Wheel Purchasing 101

Wheels are barely noticeable when they work right. When they are bad, you can't ignore them.

I purchased a nicer set of wheels for my road bike after having a great (and expensive) lesson taught to me. After buying a low-end Shimano rear wheel, thinking that I was being smart and saving money, I had to make countless trips to the bike shop to replace busted spokes and get the wheel trued.

At around $8 - $10 for each spoke and $20 for truing, it wasn't more than a couple trips when I realized I should have bought a better wheel. Don't let it happen to you!

But the real lesson the bike shop guys taught me is this - Whenever you get a new wheel, ride it a few times and then take it back in to get it trued and tightened. A good shop will do this for free, since it's a new product from their shop. This gets the wheel under control before things go bad. "A couple of quick visits and that wheel should be good to go for a loooooooooong time," they said.

Have wheel purchasing tips or questions? Post them in the comments section below!

Evening Caffeine - A Triathlete's Training Enemy

"No caffiene within four hours of bedtime." That's a great rule for healthy living in general and endurance training alike.

Drink coffee, tea, or take any kind of stimulant too late in the day and you will end up going to bed later and/or having a bad night's sleep. You'll end up dragging ass the next morning and have a bad workout or skip it entirely. Lame!

The best way to handle this is to have a rule and live by it. "No caffeine after 5 PM" works best for lots of endurance athletes.

Of course, this is tougher with more signs of the coming A-coff-alypse.

Homemade Energy Gel!

This was forwarded to me by ZenTri fan Benjamin - How to make your own energy gel! Visit Mark's website for more details. Very cool!

What is a Swim Parka?

Lots of triathletes aren't familiar with a classic piece of swim training equipment - the Swim Parka.  Well, here it is!

The Texas Turtle - An Awesome Endurance Snack