Not up where I was. First group had about 7 guys at mile 30. 24 mph right up the ass of the guy ahead. No riders in front for 400 yds.

Second group was worse, 25 or so going up the chickamauga climb. Absolutely 100% intentional drafting. Two guys passed, with another overlapping his front wheel between both of theirs, then 3 more in a line, including a pro woman (Mendez) I had passed earlier Then just a massive group. I actually sat up and said "you have to be fucking kidding me." Guy in an AWA kit said "I know right?" And then tucked into the group! I watched them go up the road and saw the group stay together ahead of me for many miles. And absolutely taking up the whole lane

Only club I got the name of was Moxie. Bad sports all IMO

Same problem on the bike course last year but also exacerbated by some cyclists who refused to move into a wide and clean bike lane when available to allow cars to pass and get out of the way.

I got in the water in the first 10 minutes and finished the swim in 35 min, so I got on the bike course really early. I didn't see the peloton people have been talking about; they must have out-swam me. But I was really surprised at the number of really fast guys passing in groups of two or three shamelessly drafting their asses off. I only saw one race official on a motorcycle the whole time, and that was after I passed through Chicamuaga.

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Don't drown. Don't crash. Don't walk.

I was 23 minutes off the dock and by the time I was on course there were huge groups of riders packed up. A few car issues as well that may have cost me a minute or so overall. The ref pulled along side of me around mile 35 and put the timer on me as I was about 4/5 bike lengths behind another but clearly and quickly passing. She timed the pass and moved along, straight up to a group of 25-30 riders bunched up and hung out along side them for a while before riding on out of sight. It was kinda cool to get timed by the ref at my 1st 70.3

A friend and I were out riding some of the back roads near the course. Once we got to the end of Marble Top Rd, we had to sit there for a while and help direct cars who were trying to make a left turn as cyclists were swiftly coming down the fast hill on the road from Chickamaugua. It was rather nerve wracking to watch both the cars and some of the athletes. Athletes were going around the cars (over the yellow line into the oncoming traffic side) and a few of the cars wanted to turn left even though athletes were flying down the hill. We told the cars to stop and waved athletes through. Once there was a gap, we were able to tell the cars to turn safely. We probably sat there for 15 minutes until there were no more cars waiting.

Funny part is, we rode the course back to the GA line (about 5 miles). My friend rode my wheel the entire way because of the headwind. A motorcycle official pulled up and gave her a drafting penalty and said he'd been watching her blatantly drafting for a while. Once she mentioned she was not part of the race, he sped away.

I was in the water in the first 30 seconds and swam a 28. They were there starting about 30 miles so maybe they were in that 10 minute section. Also only saw the one Marshall Moto but saw the "neutral" wheel guy several times

I saw tons of officials on the course and even saw a penalty being issued. Funny, it was to a guy in a Moxie jersey.

  I was in the water within the first 10 minutes, swam a :28 & had pretty smooth sailing through just past mile 30 and got rolled up on by a group of about 10-12 guys. A Moxie guy I'd been riding near for quite a while rode by and commented on how blatant the drafting was. No sooner did a draft marshal ride up along side them and seemed to hand out several penalties & that seemed to break that group up pretty quickly.
With about 8 miles to go I was on the long straight stretch of highway pretty much all by myself and thinking this was going to be smooth riding back into town. I glanced back at one point and saw a huge pack coming for me. They swept me up as we got back into the little neighborhood chicane. The road conditions back made it impossible to get away from the pack and several folks, myself included, were essentially forced to ride back in in an embarrassingly large group. The single lane, railroad tracks and rough road conditions were a tough way to finish.

Glad to hear they were out there

do people that draft like that really feel good about it? do they not care? do they just disagree with the no drafting rule? To me, part of the fun of the sport is me pushing myself without others.

Every peloton that passes I say "Nice drafting guys," or "nice cheating," no one ever looks up or responds. They don't care.

I guess their goals, motives, morals, ethics are different than mine.

Yup, I generally don't care and if they wanted to ride in a draft line that's their call. But they were 2 and 3 wide across the lane, affecting the car traffic and thus affecting me.

I was actually most pissed I think by the fact that I was re-passed by the pro I passed earlier (BTW, I'm no uber biker, perhaps she had a flat, no idea, but she swam slower than I did and biked a 2:43 - ran way faster...) Not that she re-passed, but that she is competing against other pros for a living. She ended up second to last, and she was exiting T2 as I was entering and I so wanted to say something to her.

AGers, I mean OK whatever. If they want to do that, or dope up, that's their choice.

I don't know about blatantly drafting, but I decided a few years ago that I wasn't going to throw a race because a race company put to many competitors on a crowded course. That's just the name of the game now.

For a race with 400-500 people it's never an issue after 5 miles. In an Ironman distance/branded race it usually takes me till around mile 60 for things to get legal because of where I come out of the swim and then bike strengths. My bike is usually my strongest leg, but for longer stuff I tend to pay a good bit of attention to the power meter. At IMFL in 2013 a group was bound and determined not to let me get away from them. I'd pass the group at target watts then they'd swallow me up and I'd drop to the back to try to stay legal and the pace would drop to 2 mph lower than I was going, then I'd push 100% ftp to get past them and try to get away but they wouldn't let me. It drove me nuts and I probably burned out my legs a little for that run. After about 40 miles they couldn't sustain the pace any more and let me go, but after that race I decided that I was just going to stick with target power and if it's crowded I'll just risk the penalty.

