I would not expect a big market. Between road events and off-road events like Xterra there are lots of races. Most people have a mountain bike somewhere around the house so not much of an investment to try a MTB event. If people feel that they need a new bike or at least new tires to compete, you will keep many people away.

I can think of one of my friends who would love a gravel tri. Most of the other people I know who like the gravel events are mostly just cyclists.

I don't know how much interest there would be from others but I've done one before and personally I think it's awesome. It ties with XTERRA as my favorite kind of tri. I wish there were more.

Alex

If there was a venue where they could "piggyback" an ongoing road triathlon where the gravel triathletes ride
a mainly gravel bike segment that might work. It wouldn't even have to be the exact same distance of the
road tri since they are separate events.

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Find out what it is in life that you don't do well, then don't
do that thing.

i'd definitely be game. i think there are probably lots of triathletes out there who are comfortable with gravel but not with technical singletrack. plus, i feel like the dirt road ride/trail run option would open up some really, really cool venues - states parks, stuff like that. much more interesting than the usual suburban stuff!

-mike

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____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

No no no... its another perfectly (ok thinly) valid reason to NEED another bike ....
You'll also need different shoes for the bike and run too..
No reason other than we don't want to get our road kit mucky...

I would be on it like white on rice. Love the idea. IMO, there's no reason it couldn't be worked into Xterra.

This is a really good idea IMO. Finding a workable venue would be difficult but you could have everyone start together and then once they get to T1 go one way for mtb bikes and another for road/tri bikes. Try to get the courses "equal" from a time perspective (e.g. the average time on both of them is the same)... do awards however you see fit.

Another thought.. some (lots ;) ) of tri riders struggle to keep bikes upright on tar...
On Gravel it'd be a clusterf*ck.... and hilarious...
So we'd have to double the photo gnomes to catch the stacks..
May increase entry fee's somewhat.. band aids at the aid stations..

So, kind of like Xterra, but with a boring bike course?

Or even better; same bike course but with less suitable bikes, making it harder and ridiculous :)

Or to put another way: kind of like a road tri, but slower?

however, you could be successful with this if marketed correctly. Design the course to reward good equipment selection, like some riders might be able to get away with/be better off with simply a road bike with 28C tires. Others maybe opt for CX, and others opt for MTB.
I think you ban aerobars and make the course variable enough in surface that it could be interesting. Maybe add CX barriers to keep it from feeling like a "slow road tri/lame XTERRA"

I've always wanted to put a draft legal tri on in downtown Norfolk, VA with some sweet cobbles and an urban swim venue a la ITU Hamburg. There are about a million reasons it would never work (no way you could pay me to swim in that river), but it would be neat

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IG: idking90

Absolutely, yes, IF:


You don't specify or limit the bike choices. Just describe the bike course thoroughly, listing all the surfaces, and let the athletes pick their bike of choice: a standard road bike, a tri bike, a hybrid commuter bike, a mountain bike, a gravel bike, a CX bike, etc.

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Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
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I rode the Dirty Forty in VT last year and toward the end we rode past a lake with a small beach/day use area. The thought crossed my (extremely fatigued at that point) mind then that it would be a great idea to hold a swim there, then ride on some of the roads we'd just ridden, then run either on some of the same dirt roads or on regular roads.

The Dirty Forty location is a little out of the way - i.e. the US/Canadian border - but there are probably tons of locations that would fit the bill.

The potential I see in this area is to turn triathlon (outside of ITU racing) from purely a participatory sport, to a captivating spectator sport. A sprint format race, with loops on a CX style bike course, and a XC style run course, set up with care to be spectator friendly could be a game changer. Our sport desperately needs main stream TV coverage of races other than Kona, and this format has the kind of second-to-second action and drama that many current racing formats lack.

Training for such an event would take a fraction of the time compared to long-course events, making triathlon training balance more seamlessly with work and family life. The set-up is also conducive to whole family participation. Kids would have a blast on a CX and XC course and racing in the grass is infinitely safer than having kids out on roads open to traffic. All we need is a big enough race organizer to pick up the idea and run with it. Just look at how far obstacle racing has come in a handful of years. Obstacle racing is quickly outpacing triathlons in participation, TV coverage, sponsorship money, prize money, and exposure. Staying the course with the triathlon racing formats we have now is not a winning proposition.

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Alex Modestou | Elite Off-Road Triathlete
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I like that idea.

I did one race that was run/kayak/bike. The bike was on dirt roads and it had been raining for three days, so it was a mudfest. It was a blast. I am not particularly comfortable riding a road bike on dirt roads (I showed up with 25 mm tires which didn't help), but once I got going, it was the most fun I have ever had in a triathlon.

Question for the masses: Gravel road cycling events are gaining a lot of popularity. Think there would be similar interest in gravel/dirt road triathlon? Not mountain bike, but CX bike?

The sport of triathlon was founded in a spirit of pioneerism and adventure - let's swim across this lake, ride from here to here, and then run this loop to finish line back by the lake. The training was the same - we just swam cycled and ran as much as we could and then bolted it all together on race day.

These days, I sense the sport has painted itself into a bit of a box of what defines a "triathlon" - and riding on a gravel road is NOT in that box!

When the gran fondo boom started a few years ago, I know many race/event organizers thought, they would be great training days for triathletes - few triathletes ever showed up!

You'll get some who show up for a gravel road triathlon, but it would be just a few on the fringe.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I think it could be awesome, but I'm not certain you would get huge buy-in, along the lines what Fleck says below. The modern triathlete is afraid of XTERRA because it doesn't fit in the box. What you're describing is totally foreign

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IG: idking90

I'd do that. I'm not a skilled enough MTB'er to go full-on Xterra racing - I'd get myself killed. But a gravely course, similar to MTB epics - I'd do that.

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ZONE3 - We Last Longer

I love this idea. My commuter bike is a cross bike, so I spend more time on it than on my tri bike.

I, for one, would absolutely hate swimming on a gravel/ dirt road. YMMV.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

I'd probably be faster.

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Find out what it is in life that you don't do well, then don't
do that thing.

I agree with this. Watching a sizeable portion of today's triathletes try to ride on pavement is funny enough, watching them try to ride on gravel would either be hilarious or terrifying depending on your levels of compassion or schadenfreude. While as someone else said, the sport was founded in a sense of adventure and doing new things (not just new to them), that is not the bulk of triathletes today and I would almost guarantee not where the revenue is.

If you wanted to start a race like this for the fun of it and have a few fringe triathletes show up and have a great time, and you are willing to commit a lot of time and then lose money, go for it, if you want to get a large event and make money, I think you'll find what a lot of other independent race directors are finding. If it isn't run by Ironman, it isn't a real tri, so the triathletes won't show up.

The main question I want to ask though is why do you want to ruin all my awesome gravel rides by filling up the roads with Tritards? I guess my version of NIMBY - NOMBR (Not On My Back Road)

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"Some folks plan for the optimum race, others like to get upset when others out plan them. "

Thanks for the feedback. I am an event promoter, a cyclist and a triathlete. But truth be told, I like CX racing more than any other style of racing.

And with gravel road events really taking off - people will ride CX, MTB or whatever gets them from Point A to Point B - I have wondered about possibilities. Like others, every road I ride and every little lake I pass becomes a potential venue in my mind. In my mind, this is not a 'slow road' triathlon but a 'fast dirt' triathlon. Without aero bars on the bikes I wouldn't be too concerned about bike handling. I also like the idea of making it fan friendly by mixing a CX style course so the action stays close to the race HQ and people can watch and cheer.

Just thinking out loud via the message board. So thanks for the feedback and ideas.