Heather: Here at GTN we love tech, and it
becomes clear if you pan back through the
years as to just the extent of it. Well, we've
whittled down a selection of our favorite
pieces from the last three years, and can
I just say? You're in for a treat!
[music]
Heather: We are a triathlon channel, so it
makes sense that we start with the swim. It's
actually that area of our sport that has seen
a huge surge in its tech development over
just the last year. It was FORM goggles that
led the way with their augmented display,
allowing you to see your pace, your stroke
rate, the distance that you swam, all while
still swimming without having to stop and
look at a watch. They have more recently teamed
up with Polar, and using the Polar OH1+ you
can now even view your heart rate while swimming.
Well, Mark put them through their paces here.
Mark: Swimming has being stuck in the dark
ages for some time now, but I do think that
these are bridging the gap on that. I also
think that had I have these a number of years
ago, it may well affects my inability to pace
back then, maybe even saving from being told
off by my old swimming coach countless times.
As I showed earlier, these really helped me
to pace that forage of time trial a little
bit better. I've also been using it a little
bit within my own swimming training and using
those real-time metrics that are displayed
within the lands to help me pace my reps better.
Now, there are countless functions or metrics
that can be displayed within these lenses
and you can change the configuration of those
around, but I've particularly been enjoying
using the integral function. That will display
your current pace, your split times. Each
time you tumble or you turn, it will start
to rack up the distance for you and record
that is a length completed. When you stopped
at the end of the roll, it will automatically
stop the time, it will get for you a split
time and it will start a recovery timer. When
you then push off the roll again, it will
stop that recovery timer and start your into
full-time timer again. Again, show you these
metrics on your pacing and giving you a split
time at the end, all whilst not affecting
the vision.
[music]
Heather: We're so used to getting feedback
with our cycling and our running, but as soon
as you get into the water, it gets that much
harder and with a swim stroke consisting of
so many different elements, if you change
one, it's very hard to measure the effect
of that on your overall [unintelligible 00:02:26]
on your efficiency. This is where this new
and exciting piece of tech comes in. I got
the chance to try out the inkers last year,
and I spoke to MD Chris Relic to find out
exactly how it works.
Chris Relic: Most people would be used to
typical risk-based trackers, which will give
you things like your laps and your stroke
count, and those kinds of metrics. With the
Nova, we're able to understand your strokes,
your breaths, your kicks on the left and right-hand
side independently. We're able to understand
your body pitch and your body roll through
the stroke. More importantly, we were able
to understand how the person's actually moving
through the water as a result of its stroke,
so our analytics can do the maths in between
to measure those inputs, the strokes, the
breaths of the kicks, and there are outputs,
actually, how much you're moving forward into
the mass in between say what's working for
you and what's not working for you as an athlete.
Heather: It sounds amazing, it sounds like
you don't need a coach once we've got that,
but how can coaches and athletes themselves
use this? What do you envisage it? How does
it going to go into the market? Who's going
to be able to use?
Chris: The system is entirely developed from
the ground up with athletes and coaches in
the mind. It's about providing high-quality
information for coaches that don't readily
have that information for them. For those
that don't have a coach, it gives them that
guidance through data, so it's about high-quality
information, but simple and easy to use. We're
not all sports scientists, so that's what
it's about.
Hether: I think it's fair to say that most
of us are dying to get back to some form of
swimming at the moment, and this is where
a home pool would come in rather handy. Well,
Mark got to check out the Master Spas' pools
when he was out in Kona last year.
Mark: Here behind me I have possibly my favorite
product here in the expo because this container
is full of nice cold water, which, trusts
me, I'm dying to jump into because it is boiling
here. But in all seriousness, this is a swinging
propulsion unit from the Master Spas. This
is that 15-foot version, he was having an
18-foot version and also a 20-foot version.
It's powered by three pumps, two of them are
variable pumps. Then on the front, it's got
six jets. They've got three along the top,
two beneath, and then a triangle one underneath.
Now, these go as low as 120 per 100 paces.
