Advantages: Fun
Disadvantages: Not many

...There wasn't a category for Triathlon as such, so hopefully here will do. Triathlon isn't one of the most popular sports in exsitence, but it is becoming more and more popular and is a well established Olympic Sport. Triathlon, as the name suggests, consists of three sports which are swimming, cycling and running. Each racer must compete each discipline whilst trying to be faster than their competitors. The first leg of the triathlon consists of a 1500m swim. Now that might not seem like a long distance when you consider how far people run in races, but I can imagine having to swim that far would be pretty difficult!! The swim normally takes place in a natural river, which adds to the difficulty. Luckily the competitors wear wetsuits so they aren't going to freeze to death!! It takes the runners around 20 minutes to do the swim... Read review

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Advantages: Value, Carbon Fork and Seat post
Disadvantages: Sora shifters

...The Trek 1000 is an excellent value for money Entry level Road bike. The increasing demand for road bikes is a result of Triathlons huge and continuing success in the UK. There are few bikes in the Market which geniunley consider that ther are those of us out there who don't have a couple of grand to chuck away on a carbon bike, Enter Trek. The 1000 is serious value for money. The frame uses the same geometery as was used for 7 timeTour de france winner Lance armstrong and if it's good enough for him ... However the material is clearly not carbon but Aluminium however the from Fork is carbon and 2006 version also has a carbon seatpost, i beleve they have phased this out in the 2007 edition. The Gear setup is pretty low end. Sora Shifters, Tiagra Rear mech, and shimano standard everything else. However you do get what you pay... Read review

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Advantages: An amazing read
Disadvantages: The terminal illness

...You can't take it with you' tells the story of how the Tomlinsons came to raise over 1.5million for charities whilst Jane fights her own battle with terminal caner; Jane completed a triathlon, a marathon, the Rome to Leeds cycle ride, the Florida Ironman competition in which she has been the only terminally ill person to succeed and cross the finish line and finally an unbelievable bike ride across America that would make any fit human whimper at the thought. Jane, Mike and their 3 children make an amazing team. Together they have written this book in such a way that you feel as though you are experiencing everything with the family. The writing style can be awkward to get used to, alternating diary type entries from both Jane and Mike that fully encapsulate you and make the book impossible to put down once you get into the flow... Read review

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Advantages: Price, Components, Performance
Disadvantages: Lack of "street-cred"

...be labouring along the road at what I considered a respectable speed, only to be rapidly overtaken by a stream of cyclists on road-racing bikes. My frustration built until I could take it no longer and had saved up enough to buy myself a road bike. Not knowing much about road bikes, a quick skim of some cycling magazines revealed that I could probably spend anywhere between £300 and £6,000. Obviously, my preference was for closer to £300 than the opposite end of the scale. But there is a lot of variety in road bikes; from tourers to fitness bikes through to time-trial and triathlon machines. Each is designed for a certain type of cycling and I wasn't sure what I wanted/needed - I just wanted to continue improving my fitness and ride a bit faster. I shied away from the mud-guard-and-pannier look of the tourer and the price of the time-trial beasts... Read review

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Advantages: A compelling read that really dreew my attention and kept me hooked
Disadvantages: That anyone has to go through what Lance went through.

...completed 4 years cancer free and completed in and won his 2nd Tour De France. The book covers Lance's life from childhood to the diagnosis and then onto the 2 Tour victories and the birth of his first child. It was one of the first autobiographies I've picked up and really struggled to put down for any length of time. His life story was quite amazing even before he was diagnosed with Cancer. His mother was 17 when he was born and his father walked out when he was around 2 years old. So from the start his mother had to struggle to bring him up, with help from her family. When she remarried Lance tells how his new father in law abused him with a paddle and cheated on his mother. That was how he got started on a bike and it meant he was competeting in triathlons by the age of 16, making over $20000 a year. He talks about his childhood in a very... Read review

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Advantages: very detailed and individual specific information
Disadvantages: does include many technical terms

...The discipline of triathlon includes the three events of cycling, swimming and running in continuum. Whilst at university I attempted one and was amazed how hard I found it to be. You really have to pace yourself as you go, especially on the swimming stage. The idea is that you save energy on the swim and use good technique during the cycling phase to leave you with a good finish on the run. Different athletes have differing strengths and weaknesses though, some are better runners than cyclists and vice versa, therefore they target different stages during the race to make an impact on there overall race time. Triathlon training is completely unique and unlike any other sport; it is therefore a bit of a mystery on the types of training that a novice triathlete should do in the build up to a race. Obviously practising swimming, cycling... Read review

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Advantages: Apples
Disadvantages: Lemons

...I sat down to finish a couple of reviews I’ve been working on, it’s not happening so doing this instead. 01. What time is it? 19:13 02. Name: Benjamin James Bosanko Baker, what were my parents thinking? I’ve always been known as Ben for obvious reasons. 03. Number of candles that appeared on your last birthday cake: The first number is 3 and so is the second, mental age about 12. 04. Hair colour: It used to be brown but now it’s all gone. So I’m a shiny bonce. 05. Tattoos: A portrait of Debbie Harry from the cover of her “Rock bird Album on my right shoulder and a really faded one of “Ogri” (Cartoon bloke from a motor bike magazine.) on my left. 06. How much do you love your job on a scale of 0-5: 0 and planning a change. 07. Favourite colour: White, if I change my mind it’ll cover easily 08. Home County: Shropshire, I... Read review

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Advantages: Lightweight & looks great ! Lance wears one !
Disadvantages: Expensive

...Having had Giro helmets for a while, and my Helios hat being about 5 years old, I decided to buy a new hat a few months ago. I've worn it sevaral times a week for a while now, so thought I'd let you know about it ! The current advice on changing your bicycle helmet is to replace it after 5 years or so, even if it hasn't been involved in a crash, since pollution, UV light and weathering can apparently weaken its component parts over time. Not sure if this is just marketing hype to make us all spend more money (!), but I've only got one head, and wouldn't want to damage it over being stingy ! Giro has been making quality light-weight cycling helmets since 1985. Giro is the helmet of choice for world famous seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, as it is for winners of mountain bike world championships, cyclocross world... Read review

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Advantages: Constant Olympic coverage
Disadvantages: Too much money going on the Olympics?

...As expected, the Olympics are barely 24 hours old, and already most people are sick of the sight of them. However, I'm quite enjoying it. It's a rare chance to see sports that you wouldn't normally watch, and actually enjoy them/ Last night's Triathlon proved this. Normally, I wouldn't watch it if you paid me, but I sat until I fell asleep and left the tape recorder on just in case I missed the end... which of course, i did. But when i woke up, the first thing I did was grab the video remote and wind back to the part that I missed. However, it remains to be seen how much percentage of the license payers' budget goes on this event alone while the rest of the year will be constantly filled with repeats and low-budget programmes.... Read review

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Advantages: may not hurt if over-supplement
Disadvantages: cannot help immunosuppression indeed

...There is recently belief that glutamine supplement can strengthen human body immune system. Some studies have demonstrated that the risk of upper respiratory infection (URTI) increases after long duration, extraneous exercise like marathon, cycling and triathlon. For ill patient, especially after surgery during which their blood glutamine level is low, glutamine supplementation is recommended to strengthen immune system. However, no evident so far prove that the ingestion of glutamine supplement can decrease the risk of infection in athletic populations. The reason of such immunosupression after strenous exercise is still unknown. Without further investigation, blind supplement of glutamine is not a wise choice! Although there may not be any side effect of over-supplementation, the cost of buying them does not worth for just over-supplementation!... Read review

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