Packing your bike so you can take it abroad and then unpacking it at the other end are two of the biggest headaches in triathlon. The last thing you'll feel like doing after a long journey is rebuilding your bike. But all the work you've put

hire just 100 metres from the start of the new Altura Mountain Bike Trail at Whinlatter Forest Park near Keswick. At 19K, it's the Lake District's longest purpose-built mountain-bike trail and a brilliant place to have a go at this exhilarating sport

and try to maintain as consistent a pace as traffic and conditions allow.Warm up for the first and last 1-2K of each trip, depending on how far you have to travel. Maintain a measured pace for the middle chunk of your trip. You can make this an easy

keeps your stomach so stable, or allows you to carry all your food and fluids with you so easily. This is just as well because when you're pedalling hard you will be burning up a hefty 600 to 1000 calories per hour. Effective refuelling on the bike means