TriDotPodcast .228

Bike Maintenance Tips for Speed & Safety

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Intro: This is the TriDot podcast. TriDot uses yourtraining data and genetic profile, combined with predictive analytics andartificial intelligence to optimize your training, giving you better results inless time with fewer injuries. Our podcast is here to educate, inspire, andentertain. We’ll talk all things triathlon with expert coaches and specialguests. Join the conversation and let’s improve together.

Andrew Harley: Hey folks, welcome to the TriDot podcast. Today on the show, we'retalking all about taking care of your bike. Our bike is usually the mostexpensive piece of gear that we own, so it's well worth looking after itproperly. Joining us for this conversation is TJ Tollakson from Dimond Bikes.TJ is the owner of Dimond Bicycles and the founder and CEO of Rüster Sports. Heraced in the pro field for 16 years and has two Ironman victories, one NorthAmerica Championship title, and many more pro podium finishes on his résumé. Hestudied industrial engineering at the University of Iowa, and now brings hislove of triathlon and engineering prowess into creating the most advanced bikeson the planet. I ride one of those bikes myself, happy to be a Dimond Marquisowner. TJ, how is it going at Dimond headquarters today?

TJ Tollakson: Yeah, Andrew, thank you. It's great. It's about two feet of snow on theground a week ago, and this week it's been raining every day here, so we justhave a slushy mess. So we're not doing a lot of outside biking, but this is thetime of year things really heat up for us at Dimond. We call this Dream Season,it's when everyone's dreaming of being in a warmer destination and racing, so alot of bikes are actually purchased this time of year.

Andrew:Our next guest is from a little farther north, and probably got more snow thanthe two feet that TJ got, but we also have TriDot Coach Chris Navin fromChicago, Illinois. Chris has raced over 100 triathlons and 250 endurance races.He is a Kona finisher, a 38-time marathoner, a 20-plus-time Ironman, ranking ashigh as ninth in the United States and 33rd in the world when it comes to theIronman age group rankings. A little bit faster than I am, Chris is. He is aLevel 2 USA Triathlon Certified Coach, and Head Endurance Coach of Four-StarEndurance and the Team to End AIDS. Coach Chris, welcome back to the show!

Chris Navin: Hey, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be back.

Andrew:Did you in fact get more than two feet of snow a couple weeks ago?

Chris:We did not get more than two feet, we got maybe up to a foot or so. But yeah,it's all melted now, luckily, so the roads are finally clearing up. I wasactually thinking about getting out for a ride in the next week or so if itstays warm enough.

Andrew:Yep, do that. Absolutely do it. I am Andrew the Average Triathlete, Voice ofthe People and Captain of the Middle of the Pack. As always, we'll roll throughour warmup question, settle in for our bike maintenance main set conversation,and then wind things down by getting a Coach Cooldown Tip from one of ourTriDot coaches. Lots of good stuff, let's get to it!

Warm up theme: Time to warm up! Let’s get moving.

Andrew:My warmup questions do not usually match the main topic of a show, but today Iactually am going to be on topic with our warmup. For even the mostmechanically inclined amongst us, if you ride bikes long enough, you will atsome point have some sort of mechanical mishap, if you will. It could besomething that happened while you were out on a ride, it could be amisadventure and fixing something at home or in the shop. Regardless, I want tohear everyone's biggest bike equipment mishap. TJ Tollakson, you're up first.

TJ:All right. Well, I've got two of these same instances, but I'm going to talkabout the first one because it was the most traumatic. It was 2005, I wasliving at the Olympic Training Center. A little trivia thing here was duringthis time period, Tim O'Donnell, who's also a TriDot coach, was my roommatethere. That just tells you how old we are. So I was doing hill repeats on afamous route in Colorado Springs called Cave of the Winds, and I snapped myfirst chain. If you've never snapped a chain, I can explain what happens toyou, but you basically go as hard as you can forward on the bike, and yourgroin region seems to end up on the handlebars, leading to quite the surprisefeeling. At the same time you are trying to avoid crashing your bike. It stinksbecause you break the chain and then you can no longer pedal, the bike isuseless. So the first time I did that, I turned around, I coasted as far downthe hill as I could, I just let the bike roll. Then I had to get off and walkback to the Olympic Training Center so I could put a new chain on the bike. Sobreaking a chain is not fun, and that makes for quite the long walk home.

Andrew:Nice bike misadventure from TJ there. Looking forward to hearing Coach Chris's.Coach Chris, did yours also involve a groin injury?

Chris:No, but actually I guess it’s something that's a little bit close to that. WhenI got my first tri bike – actually, I had a couple of mishaps. I've done anumber of triathlons, so I have plenty of good stories. But the first one isthe most vivid one in my memories. I got my first tri bike finally after acouple years of racing triathlon, and I was signed up for the Chicago TriathlonTriple Challenge. The day before, I had changed my saddle because I had justgotten the bike. I did a little ride, so I thought everything was good. And Ididn't have a torque wrench, so I didn't actually check if I had the rightamount of torque when I put the bolts on. So as soon as I got on the bike,right away, the first couple pedal strokes, the saddle came loose and the nosetilted down. I was doing the Triple Challenge, so this was the second day,first race. So I did the entire Olympic distance Chicago Triathlon holding thesaddle up with my thighs, just holding the saddle in place, not able to supportmy body weight. So my groin definitely felt it. Then the worst part was, afterI did the Olympic distance, I came back in, racked my bike in transition, andit wouldn't rack because the seat was so loose it would just fall back down. Ifinished the race, but then I had to line back up and do the other race, thesprint-distance race right afterwards. So I already knew and could anticipatethat my saddle was loose, and I didn't have the tool to fix it or anything. SoI just sucked it up and did this other triathlon with a loose saddle.

Andrew:You just wanted to make the Triple Challenge a little bit harder on yourself,that's all. You wanted to really challenge yourself.

Chris: Iguess so.

Andrew:Yeah. I'm going to share kind of a misadventure in working on my bike. Myprevious tri bike, I was switching from a 172.5 crankset to a 165 crankset, andI kind of assumed, “I think this is something that I can do. I think I can fixthis. I'm sure I can find a YouTube video that shows me how to switch outcranksets.” So I get home, I do manage to take off the old crankset, and I haveall the parts for the new crankset. And I'm thinking, “Oh, I'm about to do thisvia YouTube video and then go for my training ride tomorrow.” And I quickly realizedthat when you change cranksets, different cranksets need different bottombrackets, and I definitely did not have the bottom bracket I needed for the newcrankset. Which wouldn’t have been a big deal, I could have taken it to theshop and had them very quickly do it. But since I had undone everything on thebike, it became just a whole big fiasco. If I had just taken it to the shop inthe first place, and recognized this is above my head when it comes to fixingmy bike, it would have been an easy thing. It became just a huge thing. I wasable to get it done, but I didn't get it done myself, and that's going to leadinto some questions on today's topic when we get to the main set. But that's mystory. We're going to ask this question on Facebook, so make sure you're a partof the I AM TriDot Facebook group. We have tens of thousands of triathletestalking, swim, bike, and run every day of the week, and I always throw thisquestion out. I'm very excited to hear what misadventures you've had with yourbike, whether you were fixing something on it, working on it, or riding it.Can't wait to hear your stories. So find the Facebook post posing this questionto you, and let us know what's happened to you on your bike.

