Understanding the differences between a road bike and a triathlon bike is important if you wish to maximize your investment in a triathlon bike. Frames come in various sizes. For the most part, the frame angles on road bikes remain consistent from one manufacture to the next. In other words the steepness on the seat tube remains relatively the same from one road bike manufacturer to another and from one size to the next. Not so for triathlon bikes.

Endurance athletes typically determine their ideal body weight, which, in their case is better termed optimal performance weight, through exercise performance; a good proxy for general health. Through experience in training and competition, endurance athletes learn their optimal performance weight, or the body weight at which they perform best. A recent scientific survey of 3,000 endurance athletes by researchers at St. Cloud State University found that more than 90 percent of respondents were able to identify a precise optimal performance weight. Fluctuations below and (more often) above this optimal performance weight over the course of the year were found to be normal, but the normal range was small: fewer than 10 pounds in the majority of those surveyed.

There is an important relationship between body weight, body composition, and racing performance. Athletes perform best when they are at their optimal race weight. Keep in mind, race weight tends to be lighter and leaner than normal or average weight. Athlete’s training or normalweights are at least a few pounds above their optimal racing weight. Please note, optimal race weight is not something that should be maintained for a prolonged period of time.  It should coinside with your training "peak" and "A" race(s).  Athletes struggle to achieve their optimal racing weight for the same reasons non-athletes struggle to achieve a healthy weight: their appetite is being tempted by our modern food environment. The human appetite was not designed to deal with the abundance of calorie-dense foods, nor the incredible amount of cheap/fast food that is both a blessing and a curse of our time.