Kevin: Ryan, in addition to your thoughts, let’s bring Eric Wynn into the discussion, too – I think he has some very strong feelings on this subject.

I’m not sure if we need to have any specific parameters for this topic, other than it should be endurance sport oriented, and available in 2024. I don’t think said product necessarily needs to have been released in 2024, that way we can take into consideration products that might have been launched in 2023, but weren’t widely available until last year. 

Ryan: I think that makes sense – if a product “launched” in 2023 but was largely unavailable to the general public until 2024, I think that fits our criteria.

Kevin: To get started, here are a few products that caught my attention in 2024 that I would happily throw into the mix: 

There were a few bike launches that caught my attention last year. Cervelo’s new P5 is a great ride, and innovative in a particularly “Cervelo way” – the big changes were around comfort and adjustability. The new P-Series was probably more of a breakthrough – it really is all the bike most triathletes could ever need for a lot less money. In that vein, Argon 18’s new E117 was another mid-range bike that offered a ton of high-end features. You can add Factor’s new Slick and Van Rysel’s new XCR to that “lot of bike for the money” group. My guess is that none of these will fit the bill as our award winner – the bike world seems to move in such tiny increments these days. 

One product that was released in 2023 that remained almost impossible to find for much of 2024 was Profile Design’s 43 ASC Carbon Extensions. (The company added the 52 ASC last year that offers an “increased grip angle.”) For $300 you got the extra support and aero features seen in bars with a much, much higher price tag, which is no-doubt why they were in such demand. A more affordable way to get into the world of the aero-cockpit was hugely appreciated by many in the sport.

On the electronics front, there’s been a lot going on over the last few years. The Apple Watch Ultra has been a game changer for many, allowing serious triathletes to track their training with a smartwatch that does all they want on that front. There were no changes to the Ultra last year, but the new Apple Watch Series 10 offers almost all the same features for half the price, making it a viable option for triathletes who aren’t gearing up for a full-distance race. I haven’t had a chance to play with Garmin’s Fenix 8, but that AMOLED screen with decent battery life sure looks good.

I’ve purposely left out a few categories here, knowing full well that you’ll have some running shoe options to throw out, Ryan. Eric, I’ll let you throw your two-cents in, too!

Eric: I think the most important product of the year is FORM Swim 2.0.

As triathletes, what do we struggle with the most? Outside of the overall price tag of the sport of triathlon, it’s the swim. The swim is by far the biggest hurdle of the three disciplines we have when it comes to getting and keeping athletes in the sport. It’s the least natural thing for the masses to wrap their heads around. And it takes the most consistent effort to become and stay efficient in. It’s the biggest problem we see when it comes to safety in the sport.

What I love about the FORM goggles is that it’s the first product to truly help the newbie be able to manage some of the biggest hurdles they face in a consistent way without costing a lot of money. Some examples: 

#1 Measure stress and effort.

With heart rate and stroke count visible in the goggle display, athletes can now focus on effort at the start and during a race and for the first time really doing a race like they have trained. For years we have been able to do this on the bike and run. And it’s one of the main reasons why athletes are getting so much faster. They know what is going on with their body and they can match that effort on race day and know what limits they can push. Up until FORM came out, measuring that in the water just wasn’t really available to the masses in the way FORM has presented it, with a visual display for athletes to be able to calm themselves as they measure true effort within the swim. 

#2 Directional help aka swimming straight.

I’m sorry, but I don’t care who you are. You don’t always swim straight. We have seen everyone get lost or mess up a line on a swim at some point. Does that mean this device will make you perfect? No, but it will make your swim path better at a much less expended effort (AKA a lot less sighting required.) If I’m the average swimmer I can spend way less time focusing on lifting my head out of the water and focusing on stroke, heart rate and breathing. 

The masses worry about the swim the most. Race directors worry about the swim the most. Insurance companies care about the swim the most. FORM 2.0 is the biggest and most influential product in my opinion for 2024.

Ryan: Eric raises some really good points on the FORM 2.0, especially with the integration for open-water sighting.

That said, I think most innovation and impact happened in the run space over the past year. For me, it comes down to three potential products.

I’ll get the two running shoes out of the way first. I think ASICS and the MetaSpeed Sky Paris has done something that no other shoe has been able to do, which is supplant Nike as the shoe of choice for non-sponsored athletes. Having done a fair amount of testing in that shoe last year in my build-up to Lake Placid, it is shockingly quick for someone with a longer stride length. As I build back up into my running, that’s probably my default choice for a racing shoe. It’s everything you could want in a carbon racing shoe, and it’s selling extremely well.