Main set theme: On to the main set. Going in 3…2…1…

Andrew:Hey folks! TriDot is currently running the 2024 edition of our annual researchproject that we call the Preseason Project. We are looking for non-TriDotathletes who want to jump into the research project this year. Qualifyingathletes get two free months of TriDot training. It is literally two months ofthe best training available, in exchange for TriDot getting to analyze thetraining data that comes in from those sessions. I started training with TriDotduring the 2018 Preseason Project, and immediately took a liking to thestructured training schedule, and I started seeing huge improvements in myswim, bike, and run. Even once the two-month research project was over, Icommitted fully to TriDot training, and have used it for everything from localsprints to my very first. Ironman. I'm fitter and faster than I've ever been,and more importantly I'm enjoying my races, the sport, and the triathloncommunity much more than before. I also have a podcast now, but that is adifferent story for a different day. If you are already training with TriDot,now is the best time to invite your tri friends to participate in the PreseasonProject. And if you are a podcast listener and have never given our training atry, use the link in the description for today's show to see if you qualify.

Whetheryou are installing new parts or maintaining the ones you've already got,properly maintaining our bike takes the right tools and a little bit of theright know-how. Lucky for us, we've got two bike experts here to catch us up tospeed, fill us in, make sure we don't have the kind of problems I had in mywarm-up story. And guys, I'm going to ease us into this conversation by askinga question, talking about a bike care step that everybody listening should betaking. Regardless of how mechanical they may or may not be, everybody shouldbe washing their bike from time to time. So our opening question, a nice littlesoftball, everybody listening should be doing this – how often should we bewashing our bike, and what steps should we take in keeping a clean bike? TJ?

TJ:This is going to depend on how often you're riding it, and what conditionsyou're going to ride it. At a minimum, I would say wash your bike every month.And that would be like I'm riding on the trainer and I've got it wellprotected, I’m not spilling anything on it. If you're riding outside regularly,that probably needs to be a weekly thing. And if you're riding outside in rain,or mud, or slush, or berries on the ground, that needs to be daily. So it justdepends on the conditions you're riding. The last thing that you want to do isgo ride your bike in the rain and put it away wet. You don't ever want to dothat. So as soon as you're done riding, you at least need a towel to wipe thebike off, dump any water out of the frame. That's the biggest protection thatyou can have. If conditions are ideal, and that's why I say inside and it's notsuper toxic on the bike, you can get by with a month without cleaning yourbike, but I wouldn't ever go longer than that.

Andrew:I definitely don't wash my bike every month, and I should. I wash it probablyquarterly, I think to myself. Now, I am doing a lot of indoor training, and notas much outdoor riding these days. But yeah, definitely a reality check for meto hear that number, I'm sure it is for a lot of folks. I'm curious, when youtalk about not putting the bike away wet, I've actually wondered before – whenwe do wash our bikes, obviously we're getting it wet. What protocol, what stepsdo we take to dry it after that washing? Do we just air dry it? Do we need tobe hand drying it with a towel? What is the effect that water has on our bike?

TJ:Yeah, so you want to towel dry it. The other cool hack that you can use, thatis really annoying to your neighbors, is if you have one of those leaf blowers,you could turn the leaf blower on and dry your bike off, it does a fantasticjob. That's a nice little hack. I actually have a cordless leaf blower, so it'ssomewhat effective. I don't use it for much besides drying my bike off, butit's nice to air dry it, because then you're not leaving streaks or anything onthere, and you can get to parts that aren't as easily accessible by a towel.But if you put your bike away wet – if you ride it wet, or you wash it and youleave it and you don't dry it – water creeps on the inside of your bike. Thingslike your headset and your bottom bracket are very prone to getting rust inthem from leaving water inside your bike. Same thing if you do a race in therain, and then it sits in transition – you get your bike after this race, you’dbetter be doing everything you can to clean that bike as soon as possible. Becausethe last thing that you want is to put it away, pack it, go home, take it out aweek later and you can't even turn the cranks because the bottom bracketbearings have completely rusted from putting it away wet. So you’ve got to makesure you're drying that. A towel works wonderful, you just have to dry it.Sometimes it's a nice trick to just turn your bike upside-down to let waterdrain out of it. Water gets in just about anywhere, and sometimes it's verydifficult to get out. So sometimes you even need to take your tires off of yourbike, because there's water inside the rim and inside the tires, which justcauses problems down the road. So getting the water out as soon as possible isalways the best practice.

Andrew:Very insightful. I do have a cordless leaf blower, and I've never thought aboutusing it to dry off my bike, I usually just let it air dry. So I've alreadylearned a new trick from TJ today. Coach Chris, anything to add here on fixingour bike? That was all great from TJ, but we haven't touched on the drive trainyet, and cleaning some of those individual components. So Chris, maybe I'mguiding your answer a little bit, but is there anything in that neck of thewoods that maybe you can add to the conversation here?

Chris: Yeah,I love the leaf blower idea. I never thought of that. That's brilliant.

Andrew:Yeah! Take it down to a car wash, just ride your bike through the car washright?

Chris: Iwould say, I actually try to wash my bike more often. I do it almost weeklywhen I'm doing indoor training. Not as much when I'm doing outdoor training,but it really just depends on the conditions. Because especially indoors, andmaybe it's just me, maybe my sweat is very acidic, but I rust througheverything. I just had my aerobar pads break – the metal pad underneath thecushion pad – it cracked, because I sweat so much that the screws rusted, andthat I guess compromised the aerobar pads. So sweat getting down onto thebottom bracket, or getting down on your drivetrain if you're indoors, canactually do more damage than outdoors, where you have the wind blowing thingsoff. So I like to clean the bike weekly. And I think of it in terms of mileage,so usually every 100 to 200 miles, I'll want to clean and lubricate the chainespecially. At least do that every 100 or 200 miles, or at a minimum once amonth, even if you're doing indoor training only. Just because if you're notcleaning your bike, and you're getting a lot of sweat down there, it can do alot of damage. So I would say indoors or outdoors, lube your chain every 100 to200 miles, and that could be once a week for most people, if you're doing a lotof training.

