What equipment do I need?

The essential equipment comprises nothing more than a swimming costume and goggles, a pair of trainers, vest or T-shirt to wear for the cycle and the run, a bike and a cycling helmet.

For training sessions the only addition is suitable clothing for running and cycle training.  This need not be padded cycle-specific shorts or equivalent since often the cycling session is preceded by a running session and there is no time to change in between.  Dressing appropriately for the weather forecast is important.  Layering thinner clothes is helpful as you can take off layers as you get warmer during activities.

A mountain bike is fine, though swapping the really knobbly tyres for smoother ones is a cheap and simple upgrade that will make a huge difference.   You may notice many of our Juniors ride road or cyclo-cross type bikes, however, most started on mountain bikes and then moved to road/cross bikes as they became more involved with the sport and started to race regularly.  There is a good second-hand market for road/cross bikes so you can make excellent savings by purchasing a well-looked after second-hand road/cross bike, rather than splashing out on a new one.