It's a fairly good pace for a lot of people
out there. These are designed more for endurance
swimming. Again, there are long swims and
also obviously goes down to a really nice
slow pace. They're really cool, but it's also
a jacuzzi. It's got loads of jets around the
side, nice seating areas so you can just sit
down in there and chill if you don't [unintelligible
00:04:48] training.
[music]
Presenter: This is the final piece of swim
tech for today. For this one, I'm going to
hand over to Fraser at Challenge Roth.
Fraser We made our way to the Deboer stand
here at the expo, and this was the Fjord wetsuit,
they're brand new suit or one of their two
brand new suits. I am luckily going to be
able to give this thing a try in the swimming
pool. It's not going to pop over there now
and see what it feels like.
[music]
Fraser: It's got some really exciting features.
Now, the first one we'll talk about is this
ribbed M neoprene feature, you can see here,
which is something they call weal skin. They've
taken seven mills thick neoprene and squash
it down into five mills, which then makes
it legal. That's just thick as you can have
on any panel in a wetsuit. Another really
great feature that they've got on this is
their arms. Now, these are only 0.3 of a mil
thick, which is the finished neoprene that
is available on the market full stop. Another
really excellent feature on these is- and
I don't really want to try too hard, but I'm
told they're completely ripped free. All and
all, I can see these being really popular.
Presenter: However, it is a bike tech that
steals the lion's share. Thee last few years
have not disappointed both in cycling and
triathlon-specific bike tech. We've done our
best to whittle down a selection here. Now,
obviously there are a few perks not being
governed by the UCI, and in particular, that's
been the development of the bike frame. We've
seen a few manufacturers really pushing the
boundaries on this, and understandably Mark
got a little excited over to unique designs
back in 2018 out in Kona.
Mark: Well, this is the Dimond Marquise TT
bike, which you may remember me featuring
out here in Kona last year. It's quite an
exciting bike because the whole bike splits
in half, so you see this seam here, bolts
here. All you need to do is release that bolt
there and another bolt through the section
in there, and the whole bike comes apart,
which is really important if you are traveling
in the US particularly because it's quite
expensive to travel your bike. It all fits
into separate bags and you play it through
in your standard luggage, which is amazing
really.
Now there are some updates from last year's
model with the Marquise. We've now got disc
brakes on this model, and that now has allowed
the forks to run a little bit narrow rather
than having the brakes integrated into the
forks. Obviously for the rim brakes. We've
also got this updated seat post, which is
the Ritchey 1-bolt so you can see that on
the bike here. That just allows a very easy
change of position on the bike. Also, there's
opening at the back so you can attach any
bottle cages or CO2 mounts, so really nice.
Obviously we can't forget the paintwork, that
looks amazing. We've got a whole load of fades
going on there, and that becomes standard
with any 2019 model.
[music]
Mark: Well, this is the bike that a lot of
people have been discussing lately, the Ceepo
Shadow R. Obviously we are missing a front
wheel, but you get the picture. We've got
a very unusual design on the front, not even
talking about the beam frame here, we're talking
about the front end. That is really glaringly
obvious. It comes down off the stem and from
the headset area, and we've got this arch
around the wheel. The idea being that you're
then blocking the wind coming into that front
of the bike. The whole of the front of the
bike is essentially hidden, which they came
to be more aerodynamic. Then we've got this
beam going across so then he can obviously
attach the wheel into.
They say this also has this like a natural
suspension in it, whereas normally with a
fork you've got quite a rigid line coming
down from the headset. Now I've got this beam
going across a little bit of suspension there,
which I say is actually quite nice. Another
thing they weren't expecting was that, given
that they've got the weight further forward
on the wheel, this weight going around the
front actually makes it quite hard to move
that front wheel. When you got the crosswind,
particularly here in Hawaii, actually it makes
it a very stable bike. If you look at the
aerodynamic side of it, we've obviously got
this nice, clean line coming through towards
some bracket through the bike. Interestingly,
if you were to maybe not like this to sign,
you could just ride it with a standard fork,
which you have seen a couple of pros riding
around on this last week in Kona. For that,
obviously, you would end up with a big gap
here, so they haven't adapted. You can place
in, fill that gap so it's nice and close to
the wheel.