Andrew:Chris, do you have a favorite bike lube?

Chris: Idon't have any specific brand. I've been using a couple of different brands.One I've been using indoors is Squirt, an easy one to remember, you just squirtit right on. But there's a whole bunch of brands I've used over the years.There's some for different conditions too. If you're doing outdoor riding indrier climates or wet climates, there's all different types. Some people waxtheir chains. I don't put that effort in, unfortunately. But yeah, I try tolubricate every week, especially when I do a lot of Esports races – like highintensity, you're sweating a lot, you're getting your bike really, reallymessed up in a lot of ways when you put a lot of sweat on it. But justprotecting the bike too, that can minimize how often you need to clean thebike. Like putting towels down in the key spots. Anyone who's on the trainer alot, I would say have a towel that you actually wrap around your front brakeand your rear brake when you're riding indoors. Just because the sweat comesdown the seat, it comes down the seat post, goes down onto the rear brakessometimes, or down the handlebar onto the front brake, you can start rustingyour brakes. But if you protect them with a towel, just to prevent a lot ofsweat from building up on top of them, you might not have to clean your bike asoften. Maybe at most once a month or every couple of months. It all depends onwhat type of riding you're doing and how hard you're going. That can all factorin, but I'd say the most important thing is just check over your bike.

Andrew:TJ, do you have a favorite bike lube?

TJ:Yeah, so I'm actually going to give a shout-out to my good buddy Josh Portner –

Andrew:I thought you might.

TJ:Josh owns Silka. Josh has a product called Silka’s Super-Secret Chain Lube, andit is absolutely fantastic. It's a wax chain lubricant, and he actually has aprep that you put on your chain before you lube it to strip it of all thepetrochemicals that are naturally installed on the chain. So it strips it down,and then you put the wax chain lube on top of there. It's super good. And thatbrings up one other product that Silka makes, which is bike wipes. There's alsoall kinds of competitors, you could find them pretty easily on Amazon. SoAndrew, before the podcast we were talking about changing diapers. Andrew'sabout to have a one-year-old here, so he's still in the heart of changingdiapers all the time. I remember that same stage in my life, and so you know,as a parent, you never go anywhere without a diaper bag that has diapers,bottles, and of course, wipes. Like, you must have all these baby wipes all thetime.

Andrew:At all times.

TJ:Yeah, so think about the same way as bikes. If you have bike wipes with you allthe time – and Silka makes wonderful bike wipes, but you don't have to buySilka’s, you can buy somebody else’s too – but they're wipes and they'retextured, so they really do a good job of cleaning off any rough debris, mud orstuff from your bike. They're super convenient to have. If you care about yourbike like you do your baby, so if your bike is your baby, carry the wipes withyou, and make sure you wipe that down after use. And that goes for indoor andoutdoor riding. So if you did an excessive amount of sweating like Chris doeson his indoor rides, then you can wipe that down and have a nice clean bike forthe next session.

Andrew:I do want to throw out the disclaimer that you can be a triathlete, you can bea cyclist, and not know a lick about any of this stuff. You'll probably findyourself in a mechanical jam from time to time out on the road and not know howto do anything about it, and that's fine. Please, oh please, do not take thatexpensive carbon bike and do anything to it that you are uncomfortable doingyourself. That's why the pros are there, the experts are there. But TJ andChris are here to teach us a few things, for those of us who are interested indoing some stuff on our own bikes. And I want to talk first maybe for ourtriathletes who aren't super handy. They don't want to do everything on theirbike, but they're interested in doing some things to maintain their bike. Ithink I land in this category. What would you guys say are the essentialbasics, like any triathlete interested in taking care of their bike in theirgarage should be doing X, Y, and Z week to week, and how can we learn how to dothese items? Chris over to you.

Chris: Well,I think the basic thing is not maybe so much maintenance, although partially,is just learning how to fix a flat tire. That's always the basic skill everyoneshould learn. But with that, part of the maintenance aspect of it is justmaking sure that you also check the rim tape. This doesn't have to be veryoften, but like every couple of years. Check the rim tape, if you have rim tapeinside your wheel that covers up the spoke holes, especially if you ride it inwet weather a lot. That's commonly one thing that gets overlooked quite a bit,and it's a very common cause of flat tires. So people who have a lot of flattires when they ride very often, I always encourage them to make sure theyreplace the rim tape on their bikes, and know how to do that. I think the otherbasic ones are, if you know you're going to be traveling with your bike,anything that you might need to adjust whenever you're moving or transportingyour bike. So adjusting the brakes is a very common skill that everyone should learnhow to do. If you're taking the wheels on and off, you're putting your bike ona smart trainer, depending on what type of brakes you have, just building theconfidence of knowing how to put a disc brake wheel back on, or a rim brakewheel. I didn’t know a lot about disc brakes, I had rim breaks for the longesttime. And now I feel like I'm still learning quite a bit myself, on how to takecare of those, and how to adjust those, and things like that. So I'd say fix aflat, know how to adjust or tighten the brakes, make sure you're safe whenyou're riding. Then the derailleurs, if you have shifting issues. I'd say thoseare the three basic skills that I like to encourage everyone to learn, and it'ssomething you can learn pretty quick and you'll use it all the time. There'sadditional skills too, but I would say those are the basic ones. Then if you'redoing any adjusting on your bikes, knowing how to not over-tighten things. Sogetting a torque wrench for me was always one good tool that helped me build confidencein adjusting things on my bike.

Andrew:A lot of really great things there, Chris, that you pointed out. TJ, anythinghere to add on what you like to talk to people about when it comes to thebasics of maintaining their bike?

TJ:Yeah, Chris, all those were awesome. So thanks for adding those, I would echoeverything you said. I think the other big one that I would add is just knowinghow to adjust both your aerobar and your seat. The important thing with this isthat you need to know where the set point is. There's these key measurementsthat you need on your bike, and then you can get set up on just about any bike.Those happen to be your saddle height, your saddle setback – how far it isbehind or in front of the bottom bracket – your pad stack, and your pad reach.Once you know those four things, you can pretty much get on any bike and ride.So if you can adjust your bike, and make sure that you're getting those in theright place all the time, then you're fine. I know you might not think this isa big deal, but oftentimes if we're traveling with our bike, or transporting itsomehow, those measurements can be off. The other big thing is, it's verycommon for somebody to not have their seat post tightened all the way, so theyget seat post slippage. So knowing all of these things is very important forevery triathlete. I think every triathlete should have an email to themselves,so they have it all the time, that has this information in there that says, “Mysaddle height is this, my saddle setback is this, my pad stack is this, and mypad reach is this.” That way, even if you show up to a race and you don't havea bike, you can give that to any bike mechanic out there in the world and theycan say, “I'll get you set up on a bike that will let you feel somewhatcomfortable on.”

