Cycling into Ironman Triathlons

By Michael Sliwa

During the past two years my wife Bethann and I competed in 2 Ironman and 5 Ironman 70.3 (Half-Ironman) triathlon races. Recently, we completed Ironman France, which boasts the most difficult bike course of any Ironman in the world as its climb through the Alps results in 8,000 ft. of “elevation gain.” Competing in some of the world’s most challenging triathlon races didn’t come easy. What started as slow and easy training sessions to check an item on our “bucket list” blossomed into an amazing hobby and opportunity to travel the world and compete. We certainly did not realize when we started riding spin bikes we would travel to Singapore, Australia, Japan, and Europe to race.

What makes our training unique is 90% of our bike training was on Keiser bikes at VIDA. The pedal resistance is based on magnetic force vice spring tension for consistency and accuracy. In addition, the bike computer offers gear levels, watts, and RPM/cadence. The Keiser frame is also easily adjustable to match our triathlon racing bike angles/measurements to avoid injury and develop specific muscles. Developing a riding plan to replicate a race course or outdoor ride is easy to do, including climbs and descents.

What does this mean to you? It means VIDA offers an opportunity to effectively train indoors to save time with a busy work schedule and mitigate the dangers of outdoor cycling without compromising the quality of outdoor bike training. The quality of the bike workouts speak for themselves, we were able to train 100% using VIDA’s bikes for Ironman 70.3 Singapore, without an outdoor ride.

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions regarding bike training using VIDA’s Keiser bikes or triathlon training.