Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to snub what Tim did, mainly trying to point out that it's not directly applicable to today's generation. The market, depth of competition, number of races etc. is vastly different. It's apples and oranges. The racing strategy from 2000 would not win you in 2015
It sounds like what Tim is saying is "you have to do what I did in order to be a champion". And what Andy/Hoff are saying is that's probably not his best bet in today's market ( The putting all your eggs in one basket approach)
If you analyze the times in big chunks of years (5-10yr span) there is no doubt though that the fields are getting faster and deeper on the top tier pro scene though. Obviously due to weather there are outlier years. The difference between first place to 10th used to be more like 25-30 minutes avg , whereas now it's down into the teens consistently. With the main difference being that the bike times average are much faster than they were back in Tim's day. Seems like average bike times have become significantly faster while marathon times are slightly slower. Bike technology might have a little bit to do with it, but I think the vast majority is just a change in strategy and depth of the field. Today you really can't wait until the run to be aggressive
One thing I found very odd though is that the span from roughly 1994 to 2004 seemed to average much slower times than those before or after that, any idea why? (eliminating outliers) If someone has spare time and feels like graphing it out I'd love to see that
It sounds like what Tim is saying is "you have to do what I did in order to be a champion". And what Andy/Hoff are saying is that's probably not his best bet in today's market ( The putting all your eggs in one basket approach)
If you analyze the times in big chunks of years (5-10yr span) there is no doubt though that the fields are getting faster and deeper on the top tier pro scene though. Obviously due to weather there are outlier years. The difference between first place to 10th used to be more like 25-30 minutes avg , whereas now it's down into the teens consistently. With the main difference being that the bike times average are much faster than they were back in Tim's day. Seems like average bike times have become significantly faster while marathon times are slightly slower. Bike technology might have a little bit to do with it, but I think the vast majority is just a change in strategy and depth of the field. Today you really can't wait until the run to be aggressive
One thing I found very odd though is that the span from roughly 1994 to 2004 seemed to average much slower times than those before or after that, any idea why? (eliminating outliers) If someone has spare time and feels like graphing it out I'd love to see that