It's such a double edge sword. I don't like drafting, but love the level of competition you get an Ironman branded race and I feel that at some point during the race course you are going to by the, letter of the law, draft. However, if I signed up for Lake Logan's half ironman I would likely be able to ride clean after a mile or two on the bike course, but that wouldn't have quite the same competition level but it's still a great event.

But clearly your power is going to go down in a peloton. I think you're taking the easy way out here. Just MO.

Trust me, I get the issue. I have done Oceanside and Chattanooga this year and both races on the bike I had the thought that I need to tell my coach that every race plan for a WTC race should incorporate three or four 500 watt surges, as they always seem to happen. At Chattanooga early on there were a couple guys ahead of me I was gaining on, and when I came out of the legal draft of course it was a bit harder, but by then I was committed, and had to pass or I was not racing clean. Garmin shows a 350W surge here.... not my race plan definitely.

I also had to drop down to way under power to let a group go by. Again, not my race plan.

But that's what it takes to race clean. Whether that affected my race or not, who knows.

Actually Chattanooga wasn't really an issue for me due to where I started. I had more issues with cars on the course like I mentioned than packs and most of the packs I blew through fairly quickly.

The last two ironman races have been the ones where it's been difficult to ride legal the first half

I'm probably looking for confirmation, but I swear every draft group that goes by gives me the stink-eye for "making" them pass me. Sorry guys -- I would definitely ride faster if I could and just stay out of your way.

I got passed by ~20 right before the Andrews turn. I passed them all, plus a few, on the climb. And then they all blew by me on the next flat section with no more than 2 bike lengths between them. Same thing ten miles later on the Chickamauga climb/descent.

I rode like a madman on Sunday, surges all over the place, to try to have an honest solo race. (I'm local and I already knew the run was a throwaway.) All I got for it was dead legs and a slower ride.

And, I only saw two motos the whole time. There's just not a huge incentive to ride clean.

(None of this even takes into account the people who don't know how to ride on the right side of the road, or avoid passing 3 -- or 4 -- abreast.)

I will preface this comment by stating that I also hate blatant drafting, but I will also go on to make the statement that absolutely terrible bike etiquette was just as bad on the course. I am pretty sure I could count the draft packs I saw, there is no way that I could count how many people I came by that thought the entire lane was their personal bike path. Back and forth from one side to the other, riding side by side with friends or teammates, or making passes and just staying on the left. I know everyone hates people that draft because it's cheating, but so is staying on the left side of the lane, it's called blocking and is cheating just the same. That and it makes it more dangerous for every cyclist behind them.

Other than that I thought it was a great race, beautiful city that really lays out the red carpet for us and our families. I was shocked at how many people I saw clinging to the first couple of buoys on the swim, scary to think people will just jump in a river with 2-3000 people with virtually no experience or training.

I will second this. I started about 7 minutes after the pro woman and i made the choice to stay closer to the shore line and not get caught up in the mayhem that was happening on the diagonal line to the turnaround. Within the first 90 seconds i saw several people backstroking and doggy paddling. This absolutely could have been people who were just trying to get comfortable, but i did see several others hanging on kayaks before the turnaround. I just dont understand why you would put yourself at risk like that.

I had a decent swim and then blew up on the bike. Mechanical right before Andrews and by that time the head was gone and muscles tightened up when i was fixing the bike

I think you hit the nail on the head with the blocking. The only "pack" that passed me looked like they were trying to ride legal, but would get up to someone blocking and everyone would bunch up until they had room to pass them and then it would take a min or two for them to get legal again. About a mile later the situation would repeat itself.

I was in the water in the first 15 minutes, swam in 31, and had a relatively clear course on the front half. I only had about 3-5 people pass and drop me until we got to Andrews, but I had several ass clowns suck my back wheel for a long time. At one point, I went to pass someone & looked back over my left shoulder to see if it was clear. I saw one guy tucked right up my ass, but then I also saw the headlights of a referee moto. I smiled to myself & made my pass. I checked back one more time & saw the moto moving their way up. Apparently I had quite a line that had formed behind me (and I was not blocking at all) and the ref was either issuing card after card or was just scaring them off because after I saw the moto go by me I looked back & there was no one on my back wheel anymore.

Now, the second half of the course was a different story. The first car I came on was an unmarked white SUV with emergency lights on it, but I couldn't tell if it was a WTC car, local fire dept, or just someone with flashing lights (the flashing lights were red & white). The second car was a jerk who would not let me pass. They were going about 20 MPH & when I tried to pass them twice, they would speed up & move to the yellow line. I had to wait for a downhill and then I punched it, passed them legally (but barely) and moved to the right-middle of the lane. The third car was a Gandalf & would not let anyone pass. There was oncoming traffic as well, so there was no safe way to get around them. They were moving at a good clip, so it wasn't like they were going 15 MPH & holding everyone up, but we amassed quite a group behind him. He finally slowed down & just stopped in the road & there were about 12 of us who were caught off guard and shot around him into the other lane. This caused a bunch of cursing & screaming (at both the driver & other cyclists) and I was shocked that no one went down as a result of it.

As for drafting & pelotons on the back half, this is where a lot of the speedies (like you Jojo) who started in the back of the pack caught & passed me. Most were riding legal & clean, but I had several pelotons fly by me as well. Some I noticed were sporting the same kits, so you could tell they were organized & likely intentional. I saw officials twice on the back half, but they were passing me quickly & not scanning riders for violations.