Triathlons And Websites

This weekend my wife Julia placed 13th (out of 146) in a triathlon in North Vancouver. Last year she had a second place finish in a local triathlon, so this year she opted for a triathlon a little further out of town and with more competition (which meant a 5:00am day for me).

Julia will tell you that she isn't competitive, but her twice a day religious training style might tell you a different story.

Competing in a triathlon is a lot of work, and it also requires the right equipment. A few years ago when Julia and I were dating, I watched her compete in a triathlon here in Abbotsford. She placed 15th. However when I was looking at her split times, she had a top 3 finish in the swim and a top 3 finish in run, and was 67th in the bike.

At the time she was riding a fairly old road bike that would be typical of what you would by in the $100-$200 price range at a big box retailer. (This bike suited her budget as she works at a local church). Shortly after the race we went out and bought a triathlon bike for $1500. Let me tell you, the difference between a $200 bike and a $1500 triathlon bike is amazing. The triathlon bike has clipped in pedals, arrow handlebars, completely arrow dynamic frame, racing gears/sprockets, etc.

While there are racers with $5000 bikes, the difference between a $200 generic bike and a $1500 triathlon bike is probably greater than the difference between a $1500 bike and a $5000 bike. (The $5000 bikes are just marginally lighter).

So what does this all have to do with websites?

If you want to compete, it requires both the right equipment, and it requires a lot of work. I see companies trying to boot strap it, they setup a free GeoCities website, or they buy Dreamweaver and find a cheap hosting solution, and they attempt to build their own website in an effort to save a few dollars.

I commend you for trying to build your own site. It's a lot of work, especially if you start doing your own HTML and your own scripting. It's like riding the $200 bike in a triathlon. You are peddling harder than you need to be, and probably not going as fast.

While technically you can ride pretty much any bike in a triathlon, the right equipment makes a huge difference.

If you're a winery or a wine retailer, there is plenty of "right equipment", including our platform, Inertia, eWinerySolutions, and others.

Having the right equipment won't guarantee you a win, but if you want to compete you need the right equipment, and it is well worth the money spent.