Rent to ride?

Traveling cross-country to race this year? A company in New Jersey, Tri-Cycle Rental, is offering rentals of Orbea bikes, delivered to the race venue. The idea is that the triathlete would save on transportation costs, but the math just doesn’t make much sense to me.

They base the financial benefit on an airline fee of $300-$450 for round-trip transportation of your bike, plus the reduced hassle of dis-assembly/re-assembly. I’m not sure how comfortable I would feel, after training for hundreds of hours on my bike, to get to an Iron-distance race and saddle up on a rental. If you’ve already invested big $ to enter the race, train, and travel, what’s a little more to transport your bike?

Here’s the story that made the PR rounds:

Rent to ride enters the triathlon race-day market

By TOM HELD

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A start-up company in New Jersey has an idea to eliminate the bike transportation hassles for triathletes.

Tri-Cycle Rentals offers a race-day ready fleet of Orbea bikes for rent that athletes pick up at the race venue. Riders reserve the bike online, show up at the event to check out the bike, get fitted on it, then return the bike afterward at the race expo or transition area.

The story in the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News puts the price at $399, or $475 with Zipp 404 wheels.

According to Tri-Cycle Rentals, traveling via commercial airlines will cost you between $300 and $450 round-trip, depending on the carrier. Shipping your bike via a triathlon-specific service or FedEx/UPS will cost between $300-$400.

With all of the above options, racers have to take their bike apart and put it back together (or pay a bike shop to do it). They also have to own or rent a bike travel case ($50 to rent and $300-$400 to buy). They will also be without their bikes for 7-10 days prior to the race - critical training days leading up to the race.

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Podium Multisports - First Impressions

I visited the new Podium Multisports store on Saturday, March 25 for their grand opening celebration. I'll visit again once they've been up and running a while, but wanted to share my initial impressions.

The store is on Zonolite Road, an odd, semi-industrial strip wedged between the high-priced real estate of Morningside and Emory/Druid Hills. It’s an area that popped up on the radar of foodies in 1998 when Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison opened their critically-acclaimed Flotaway Café on the street in a former industrial building. Since then the area has attracted studios, light industrial, creative firms and, most recently, the Quickshot Indoor Shooting Range (which is, hands-down, the best in the city).

Podium Multisports has done a great job of creating a warm, inviting retail space with a modern industrial vibe that jibes well with the neighborhood. Inside, the open ceilings, skylights, polished floors and maple wood fixtures combine to welcome shoppers and showcase (almost) everything a triathlete needs - swim gear, cycles and accessories, nutrition and clothing.

Perhaps owing to his experience as a bicycle fitter, owner Matt Cole chose to prominently feature the fitting area on an elevated platform. A large mirror gives cyclists a great view of their form and opens up the space. Behind the fitting area is a carpeted, two-tiered spin area facing a flat screen TV.

The store carries a nice array of gear, with one exception – running shoes. The only non-cycle shoes I saw were from Karhu, a Finnish brand that seems to be devoting a lot of marketing dollars to developing a presence in Atlanta (they were a sponsor of the Publix Georgia Marathon & Half Marathon). With so many great running stores in town – Phidippides, Big Peach, Fleet Feet - I think it’s a wise choice to leave shoes to the specialists and focus on what you know best.

The only sour note I encountered was service – I spent more than twenty minutes browsing in the store and was never approached by an employee. Some were talking to each other, some were chatting with other customers, but to be completely ignored was a bit of a turn-off. I even stood in front of the checkout desk for 2-3 minutes without so much as a “can I help you?” I’m willing to cut them some slack since the whole vibe felt like more of a party than a retail event, but it wasn’t a great first impression. I’ll visit again in a couple of weeks to see how their service stacks up to other multisports stores in town.

Overall, I’m excited about this new option for Atlanta-area triathletes. I expect cyclists who made a point of seeing Matt when they bought a bike from All3Sports to be a key part of their customer base, and it will be interesting to see if other multisport athletes will make this a stop on their never-ending search for that one piece of gear that will get them on the podium.

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Atlanta Triathlon Club hosts information sessions

The Atlanta Triathlon Club is hosting information sessions this week from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wed., Jan., 5, at the City of Atlanta Adamsville Natatorium, 3201 M. L. King Jr. Dr., Atlanta, Ga. 30311. A second seminar is set for 5 to 6 p.m. Sun., Jan. 9, at Atlanta Cycling Vinings, 4335 Cobb Parkway, Atlanta, Ga. 30339.

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Atlanta Triathlon Club working to diversify the races

By Dionne Lewis and Janita Poe

Cynthia Gunner has come a long way since her first day in a cycling class with the Atlanta Triathlon Club.

"After ten minutes, I ran out of the room crying," Gunner recalled. "I felt sick to my stomach and I was so embarrassed."

An African-American woman in her thirties, Gunner began to re-evaluate her inactive lifestyle after a routine physical.

"I was very overweight and my doctor diagnosed me with high blood pressure," Gunner explained.

Gunner began to take medication to regulate her hypertension, and that's when her doctor told her about the Atlanta Triathlon Club and the organization's scholarship program.

Full article 

Photo credit: Dionne Lewis

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Better race performance? It could be all in your mind

What sets you apart from the elite athletes - or just the next level of local competitors? You train as hard, you know the course, you have the right equipment - but you still lose.

It could be all in your mind.

Mary Wittenberg, president and chief executive of the New York Road Runners, says that elite athletes can keep going at a level of effort that seems impossible to maintain.

“Mental tenacity — and the ability to manage and even thrive on and push through pain — is a key segregator between the mortals and immortals in running,” Ms. Wittenberg said.

Read more on the NY Times site:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/health/nutrition/19best.html

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