The other shoe innovation comes from On, and it’s the Cloudboom Strike LS (seen above on Paula Findlay at 70.3 Worlds). Although the midsole and outsole construction are shared with the standard Strike, it’s the upper that sees all the innovation. It’s a single thread of filament, 1500 meters long, spun by a robot to turn it into a mesh-like upper. It’s both significantly lighter than a standard shoe upper, and it reduces carbon emissions during the build by 75% versus a standard upper. Considering the environmental impacts of our sport, generally, any kind of cut during product construction should be seen as a boon.

But I would argue that the greatest innovation came for indoor training, and that’s Wahoo’s KICKR Run treadmill. You first have the run free mode, where the treadmill senses your pace and adjusts the belt accordingly. No more playing around with the speed toggle for interval training; it’s just done. But then there’s the smart connectivity – whether it’s in Wahoo’s own ecosystem, Zwift, or others, the treadmill can be fully controlled for terrain or intervals. It brings the gamification benefit of indoor training apps to running, which has always been what hampers indoor run training.

In my opinion, being able to really unlock the gamification of indoor running for the millions of indoor training users is the biggest innovation of the year.

Voting is now open at the forum thread for this article.

The post 2024 Slowtwitch Awards: Product of the Year first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

The question I have is this. As a top-tier professional triathlete, do you change up bikes 3.5 weeks before a World Championship? If I asked 95% of the professional field this question, they would look at me like I was crazy. I mean, I get it. So let me be clear: I didn’t “Ask” Jackie to do this. What I did for Jackie was help her get it done. The real credit goes to the village of people who are her sponsors and friends who support her. 

Certified Piedmontese, Shimano, ENVE, and her new sponsor Cervelo. At the last minute, every single one of the brand managers at these companies dropped everything to make sure she had everything she needed to be shipped to Lincoln,NE in time so she could make this happen.  Also, a huge shot out to our very own Ian Murray at F.I.S.T who made the long trip at the last minute to make sure that Jackie’s transition over was as smooth as possible, and let’s not forget Eli Cullison, who took the time at the GOODLIFE CYCLERY who not only blocked out the F.I.S.T studio for the day but also made sure that Jackie‘s bike got built. 

If you don’t know much about Jackie Hering, you should. Why? Because she is cool. I don’t know what else to say about that. She has a lengthy history as an amateur and professional triathlete in our sport. She has multiple 140.6 and 70.3 titles. She was one of the first to take time off to become a mom and start a family and come back into peak racing form. Yes many have done this and probably maybe even before her but I can’t think of anyone that is now really current that stopped triathlon has a female 8 years ago to have 2 kids get them going for a good couple of years, and then get back to in the sport years later and still be as successful as she is currently. Also usually (unless someone is just an odd duck), she is very much liked and respected by her peers and fans. 

Now, I’m not saying Jackie is some butterball of joy all the time. She is a mother of two who is just getting stuff done. She can be quick on the uptake, and if she doesn’t like something, she will be the first to tell you. If you don’t know any better, you will think you are getting the “Mom look” and probably reply with, “Yes, mam.”  It’s why I have always respected her, though I appreciate people who are direct and have the common sense to go with that.  I would guess that is what most people would agree with me on. She has fun while getting things done.

During the crazy time of COVID-19, when the bike business was having its hay day with sales, Jackie was trying to get back into the sport. She didn’t have a bike sponsor, and things didn’t look good at the time. We at Slowtwitch couldn’t even get bikes because the marketing people thought they didn’t need us. (That aged well) She started racing again and was on a very old BMC that worked but didn’t compare to the rest of the field. She was swimming well, losing time on the bike, and showing strength on the run. When she would show up RUN fit, she was able to claw back to podiums and some wins. When she wasn’t totally fit, she would probably think to herself (Do I really want to do this again) During that time going into the fall of 2023, I had been talking to her about her Certified Piedmontese sponsorship and I was trying to help her (as I try to do with anyone that I can be successful as I can). The conversation about her bike situation was an issue for her. She had been cancelled from her local shop for standing up for women in sport and she really didnt have any recent results to show. We at slowtwitch had just gotten a P series to do some other things with, and it was 54cm (not my size at all), so instead of sending it back, I called our contact at Cervelo and asked the question and they 100% where onboard with my request to repurpose that ride. Jackie was going in the Long Course direction in 2024, Which I might add has been the right choice for her, as she continues to sit #1 on the Ironman Pro Series.