[music]
Presenter: It was this next bike, though,
that had the most hype behind it because it
had been seven years since Specialized had
last released a Shiv.
Mark: Well, by now, this probably isn't brand
new news to you, but this is the new Specialized
Shiv disc bike. It's pretty special, yes.
The last time they released a Shiv was in
2011 and we've got some big updates to it
now, so let's start off. We've got these crazily
low rear stays. These have been dropped quite
considerably. Obviously the disc brakes, we've
got these wacky forks on the front much bigger
than previously, and also they come right
up to the base bar, but they've also got this
really wide stance. That's for aerodynamics,
where we got the flow of air from the wheels
spinning round, and also the flow air coming
around the forks. There's not quite so much
disturbance in this small space, they're allowing
a little bit more room for that.
Then we've got the sail off the back, and
this has really been well thought through
to improve the aerodynamics and also that
sail effect to push the rider along. This,
I think, to take a closer look at this we
need to look at the bike behind, and this
is where we store our hydration. We've got
bladder system here, which you can fill up
pre-ride, and then that would usually connect
to a straw that runs all the way through the
frame and then pops out here. That runs past
the fuel cell as well. This is a little pouch
that you can fill up with gels, at the moment
I think it's got Skittles in it. Then that
could also be removed if should you need to
then access your spares that you'd have in
there. Really nicely designed, very very different
from that previous Shiv.
[music]
Presenter: Okay. Let's step away from triathlon-specific
tech for a moment and rewind to when SRAM
introduced the update to their wireless SRAM
Red eTap with the release of the access. It
is of course still wireless and now comes
with a flat top chain, which makes it quieter
and stronger. It can also be run as [unintelligible
00:11:14] something that appeals to us as
triathletes, especially when racing flat courses.
It's also suitable for rim or disc brakes.
No wonder we're seeing more triathletes opting
for that groupset.
Well, now this next piece, we are going to
head back to Kona, and it's an invention that
would be rather handy for us right now with
the amount of indoor training we're all doing,
it is the SARIS MP1 Infinity Plate, that basically
makes training at home that much more real.
Mark: Here at the SARIS stand, this is they're
soon to be released MP1 Infinity Plate. Now,
this is another attempt to make indoor cycling
a little bit more real. This plate actually
has lateral movement, sohat's on a leaf spring,
we've got six degrees either side. Also we
got some rollers, so we've got four and a
half movement here, but essentially the big
thing here is we get apart of the saddle,
or if we're sprinting, we can just ride like
we are on the road.
Presenter: Our final piece of bike tech surprisingly
comes from Norseman, where Fraser spotted
this piece of tech on one of Mark's competitors'
bikes.
Fraser: Great, so we are here the day before
Norseman with defending champion and multiple
winner Allen Halter. He's very kindly going
to take us through the bike and he's going
to be racing on tomorrow. Specifically, I'm
really interested to have a look at these
because I have never seen these MORF-tech
handlebars before. Allen, can you give us
a demonstration, please?
Allen Halter: Yes, the MORF-tech handlebars,
there are quite, I would say, unique in terms
that you don't have a base bar. The aero bars
are both aero bars and base bars.
Fraser: You literally what you've done there
is just pulled them out and there's no mechanism
or locking, that's action, was you just moving
your hands down, wasn't it?
Allen: Yes. Then they lock in this position.
To get them back as aero bars you have to
press both the levels-
Fraser: [unintelligible 00:13:07] at same
time and presto, we've got a really really
aero system again.
Allen: Yes.
[music]
Presenter: To bring things home, we're now
we're onto the run. Yes, you guessed it, we're
heading back out to Kona, this time to 2019.
It wasn't just the tech that was scotching
the hot out there. Obviously the weather under
that Hawaiian sun gets pretty warm too. As
a result, you'll see the pros finding any
opportunity or any new piece of tech that
can help them to keep their cool when competing
under that scorching heat. Well, you might
have spotted a new piece of tech on many of
the priors heads during the race. If you've
got no idea what I'm on about, this should
help.