Andrew:Yeah. And now, TJ, anybody that's had a bike fit, those numbers should be intheir bike fit profile supplied by the bike fitter. If somebody hasn't had abike fit, what's a good manual way to figure out those measurements?

TJ:I made a short video to talk about this I would be happy to share, but I'llkind of run through the trial of how to do this. You put your bike in a doorframe, and line up the back of that door frame with the center of the bottombracket, and that will allow you to measure your saddle setback distance fromthe door. Then you do the same thing at the center of the bottom bracket to theaerobars, which will also tell you the reach of the aerobar pads too, so justthe distance from the edge of that door to the pads. So it's pretty simple whenyou think about it in that terms. Then when you're talking about your padstack, you're just going to measure your pads from the ground to the back topof the pad, and then you're going to subtract the distance from the ground tothe center of the bottom bracket. It's all fairly simple to do. Again, I made alittle video that I send to people on a weekly basis who are like, “I have noidea what those measurements are on my bike. How do I do it?” “Here, watch thistwo-minute video, then you can understand.” You stand in front of your door andmake these measurements, and then know a lot more about your bike and how itfits.

Andrew:Yeah, I'm a visual learner, so we'll definitely put that link in the podcastdescription today. And of course, follow TJ Tollakson on YouTube, because he'salways putting out some really good triathlon rants and bike knowledge out onthe YouTube. You guys and Dimond come across my feed all the time.

Chris: Ireally like that entry, the doorway hack. That's a really genius hack if youdon't have tools to measure things, that's a really, really good idea. I wantto throw in one quick thing that actually feeds off of what TJ said in terms ofgetting those measurements done. If anyone doesn't have any like resources orknowledge of, “What am I measuring, and what am I looking at?” I know Park Toolhas on their website some PDF files – it’s just a one-page fit sheet – thatshow you, both for road bikes and tri bikes, all the different parts that aretypically measured. I usually encourage all my athletes to download that andfill it out, go through the process. That way you have a physical copy that youcan actually put in with your bike if you're traveling, so if you lose anelectronic copy, you have a physical copy somewhere as well. Then another neathack is to get a piece of string, and measure your saddle height from thebottom bracket up to the seat, and then leave that piece of string in your bikesaddle bag. Then anytime you travel, you have that saddle bag, your fix-a-flattools, you have that piece of string to remeasure. So if you don't have a rulerhandy or something like that, you can always, even on the side of the road,just measure your saddle height. And you can take it to indoor spin classes, onindoor bikes. You can have a little piece of string that you just have withyour shoes, or keep it wherever you want, and that's a really good way. ButTJ’s point is key, get your fit measurements. Because a lot of bike shops thatdo basic bike fits don't give you your measurements like the real expensivebike fits will. You go to a shop, they do a quick fit, they don't necessarilytell you what your measurements are. So that's a huge, huge one for sure.

Andrew:All the tech in the bike space, and we're over here learning how to use leafblowers, and strings, and door frames to help us dial in certain things. Butyeah, to go back to the basics, having your fit right when you go for a ride,or at least close to it, is a necessity. Great points there. I'm going to moveus on to some more advanced bike maintenance principles. I am an athlete that,I've learned I am not interested in touching the advanced things. I want totrust the experts. But we have plenty of listeners, plenty of people that dowant to learn that and know how to do that. So for people interested in goingbeyond the basics, going beyond the essentials, what would you guys say aresome things they should learn how to do, to even take more care of their bikethemselves without depending so much on a bike shop? TJ, what do you think?

TJ:The number one thing for me is making sure you know how to properly adjust yourheadset. This is probably the biggest challenge for most people, but it'sabsolutely critical. Because especially with disc brakes, if you ride your bikewith a loose headset and you have a front disc brake, you're going to crack thesteer tube on your fork. It's super, super dangerous to do that. There's somuch stopping power that then gets transferred into the headset, that it justneeds to be tight. It's not a complicated part, it's actually very simple. Butif you look at it for the first time, it's overwhelming and scary, it isabsolutely frightening. So anybody who wants to do this, there are some greatvideos. I've got a YouTube video on headsets, but there are others out therethat talk about how the headset goes together, the pieces. The order ofoperations when you're tightening a headset is very, very important. You haveto do step A before you do step B before you do step C, and it's importantbecause if you do them backwards, you're not going to end up with the rightresult. So knowing how to tighten a headset, how to take apart all thebearings, the entire headset, clean that part of your bike and put it backtogether, that's one of the most advanced features that becomes very, veryimportant. A loose headset while you're riding will create wobbles in your bikewhen you're riding, it will create loose braking, and just bad handling of thebike. But a whole bunch of people ride around every day with loose headsets.They don't know that it's loose, and they don't know how to tighten it. If Iwas going to tell somebody right now the best step to test to see if yourheadset is tight, grab the brakes, rock the bike forward, and then the secondthing is pick your bike up by the stem just a couple inches, drop it, and dothe vibration check. If it bounces and everything feels tight, your headset'sprobably tight. If you drop your bike two inches, just the front end, if youdrop it onto the ground and bounce it on that tire and it rattles, you need totighten your headset. That's probably the number one thing for me. As an ownerof a bike company, I see this pretty regularly, is customers have looseheadsets, and they don't know what to do. Then occasionally I'll have customersbreak a fork because they're riding around with a loose headset. It's one ofthose things that you just need to know, and the more you know, the betterequipped you can be to handle that.

Andrew:TJ, is that something that just loosens over time, and we just need to alwayskeep an eye on it? Or is it only when we're taking apart the bike, putting itback together?

TJ:Yeah, it absolutely can loosen over time. I noticed my own bike, if I attach itto a trainer that has a fork mount, you'll notice that over time, all thetwisting, and you're locking the axle in place, is slightly loosening theheadset. So it will loosen over time, it's not something that you're like,“Hey, I tightened this once and it's good forever, right?” It will actuallyloosen itself. I compare it to lug nuts on a vehicle. If you have your tiresrotated, they'll tighten those to torque and they'll tell you, “Hey, in 2,000more miles of driving, check those lug nuts again so they're not loose.” Andyou're like, “Well, how would that happen? You torqued them down, theyshouldn’t come loose.” Well, you used it, so things can naturally loosen alittle bit just with road vibration. So that's something you definitely want topay attention to.

Andrew:No, I've never been told to do that, never heard of that, and this is exactlywhy we're having this conversation. Chris, anything beyond that, that you wouldcategorize as a more advanced skill that would be good for a triathlete toknow?

