heart rate monitoring built in.

Stash!

As a former Boatie I have learned that the best part of being part of a team is the inevitable kit stash.