I like to have my cadence displayed on my watch but I also keep an eye on my heart rate, I don't want to burn out before the run. I find keeping my heart between zone 3 & 4 works well for me on race day (generally kept in zone 3) obviously as you climb and pass your heart rate increases but having the watch right there to beep and remind me to keep my heart rate in check insures I have enough in the tank for a solid run time too. Good luck.

I have 3 displays, so I usually (almost exclusively) have cadence and avg speed.  Then my watch tells me HR, time, climbing stats, and anything else you could ever want.  I like to watch cadence because it keeps me honest.  I have a tendency to throw it into a higher gear and pound instead of keeping cadence up.  In triathlons, it seems like a good idea (IronMakeover can back me up here?) to keep cadence up on the bike so that your legs aren't dead for the run, so keeping cadence in my face the whole time helps.  That said, I've lost my computer in both tris I've done - the first because the battery died 3 minutes into the bike, and the second because the strap holding the magnet to the fork broke about 4 miles in.  Yes, I'm that lucky.

Just my $.02, but get a Garmin 305.  There are a lot of others that people may suggest - and for good reason - but for the money I don't think there's anything comparable out there.

Does anyone have any input on wireless verses not as far as bike computer accuracy?  Just got my new tribike and wanna avoid zip tying wires to it..  Also, does anybody use their iphone as a gps, if so, how is it working for you? Thanks.

I have a wireless Cat Eye and so far it has been NOTHNG but trouble. It has been back to the shop four times and never has worked right.  I am going to exchange it for a wired one this week because I am tired of it not working (yesterday out on a flat stretch it had me going 17 mph--11mph--5mph--21mph--all in the same 3 seconds of time). It may be that I just bought a lemon of a wireless but it just won't work right, even after being "fixed" multiple times.

I heard the bike shop guy say that the wireless ones are a problem at times, but I also know a lot of people that use them with no issues whatsover. I'm not one of them though.  Just a heads up for ya.

Terry

Dr Miles I like your humor! "...because yes I'm that lucky!" Thanks for the smile!!!

At the USAT clinic CTS coach Fiona Lockhart referenced a study talking about cadence & its impact on run performance:

- 60 minute bike, 3 groups, one group biked at preferred cadence, one at 15% above, one at 15% below.

The triathletes who pedaled faster or at prefered cadence were faster in the beginning of the run, but NOT overall.

From a different part of Fiona's lecture (excellent speaker/coach):

- pedalig at a high cadence is very much a learnable skill

- vast # pedal 90-100

- below 85 if not on a climb will cause muscle fatigue over time, if you wear out legs you won't get them back on a ride.

Also Joe Friel has this good post mentioning 2 studies on cadence:

http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2008/03/effect-of-cycling-cadence-on-running-in.html

He writes "Take your pick: pedal at a low cadence before entering T2 or pedal at a high cadence before T2. One of them will improve your run performance. Which one? I wish I could say."

Best to you all,

Sara