Chris: I'dsay one or two quick things. One is just getting comfortable with taking therear derailleur off, especially if you're traveling with your bike, or you'reputting your bike in a bike box. It’s super simple, but just building theconfidence to do that I think is something that folks should learn. And withthat, learning how to adjust the derailleur once you put it back on, just tomake sure your shifting is working properly. And there's so many goodresources, two quick YouTube channels I'll mention – Park Tool, and GlobalCycling Network. They have a lot of good high quality videos where theystep-by-step walk people through a lot of these things of how to do this. SoI'd say that that would be a big one. The other one is more safety, I would say.It's not really that much more advanced, but besides fixing a flat tire andreplacing the rim tape, if you're someone who does have a tendency of gettingflat tires, figure out why you get flat tires, and be a little bit moreadvanced with maintaining and being really comfortable with maintaining yourtires. And that can be if you're tubeless, learning how to use a sealant – alot of people are really nervous about that with the new tubeless wheels. Alsojust looking over your tires, like a lot of people don't spend the time to justlook over your tire. Because the reason why a lot of people get flats is thatyou ride all the time, you get a lot of little sharp pieces of glass, andmetal, and things embedded in your tire. It's not you hitting a pothole thatcauses the flat, it's you riding over and over and over again, and that littlepiece of glass or metal gets wedged in deeper. So one somewhat advanced skill Iusually encourage people to learn, is just getting really close to your tire,and using either a flashlight and maybe a little piece of metal like your keys,and pick out all the little pieces of metal or glass that get embedded in thetire. Usually, if you're diligent about that, and take care of your tires likeyou take care of the rest of your bike, you'll avoid getting flat tires. It'sthe number one way of preventing flats. Especially for new people who arenervous about getting flat tires, I would say that's a key, basic maintenanceskill to learn. But I think you can get more advanced with it, and that canreally build confidence.

Andrew:Yeah, build confidence and keep you riding without frustration, withoutheadaches, without problems. Because, yeah, to your point, if you're continuingto get flat tires, there's a reason. Tires shouldn't just flat all the time.The next question I have is, for athletes who do want to try doing most thingson their own, would you say there's a point where, if you're going to do X, Y,and Z, you should just take it to the shop? TJ, maybe I'll pitch this questionto you, as the maker of bikes. What's your wisdom, what do you say to your customers,to your athletes, when it comes to, “This is the point where you should justtake it to a shop and not worry about it yourself.”

TJ:Well, I'm going to say it varies by the individual. You want to do what you'recomfortable doing, and when you're not comfortable doing, that's when you needto use the shop. I will also say, just be realistic about the timeline. Ifyou're trying something new for the first time, budget two days to work on it.So like you're saying you're working on changing this, and you thought youcould go on a ride the next day. Well, that's the reality, when you're learningsomething new, it might take that long. And sometimes we can get into a shop ina day and they can fix something, other times they can't. So you’ve got to becareful. You go down some rabbit hole trying to install the crank yourself, andthen you end up going to a bike shop. The other big resource that I'll say is,everybody has “that friend”, right? You've got one friend that knows more aboutbikes than you do. So keep that friend's phone number handy, and just knowthat, “Hey, if I get into trouble, I can do this.” I have one more hack that Itell people to do when they're learning to do stuff on their bike, or doingsomething for the first time. That would be to take pictures, and moreimportantly videos, when you're uninstalling something, so you can understandhow it goes back together.

Andrew:That's great, yeah.

TJ:So if for instance, we're taking apart our headset, if I take videos while I'mdoing this – if I set up my phone or have somebody video me while I'm doingthis – then I can see how everything is supposed to look when I'm done, andthen I know what I'm doing. Things that you might not care about that matter ahuge deal – like in your headset, the orientation of the bearings. The headsetbearings, one has a beveled edge, and one has a flat edge. Those beveled edgesboth point towards the middle of the head tube. But you might not know that, ifyou took it apart and just threw the bearing on the ground, so you're thinking,“Which way does this go?” Well, if you took pictures and videos of everything,you can go back and look at that as you're reassembling stuff, to know “This iswhere it goes.” Chris mentioned earlier about taking your derailleur off. Thesame thing, if you're going to take your derailleur off for the first time,take a video of yourself taking it off, so then you know how it goes back on. Soanytime you find yourself in trouble, your first call should be that one friendthat knows more about bikes than you, to see if maybe you can help yourself.The next step, go straight to the pros. Call your bike shop, and just berealistic with the timeline. They might not be able to help you in fiveminutes. It might be three days, two weeks, who knows? So that's why I sayfirst call that friend who knows more than you, and then second call straightto the pros.

Andrew:Based on a lot of the principles we've covered already here on the show – forthe home mechanic who's trying to do all of the essentials on their own bike,what tools are good to have at home to take care of all these things? Chris?

Chris: Mymain things that I would recommend are a good multitool or a little basic bikemaintenance toolbox. Sometimes they'll sell it as a kit, where they have awhole bunch of tools together. But I think having a good multitool is a keyfirst step, especially with newer bikes. Make sure that there are things onthere that you might need for your bike, like a bike plug kit for fixing atubeless tire, also a chain breaker on that. Some of the newer multitools comewith all of those things now. So having a good multitool is step one, just youcan do the basic stuff. A torque wrench – if you're doing anything with anexpensive bike that has carbon parts – is a wrench that you can adjust thetension on so you don't over-tighten or under-tighten things, and a good firstmajor tool to invest in. Another really basic one is just have some gloves.Whether it’s just basic nitrile gloves, or they actually make bike mechanic’sgloves that will have a little more grip, are a little more durable. I forgetthe brand, it might be Finish Line, they make a pretty inexpensive pair of bikemaintenance gloves that just make working on your bike more fun. You're notgetting grease all over your hands, you're not making a big mess. When youstart building that confidence from having the right tools to do things, youjust naturally will start doing more. I think those are the basic things. Thenif you're getting into doing more maintenance on a regular basis, I would say abike stand, something where you can secure your bike, and it's easy to do a lotof these things. Because sometimes that's the hardest part, is you're leaningyour bike against the wall trying to do something, and you can't rotate thecrank around, and you adjust one thing and it moves another part. So make your lifeeasier by buying some type of bike stand. Sometimes it can be a bike rack, likea storage rack that has something built in that holds your bike stationary soyou can do a lot of maintenance things. My bike travel case actually has a bikestand built into it. So when I travel with my bike and I'm putting my bike backtogether, I have a whole work stand that pops out of my travel case. Eventhough it was expensive to get that travel case, it was a two-in-one purchase.So having a good bike stand definitely makes a difference.

