- Don’t change clothes
- Once you have your system, do it the same way every time – including your transition towel layout
- If you can leave your bike shoes attached to the bike, it really saves time
- Look up some cyclocross videos for how to mount and dismount your bike while moving – start practicing at a walking pace and then gradually work to increase your speed. Practice on soft grass in case you have a mishap!
- In T2, put on your running shoes first, then grab your race number belt and hat/visor. Put that stuff on while you are moving.
- Focus! Don’t be distracted by anything around you!
- Use elastic laces on your running shoes
So, I either memorize my location in the transition area or I mark a spot near my rack with a brightly colored swim cap. I also have my name on my transition towel. Upon exiting the water, I remove my goggles and cap and carry them with me. Once I enter the transition area, I run to my spot and ditch my cap and goggles, then put my helmet on first, followed by my sunglasses. I then put on my socks and bike shoes. I grab my bike from the rack and run out of transition to the mount line. At the mount line, I jump onto my bike from a run (no stopping) and clip in and start pedaling.
At the end of the bike ride, I get my feet out of my bike shoes and put them on top of the shoes. At the dismount line, I execute a moving dismount into a run and run into transition. I run to my spot and rack my bike. I then remove my helmet, put on my running shoes, and grab my number belt and visor/hat. While running out of transition, I put on my number belt and visor/hat. With our club's recent "transition challenge", I figure I'm proof that wearing socks can still be fairly speedy!
The wetsuit version includes me taking off my wetsuit: Immediately upon exiting the water, I move my goggles up to my head, peel my wetsuit down to waist level, and then remove the cap and goggles and carry them to my transition spot.* Once there, I pull the wetsuit down on my legs as far as possible and use my feet to continue to get them off my legs. I then try to put it out of the way.
*If it’s going to be a really long way to the transition area from the lake, I might consider taking off my wetsuit while still in the lake.
--Adrienne