Greeting - Overweight cyclist. Been challenged to do a Triathlon

Hi everyone.

I thought I'd post to introduce myself and ask a few newbie questions.

I'm Rob. I'm 32 and I'm newly getting aquianted with the world of fitness after a year out with a back injury.

I've recently taken up road biking and bought my first road bike (Ribble Sportive Bianco)

I am absolutley loving it and have suprised myself with the distances I've been cycling already (We had a nice run from Plymouth to Exeter last weekend which is about 120km round trip) and my riding buddy has challenged me to train for a triathlon.

 

He's quite a fit lad and has done a couple sprint triathalons but say he wants to train with me to do Olympic length (I understand that Olympic actually means standard length and isn't quite as daunting as I first thought image

 

So here's my questions.

I'm not hugely fat but I am overweight and quite short at 5.7"

My first real concern is wetsuits.

Being 5.7 and having a chest of about 42 inches seems to put me outside the wetsuit sizing brackets.

Do I go for a bigger suit and roll it up or squeeze into a slightly tighter suit.

Or are there places that cater for fatties like me.

 

My second question is, Do I need to modify my bike.

I have a Ribble Sportive 105 Bianco which I treated myself to as a reward for putting myself back on the road to fitness after my back op.

It is a wonderful ride and she eats up the miles but do I need to modify her for Triathlons?

 

Finally, I wonder if anyone has any pointers for a prospective newbie.

I'm prepared to meet the challange head on and with enthusiasm, I just want to avoid any embarrassment of making any obvious errors in kit selectioninexperience

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