Andrew:Yeah, I had been wanting a bike maintenance stand for a long time, and justnever pulled the trigger on it. The caliber of the one I was looking for, formy at-home garage, was a couple hundred dollars more than I just wanted to pullthe trigger on at any given time. And all of a sudden, on Facebook Marketplace,I saw a lady post one. It was a Park Tools, the exact one I wanted, she postedit for like a hundred bucks. It had just been sitting in their garage and noone was using it, and she was located 20 minutes down the road. Boom, done. Ijust claimed it, drove to her house right then and there, and bought it. Andyeah, it's made a huge difference, for my ability to comfortably, efficiently,do what I am trying to do on my bike. Even if it's just washing the bike, likewe were talking about before, it's made it that much easier just to pop it upon the stand, get out the hose, do it. And now I'll follow up with the leafblower while still in the bike stand. Good point there, Chris. TJ, any tools youwould add to that list for the home mechanic?

TJ:Yeah. We talked a little bit about the flat repair stuff, so we'll go over theflat repair kit tools that you need. You'll need a CO2 inflator, a couple CO2cartridges, that multitool that Chris mentioned, tire levers – everybody needstire levers to be able to change flat tires. You might need a patch or a plug.If you have deep carbon wheels you need to have an extra valve extender, and/orthe wrench to remove the valve extender, that becomes really important. Alittle hack for getting the tubeless nut off – those seem really toughsometimes, this is a nice little trick – is once the tire is off the bike, youwant to push the nut from the inside. Push that valve from the inside, andthat'll create just a tiny bit of space so you can loosen that nut. Those arereally tight sometimes, that's a tricky thing to do especially on the road, sothat's a little trick that we use at the shop here.

Andrew:Yeah, it sure is.

TJ:More advanced stuff, that I still think is really important for everyone tohave, a cassette lock ring tool. So your cassette is locked on with a speciallock ring tool, and there's a couple of different kinds of those. Then you alsoneed a chain whip. It's kind of a funky-looking tool, but that's how you removea cassette. So if you wanted to change one cassette to another, that's animportant tool to have. And my last one that I'm going to recommend here, isthe disc brake rotor tool. A lot of times that's the same as the Shimano bottombracket tool, other times it's the same as the cassette lock ring tool, thoseare the two standards for disc brake rotor lock rings. But this is reallyimportant, because anytime you're traveling with your bike, you should beremoving those rotors. Because if you bend your rotor, it's possible to bend itback, but it's kind of a nightmare to have to deal with. So I never recommendanybody ever ship their bike with the disc rotor installed, so it's nice to beable to have the tool to take that off and put it back on yourself withouthaving to go to a shop. All of these tools can be found on Amazon, none of themare super-expensive. Obviously there's nice brands – Silka makes tools, ParkTool makes wonderful tools, Pedro’s. There's all kinds of bike-specific tools,but you can use some other things like a wrench set, that doesn't have tonecessarily be a name brand to be functional for what you're trying to do. So Ithink all-in, for a few hundred dollars you can have a very nice set of toolsthat can function, every one of those tools that we mentioned, including a bikestand would be the most expensive. All of those tools could be purchased for afew hundred dollars or less for a nice home mechanic toolbox.

Andrew:Yeah, I absolutely love it, some great additions there, TJ. I'm proud to say, Ialmost had everything on Chris and TJ's list. The only thing you guys mentionedthat I do not have is the disc brake rotor tool. Again, I'm still fairly new todisc brakes. I've had both of my Dimond bikes with disc brakes for just alittle over a year, so that's the next thing I suppose I'm adding to mypersonal list, based off of TJ's little spiel there.

Chris: Notknowing what to do is that first intimidation, and not having the right toolsto do it. So I think that once you get the tools, you'll use them, and thatbuilds the confidence.

Andrew:And that's a great point, Chris. Because I think that's probably the barrier toa lot of people doing more stuff on their own bike, is knowing what questionsto ask, knowing where to learn how to do it. Once you have the interest indoing it, just figuring out what tool I need to do it, and then how to do it,that's a very good way of putting it.

Chris: Notto generalize, but if people get intimidated by the cost of a lot of this –working on your bike can get expensive very quickly – one of the bestinvestments that you can do is joining a local bike club. I hate to generalizetriathletes, but we tend to spend so much time swimming, biking, and running,sometimes we don't spend as much time working on our bikes. Whereas thesingle-sport athletes, the cyclists who just do cycling, they tend to spendmore time just cycling and working on their bikes. So joining, not just a localtriathlon club, but joining a local bike club, I think is one of the bestinvestments that you can do. I know here in Chicago, Triple X Racing is a biglocal cycling team you can plug into. You can join the club – most bike clubsare like $50 to $100 for the year for a membership – and then you're in thisforum in this group, where if you have any bike questions you can be like, “Oh,I don't have this tool, does somebody else have it?” We see people sharingtools and swapping tools. Like if it's a tool you're only going to use once,you don't need to buy it, but you have a friend in the club that has it. Youcan share those tools. I think that's one of the best ways to get started,rather than being intimidated about having to buy all these tools, and notknowing if you have the right tool. It’s just a big cost savings, a way to getinto bike maintenance.

Andrew:That's a great idea. I've learned a lot of bike principles – both training andtaking care of the bike, setting up your bike, how to accessorize your bike,different strategies for that bottle cages and that kind of stuff – fromjoining the Saturday and midweek group rides of some of the bike clubs in thearea. Some shops in the area have group rides, and just joining those grouprides, you see how cyclists set up their bikes, what they do to their bikesbefore a ride, and you learn a lot just by watching that. That’s a really goodpoint there, Chris. Two more questions I'm going to ask. I'm going to throw oneof these to Chris, one of these to TJ, and then we'll shut it down for today.Chris, my next question is about the indoor trainer. Talk to us about what'shappening to our bike when it's staying indoors so much, and what we need to doto take care of it, exclusively when it's indoors more often.

Chris: Yeah,especially because you don't have as much wind blowing things off of you andoff of the bike, you can get a lot of sweat building up in all different partsof the bike. Your body is right over the head tube and the headset, and you canget a lot of sweat in there, so one of the basic things is just protectingthat. So get what we call a “bike thong” or a sweat guard, it's just kind of apurpose-designed stretchy thing that you attach your handlebars and then toyour seat post, and it just catches a lot of the sweat that goes down directlyover that headset and the frame of the bike. I think getting something likethat is really important. Putting towels in the right spots, like putting themover the brakes, so you're not sweating down over the metal parts of your biketoo often. And then just cleaning the bike regularly, wiping it down, havingthose bike wipes and just wiping your frame down. One thing that I reallydidn't notice that much until I really got into the Esports cycling, and I wasputting more and more time on the trainer, is sweat getting down through myshoes, and down on the bolts of the cleat on the bottom of your shoe, and thoserusting. So actually look at that, and make sure you just wipe that area ofyour bike down. And if you have power meter pedals – people have reallyexpensive pedals these days – if you get a lot of sweat going down there overthose electronics, even though they're really well sealed, sometimes thetension spring on the cleats can rust. If you think of all the sweat that comesdown your body, it generally goes two places – down your legs, through yourfeet, onto the pedals, or down over your saddle, then down that seat post, andthat will eventually go down to the bottom bracket and the brake. So just beingcognizant of a lot of sweat coming down in those areas, and either covering itwith a towel so you don't have to clean it as often, or just getting bike wipesand cleaning those areas down on a regular basis, I think is critical.