Long story short, Jackie, on her own, ended up winning Cervelo’s eyeballs, and Jackie alone closed that deal with them. We at SlowTwitch did what we do: connect people. We also wanted to tell the story about it. So, what is this story? 

How did a top-tier professional triathlete feel comfortable switching bikes 3.5 weeks before the biggest race of her year?

Simple.  She wanted to, and the new bike is basically the old one (from a fit perspective) 

There is a reason Cervelo has owned the Bike count at Kona since 2005. Yep, you read that right. Cervelo has won every single bike count since 2005.  Why? A couple of reasons:
#1 They make fast bikes, and people know they are fast;
#2 They have great marketing for the most part; and
#3 They, for the most part, never chase the rabbit down the hole.

The engineers at Cervelo are smart, sensible, and for the most part, move slowly.  In other words, they don’t tend to get “Side Quested,” and when it came to the recent P series and the P5, they didn’t. They made just the right number of changes that made the new bike “more better” to entice people to pay attention and “easy enough” to make the change.  After all, we are talking about less than a 1% change in geometry. (If you want to read more about what I am talking about CLICK HERE for our P5 Article)

Over the last two years at the helm of Slowtwitch, I have learned that people hate change. They ask for it all the time. But when you do it, you, “The Changer,” become the most hated idiot on the planet (so they say).

The biggest thing that Jackie wanted was internal cable routing. She wanted to not only be fast, she wanted to “LOOK FAST.” I told her it comes at a price, just like I told everyone in my other video. You are always and will forever lose adjustability regarding a proprietary cockpit. The million-dollar question is. Does that actual wind tunnel speed and that “look speed” translate to the rider in the real world? Or, in other words, can the rider get comfortable enough to hold the position that proprietary front will force them into? 

In the newer Cervelo P5, they have certainly made the argument that one can get in almost every position one needs. They even allow you to switch to third-party extensions with the more general 31.8mm clamp diameter. Nonetheless, it’s still an integrated front end,so yes, it does test faster in the wind tunnel, but, stem length, steam, and armrest height, and just packing your bike will all be more complicated.

Don’t ever tell a strong woman what to do. So when Jackie was dead set on this I was ok. LFG!!! Jackie contacted Shimano and Enve, and once we knew everything was en route to Lincoln, NE. Ian Murray was the first person I called and asked for assistance. The date was set, and Ian, Jackie, and Eli knocked it out of the park. Jackie came down for a long weekend. She did the GRAVEL WORLDS 20K run, the 75-mile gravel ride, and the Great Plains Gravel Triathlon. Then it was off the shop for new bike day.

What’s the build? 

• Cervelo P5 54cm Blue Frame
• Complete Shimano Drive Train
• ENVE SES 6.7
• ISM PN 1.1
• Garmin Rally RS200 pedals
  

“Every fit begins with understanding where the athlete is in their career and where they are headed.  Jackie’s fit carried a bit more gravitas in that she sits in first place in the Ironman Pro Series, and her next stop is the Ironman World Championships in Nice, France. Her existing fit coordinates could have been transferred – straight across – to the new bike, but we wanted to explore her position to see if there might be a slight improvement. Jackie is a tough and durable athlete, but we still wanted to follow the same elements that drive every fit: comfort first, then the ability to make power. Jackie’s feedback, the Goodlife Cyclery fit studio tooling, and the Fit Institute Slowtwitch process all came together to find a place that worked.” – Ian Murray

What changed during her fit with Ian Murray? Mostly down a little more, slightly more forward.

• Saddle was pushed 2mm forward
• Saddle height came down 24mm
• Arm rest width came in 15mm
• Pad elevation came down 13mm
• Nose to extension extended 3mm
• Cleats pushed back (under the sole)

Note that some saddle height reductions would occur because of the cleat adjustments. So, when you consider all of those, these are pretty minor adjustments, but I’ll let the fit geeks chime in. Also chime into the later part of the video where Ian and Jackie talk about it.

So what changed with her fit after about a week of her riding outside? Jackie bought a pair of Zipp S curves extensions that were on her P-Series prior, and ended up moving her cleats back to the front again. Ultimately, those two things wouldn’t work for her on such short notice. All of which was based on some common sense logic.

We wish Jackie the best with the new rig and will check on her progress once we get into Nice later this week. So stay tuned.

The post Jackie Hering’s New Bike Before IRONMAN World Championship in Nice first appeared on Slowtwitch News.