Mark: Here I have an Omius Headband. This
actually Josh [unintelligible 00:13:54], which
matches his racing. Now, if we were just to
put a little bit of water onto the back of
these paths, this special compound here, which
you can see, raises out with the headband,
increases the skin surface area by five times.
When we weight this on a head, it's already
really quite cold. If we were to run along
in the wind passing through this compound
should really feel quite cold, which is obviously
really important for somewhere like here in
Kona with the heat and the humidity the athletes
are going to experience on race day.
[music]
Presenter: Unsurprisingly, the majority of
running tech comes in the form of footwear,
and what an incredibly fast-moving and exciting
12 months we have seen in the development
of run shoes. So much so that the world athletics
have had to bring in new rules stating that
a shoe has to be released onto the market
for the public for at least four months before
it can be used by pros at an international
race. They've also stated that any shoe has
any allowed a maximum of one carbon plate
and the sole thickness must not exceed 40
mm in height.
Well, first off it was Nike that really led
the way with their new Nike Zoom Vaporfly.
That was then very soon followed up with the
Nike Zoom Alphafly Next%. Both of these shoe's
series did cause some controversy and continue
to do so as we're seeing so many world records
getting broken in the running world, but it's
also having quite an influence on triathlon.
You only have to look at the podium in Kona
for the women's side just to see the influence
of this new shoe. But it wasn't just Nike
who are releasing new shoes, we saw a new
release from Zoot with their Zoot Ultra TT,
where Mark got to have a look at a full dissection
out in Kona.
Mark: That's also been four years since Zoot
actually produced a new running shoe. This
is the new Ultra TT, which again, I used to
race in way back when, and this is obviously
the Kona edition, but they've teamed up with
Danny Abshire from Newton to produce this.
Now, here is the sole for that. Obviously
a split construction. This is their try layered.
We've got a high rebound layer at the bottom
here, this big white area, you've got protective
layer on the ball of the foot and the heel
here. Then on the top, an extra bit of expanded
foam for cushioning.
Now, if we look at the bottom here, you can
see a few holes along the bottom. This is
obviously for a triathlon-specific shoe. As
we're pouring water on ourself, as we sweat,
water can drain out of that as we can see
just down here, it's doing dripping out of
those holes. That's going to reduce blisters
or any chafing. It's also a seamless construction
to add to that to reduce the blisters. We've
got flat lace design on here to help with
the transitions, as well as these little tongues
and pools to help.
Presenter: Moving away from shoes, but sticking
with running. 2019 really saw the surgeon
increase in popularity, and using running
power as another metric. Both Stride and Polar
have devices that allow you to be able to
see your running power as you're running along
coming through your wristwatch. Well, we took
a closer look to see exactly what this means
for the future of running.
Mark: Now, [unintelligible 00:16:57] will
tell you how much power you're putting out
perfect stride and propulsion, and therefore,
how economical you are whilst you're running.
Now, this can be really interesting. You start
to play around with your cadence, your stride
length, your technique, your form, your speed,
and so on. You'll be able to see your power
throughout all of this and how it differs
for each of these changes. Also lately we're
looking to put out more power for less effort,
and therefore more economical running.
Presenter: Another really valuable area for
power meters in running is the ability to
be able to measure the exact intensity of
that workout. Now, many of us have already
used power in cycling to be able to measure
our intervals, for example, or you can do
exactly the same when it comes to running.
This means that you can hit the exact intensity
that you need to for that set time, therefore,
getting more out of your workout and also
preventing over-training.
I told you, we do our tech here at GTN. Well,
if this has just whet your appetite for a
little bit more, well, there is plenty more
over on the channel. Go and check out all
of the other previous tech tours from Kona.
We've also got tech tour from Challenge Roth
and more recently from the Half IronMan World
Championships out in Nice. Well, if you have
enjoyed it, give us a thumbs up, like, and
do check out all of our other social media
channels to find out what we're up to.