TJ:I'm going to add one thing. Every time you're riding inside, you have exposedbolt heads that you're often sweating into, and those are often the first thingto rust. So my quick hack for this is to take a Q-tip, dip it in some Vaseline,put that Q-tip inside the bolt head of all those bolts that are exposed thatyou're dripping sweat into. That Vaseline will keep those bolt heads fromrusting.

Andrew:Wow. How often do we need to do that? Is that a one-time –

TJ:Once a year, it’s a once-a-year deal, that Vaseline is not going anywhere. It'sstaying in there, and it's waterproof.

Andrew:There you go, Chris!

Chris:That was one of my favorite investments, is just a bike grease container. Thentake those screws out, and just dip them in there, put a lot of it on. A lot ofextra bike grease kind of acts like that Vaseline, and just creates a barrier,so sweat can't get down in there. Yeah, I've noticed that some bolts on yourbike are very rust-proof and resistant, and some are not. So finding trickslike that, I think that's an awesome tip. I love that.

Andrew:It sounds like primarily our sweat is the biggest threat to our bike when we'retraining indoors. So yeah, all those tips are great to help thwart the rustfrom getting into important parts of our bike TJ, I'm curious on this one,because if anybody has a Dimond bike, and they show up to a race where theDimond team is, you guys will do a pre-race tune-up for them on the spot, inthe Village, before their race. The next time I do a major race, I've got tomake sure I align with the schedule of the Dimond van, so that I can get mypre-race tune-up on my bike. But I'm curious, TJ, for athletes that have a raceon the calendar –the pre-race tune-up is one of the most important ritualsbefore your race, to make sure your bike is in good working order before yourrace. What do athletes need to know about doing that pre-race tune-up? What arethe important things to do? Or is it something we should just take to a shopand let a shop do it?

TJ:It's going to depend on what you're doing and how you're traveling to the racewith your bike, but you want to make sure that your chain is looped, or afreshly waxed chain, so your drivetrain is running really smooth. You want tomake sure that the shifts are all precise and crisp, that there's no lag inyour shifting. You want to make sure your headset is tight. You want to makesure your tires are in good condition, no nicks or cuts in them, you want tomake sure that it's holding air and the pressure is up properly. Those are thekind of big checks that you want to go through on your bikes. We'll go throughwith the torque wrench and make sure all the key bolts, the seat post, theheadset, everything's tight and is functioning properly. I'll say this, becausethis is the most important thing, even after we check your bike, you should goride your bike.

Andrew:Yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

TJ:Because how it performs on the stand is not necessarily how it performs on theroad. So even after it's been checked, go ride it, just to make sure. That'sthe peace of mind that you want on race day, to know, “When I get this thing inT1, it's ready to go.” You can use the mechanics on race site if you have aDimond, Quintana Roo is usually there, they'll do the same thing. If your bikecompany is not at the expo, there's usually a mechanic that you can pay,they're $60 to $85 to do a pre-race tune. For the amount of money you'veinvested this far, it's worth doing. It doesn't make a lot of sense to go toyour shop to do your pre-race tune if you then pack it in a bike case andtravel to the race. Then you kind of have to do that all over again right beforethe race.

Andrew:Yeah, good point.

TJ:So you can use your local shop if you're going to drive, say, for you toGalveston or something. Then that's fine, then your bike’s all set up and readyto go. If you are flying, if the bike wasn't in your car when you weretransporting it, then I suggest using somebody on race site to do your pre-racecheck.

Andrew:When I hear you go through the list of what happens in a pre-race tune-up, it'snot a super intimidating list. Now if you said, “Hey, Andrew, would you do yourown pre-race tune-up on your own bike?” I'll be like “No, I'm going to paysomebody to do it, because I'm not a bike mechanic.” But if somebody investssome of the money we're talking about, in some of the essential tools you guysmentioned, you can do a pre-race tune-up with those essential tools. So if youare mechanically inclined or mechanically interested, and you make theinvestment on some tools, it will pay for itself in free pre-race tune-ups, ifyou have the confidence in learning how to do all those things on TJ's listright there. Really great stuff. Plenty of people obviously do their own, butI'm more inclined at this juncture in my life to pay somebody professionally,especially when the race matters a lot. But thanks, TJ, for running us throughthat list.

Lastquestion I'm curious about before we shut it down. I want to hear from both ofyou, because you both work on bikes quite a bit. What do you think is the mostchallenging individual bike part, or bike maintenance process, to do on a bike?TJ what do you think it is?

TJ:Bleeding hydraulic brake lines, without a doubt. So for those who don't know,if you have disc brakes, there's a few different types of disc brakes that youhave. The most powerful stopping brakes are hydraulic disc brakes. They run acable from your brake lever all the way to the brake, and that cable is filledwith either mineral oil or DOT fluid. To make sure those function properly,sometimes you need to bleed your brakes. You might have heard that term and youdon't know what that means. It's like your brain starts to bleed when you hearthat term, because you're like, “I don't want to deal with this.” But bleedingyour brakes involves removing the air bubbles from that hose. It's verychallenging to do, it takes a lot of practice to know when to get it right, howto do it right. So that's my one thing that I'd say is probably the mostadvanced skill that somebody needs to know how to do, and it's why hydraulicdisc brakes aren't for everybody as well. So I'm going to say, if you're havinga problem with your brake and it feels super squishy and the handle pulls in,take it to a shop or a pro, because it's probably above most people's grade ofdealing with themselves.

Andrew:Chris, did TJ nail it? Do you have the same answer? Or do you have somethingthat you find extremely challenging as well?

Chris: Forme, it's the tubeless. Tubeless is kind of new to me. Using the sealant,figuring out the tire pressure, different types of tires. I have a gravel bikenow, I haven't had a gravel bike before, and I'm learning about tubeless, howto fix things. I had a slow leak, and I was trying to figure out, just pumpmore tubeless sealant in there to try to get it to seal up. Just having littleissues like that, dealing with that. It seems like it's a simpler technology,and it is in many ways, but learning how to do things properly the first timeis always challenging. I think that is one that some triathletes don't evenknow about, like they buy a new time-trial bike – I've had a few athletes whereI asked them, “Is this running tubes or is it tubeless?” And they don't evenknow, so then they don't know if they need to put sealant in or not. So justlearning that I think is a little intimidating for the new triathlete, butdefinitely something that you should look into.

TJ:Chris, I'm going to add something real quick while we're on this topic, becauseyou're right about this. For starters, if you have tubeless tires and you get aflat tire, you can put a tube in there. You can put a tube inside there, fixyour flat tire, and keep riding. It's not the best long-term solution,especially if you have a hookless rim. We're not going to get into that, wecovered that in a different episode.

Andrew:We have, yes.

TJ:Secondly, if you have a leak in your tubeless setup, 99.9% of the time it'syour tape. It's your tape, it's your tape, it's your tape. You might think,“Oh, it's coming through the valve hole, it's coming through here. Add moresealant, it'll stop.” No. If it's leaking, 99.9% of the time, it is your tape.You need to redo your tape from start to finish, that fixes most of thoseproblems. Lastly, I do believe that once you figure out tubeless, it will beless intimidating, and you will actually have fewer flats. But it's veryimportant to remember to add sealant at least one time in the middle of theyear. You cannot just continue, because that latex sealant will dry out, andyou will have no flat protection. So you’ve got to make sure you add sealant atleast once during the season.

Cool down theme: Great set everyone! Let’s cool down.

Vanessa Ronksley: Well, friends, it's cooldown time, and I'mVanessa, your Average Triathlete with Elite-Level Enthusiasm! Today's guest ispassionate for the beauty of sport, as it has transformed his life and also thelives of his nearest and dearest. Jake Graham is an engineer, triathlon lover,coach, and a thrill-seeker, with a bright and inquisitive mind. Afterdiscovering TriDot as an athlete, he immersed himself in the community, becamean Ambassador, and soon afterwards a certified coach. Jake loves working withathletes with diverse backgrounds, those who enjoy analyzing data to maximizeperformance, in addition to those with unique dietary needs. Jake currentlylives in Detroit, and is moving to Salt Lake City with his fiancée this year.Welcome to the show, Jake!

Jake Graham: Thanks, Vanessa! I'm a longtime listener, so I’m excited to be here!

Vanessa:Awesome, I love hearing that! Now, I'm pretty sure that you recently crossedsomething off your bucket list that sounds like a completely epic experience.So tell us a little bit about your heli-skiing adventure.

Jake:Absolutely, yeah. It was actually just before the pandemic started in 2020. Agroup of friends and I went out to Colorado, and embarked upon a lifelong dreamof mine to go heli-skiing. I just want to clarify that that did not involvebarrel rolling out of a helicopter with skis strapped to our feet, and hittingthe slopes at full speed. Rather, we were packing our equipment into thehelicopter, being taken off to some pretty remote and new terrain, where wewere able to explore some beautiful skiing.

Vanessa:That's amazing. Were you the first tracks on the snow?

Jake:We were, every time. We went up a couple different times, and they always tookus to a new spot where we got to make those first tracks, which was pretty fun.

Vanessa:Oh wow. Okay, I have one more question about this. How does the quad burncompare to Big Gear workout? A day of heli-skiing compared to a Big Gearworkout.

Jake:I mean, Big Gear workout is on a different level than anything else. Similar Iwould say, because when you're out on that mountain, you're just trying to getevery last inch out of it. I would say the skiing is a bit more enjoyable thanthe Big Gear workout.

Vanessa:Let's hear what tip you have for our listeners.

Jake:The tip I wanted to share today is my strategy for being successful withimplementing goals. And that is by aligning your identity with your goal. Ithink as a lot of us know, something like over 90% of goals that people set,don't end up getting realized. I think the reason that happens is becausepeople end up focusing on the goal, but not necessarily the “why”. So what Ihave found is that, rather than stopping at identifying your “why”, if we takeit to the next level, and connect our goals with our identity, we become muchmore successful in realizing the goal. So what does this all mean? By aligningyour goal with your identity, you eliminate questions. Or at least questionschange from why you are doing something, to what you are doing or how you'redoing it. For example, when you think of somebody who identifies themselves asa reader, you never question, when they crack open a book at lunchtime and theydive in. Same thing if you know somebody who is a parent and has young kids. Ifthey have a bag with them full of diapers and snacks, that makes a lot ofsense. So by acknowledging what your identity is, the questions that peoplehave for you aren't why you're doing something, but it's just maybe what you'redoing, or how you're accomplishing it. This is important, because this allowsyou to have better conversations around what your goals are, and you’ll getmore support from your community around it. I think a lot of times people endup having this internal struggle, even when you identify what your “why” is, alot of times that can be a longer thing. So when you're sitting in bed on acold winter morning, or just not feeling motivated to get out and go for thatworkout, and you have to think about your “why”, sometimes that can take alittle while, and you can talk yourself out of it. If your identity is that youare a triathlete, you will not have to question that. You will say, “I'm atriathlete. This is what I do.” I've been in situations where I'm on a campingtrip with friends, and I wake up in the morning to go for a swim, and nobodyquestions it because they know, “Jake is a triathlete, this is what he does.”Whereas if I wasn't connected to my identity around that, then there would bemore questions, I’d have to explain every time I'm doing that. Or every timeI'm getting together with family, “I'm going to go for a run because I'mtraining for this event.” There's never a question, everybody knows, “This iswho he is, this is what he's going to do.” So I think there's a lot of power inconnecting those goals, and your “why”, to what your identity is. Ultimatelythat identity is going to be a mindset shift. That's the really key, importantpart of all of this, is making that mindset shift. It's not necessarily goingto happen overnight, but you'll start to see how the conversation changes whenyou do make that shift, because you'll internally think of yourselfdifferently. You're a triathlete, you are a runner. And this doesn't have to bepeople who have completed Ironmans or long triathlons. If you've done atriathlon, if you are training for a triathlon, you're a triathlete. You aredoing the work. That is a really important part of this as well. I think a lotof times runners have this as well. So I want to connect to the RunDotcommunity here too, to share that if you are running, you’re a runner.Incorporate that into your identity, so that there's no question as to whattraining you're doing and why you're doing it.

Vanessa:I was sitting here and I had shivers and goosebumps, because one hundredpercent agree with you on every different level. I often find myself tellingnewer athletes the exact same thing. If you're training in swim, bike, and run,you're a triathlete.

Jake:It's fun to be considered a triathlete, to be part of that community.Ultimately it just simplifies everything. Somebody asks you why you're doingsomething, “I'm a triathlete, that's why I'm doing this.”

Outro:Thanks for joining us. Make sure to subscribe and share the TriDot podcast withyour triathlon crew. For more great tri content and community, connect with uson Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Ready to optimize your training? Head totridot.com and start your free trial today! TriDot – the obvious and automaticchoice for triathlon training.

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