To ALL the age group guys??

Congrats on your season.


Jim

What was your bib #? Was it 19?

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Andy

'You'd be surprised how many people violate this simple principle every day of their lives and try to fit square pegs into round holes, ignoring the clear reality that Thinsg Are As They Are.'

Andy, my bib # was 22. 19 was another pro from Germany

Ok, no problem... I'm glad you weren't #19 and making those comments... Anyway, please don't generalize that ALL age group men break the rules intentionally. Congratulations on a great race!

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Andy

'You'd be surprised how many people violate this simple principle every day of their lives and try to fit square pegs into round holes, ignoring the clear reality that Thinsg Are As They Are.'

Paolina --

Congratulations on a great year!

I had the pleasure of finally meeting Mr. Fleck at the awards banquet.

This, after years of conversation via internet.

Perhaps I will see you both next season.

Keep it rolling ...

Kevin,

It was a real pleasure to meet you as well, finally. Sorry that we did not have more time to chat. Also congratulations on a great race at IMFL.

Tough doing battle with the likes of the great Joe Bonness, but you were outstanding. Keep up the good work.

Best regards,

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Andy,

The seperate start for the Pro man/women, is better, but it's not perfect. Having observed many IM races both full mass start and seperate pro start now, I am not sure there is a perfect solution.

In theory the seperate pro start for the pro women, makes for a cleaner purer race for them. In practice it's a bit different. Closely observing the IMFL women's race last weekend as I was reporting/spoting for Ironmanlive.com, the first 8 - 10 women on the bike raced a VERY clean race. They were well spread out and pretty much rode on their own. The word "lonely" kept coming to mind as I stood on the side of the road at the 10, 25, 35, 55, 65, 85, 102 mile markers on the course and watched the top 10 women go by. The problems started to crop up for the women placed from about 8th back past about the 70 mile marke when some LARGE groups of age-group men started to catch up to them and gobble them up. I am not making excuses for them( the pro women), but I keep coming back to my constant point about this, that at certain times and at certain places on these courses, the rules whether they are GTG, or anyone elses are asking the athletes to do something that is physically impossible to achieve.

As an aside the 15 minute headstart causes some issues for the pro men as well, if the swim is a two looper. The top pro men swimming at sub 50 minute pace, slam right into the back of the BOP swimmers on their second lap and it's a real problem and challenge for both parties. In fact, as noted on the board previously, the race lost one of it's real favourites, Jonas Colting, because he was kicked hard in the groin, completely by accident. Another Pro Jaime Cleveland, informed me that he was hit hard, again by accident by these slower swimmers and class act that he is, Cleveland was more concerned about the disruption his fast swimming was causing for the slower swimmers.

Please note that no athlete is at fault here, it's just an unfortunate situation, that, as I started out saying there is no real easy answer for.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Fleck,
i've been interested in the start situation as well. I don't understand why they just don't do one start, and everyone compete in the same race. Unfortuntaely the whining of a very few women pros started this situation, and it's worse than before. Just shoot the gun, and the first one home wins! Simple, and if you can't take the pounding that might be encountered, there's always badminton.

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Gary Geiger
http://www.geigerphoto.com Professional photographer

TEAM KiWAMi NORTH AMERICA http://www.kiwamitri.com, Rudy Project http://www.rudyprojectusa.com, GU https://guenergy.com/shop/ ; Salming World Ambassador; https://www.shopsalming.com

Awesome job out there Paolina! Agree, some of the guys were riding in some major peletons!

the other part of this is to have one loop. it's a big ocean out there, and one loop would solve the swim-through problem-----along with several other problems.
peggy

Your suggestion is so simple that it is mind boggling ! Give the pros that 15 min headstart and do one loop, or 35 min headstart for 2 loops.

Paolina, great year ! Keep it up !

I hope you coach had you race with a powermeter, wear a heartrate monitor, an aero helmet, the latest S-bend aerobars, optimal water bottle positioning, the greatest high tech nutrition, and lactate testing at the turnaround of the bike and halfway through the run.

Ooops, I forgot, your coach is Fleck. He probably told you to suck it up, make friends with pain, pace yourself out, train well, eat well and rest.

What races are you doing in 2006?

Indeed curious as to why two loops here as opposed to one? If for some bizarre reason one is worried about being a mile offshore, simply have the swim go parallel to the beach for a time. Just a thought.

But certainly, the 35-minute head start if 2-loops are etched in sand makes at least as much sense.

"The problems started to crop up for the women placed from about 8th back past about the 70 mile marke when some LARGE groups of age-group men started to catch up to them and gobble them up."

as i wrote last week on this subject in a slowtwitch article (GTG v USAT) there is a solution for this. there ought to be two draft zones, but they're delineated by a single motorcycle sitting behind the last competitive female pro. up to this spot, there's a 7m zone. after this spot, it's a 12m zone (or whatever zone you prefer). the motorcycle has a big zign on the back that says PRO RULES OR PRO ZONE or something. any AGer entering the pro zone is now racing under these rules.

of course, you have to be willing, as an organization, to enforce a zone, whatever that zone is. but that's another thing altogether.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

You are a "PRO" therefore you started 15 minutes in advance of the age groupers at IMFL. You must've had a bad day if you ended up riding anywhere near us age groupers. Either that or some of us age groupers must've been better cyclists than you to have made up that 15 minute deficit and caught you on the bike. In any respect, I am sorry you have this resentment towards age groupers.

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Team Endurance Nation

Great post! I can't believe there's a "head start" for those who are supposed to be the best in the sport. Maybe put them in the front row, but gun goes off, and everyone's on their own......first finisher wins!

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Gary Geiger
http://www.geigerphoto.com Professional photographer

TEAM KiWAMi NORTH AMERICA http://www.kiwamitri.com, Rudy Project http://www.rudyprojectusa.com, GU https://guenergy.com/shop/ ; Salming World Ambassador; https://www.shopsalming.com

No the Pro Women were riding TT by themselves until you AG men sucked each others wheel until finally you caught them in your pussy peleton, that is what I saw up there.

I've passed plenty of female pros without even a thought of drafting, so keep that comment out of the mix. Many age groupers can put a lot of time on some of the pros, male or female.

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Gary Geiger
http://www.geigerphoto.com Professional photographer

TEAM KiWAMi NORTH AMERICA http://www.kiwamitri.com, Rudy Project http://www.rudyprojectusa.com, GU https://guenergy.com/shop/ ; Salming World Ambassador; https://www.shopsalming.com

Hi Dev, thanks for the note....yup you know FLECK too well, I'm always on at him that I want an"all the trimmings training programme".......his line ..."JFT"..

I am now looking forward to the skate skiing season, and will be training at the Dornellas Factory in the winter.

Next Year I would just for once love to beat you on the bike.......Youre a GREAT rider, Hope I am up to your standards next year

Paolina

Hey Dude, absolutely no resentment here.....I had a great race along with a great year!

Cheers

Dan,

That's a great idea in theory, but I thought, and it was stated several times by key people over this past weekend at IM Florida, that one of the goals of the new GTG rules that they would be standard across the board for EVERYONE.

As I said, there seems to be no perfect solution here. Well, there are a few but they are either impractical or unpaletable at this stage.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

"one of the goals of the new GTG rules that they would be standard across the board for EVERYONE."

i think this still fits into that definition. the problem is having a pro woman and an AG man in one "peleton," and one is operating under (let us say) a stagger rule, and the other is operating under a "ride to the right, pass on the left" rule. or, these same two people are governed by different draft zones.

in this case, the pro man or woman and AG man or woman are operating under the same exact set of rules. it's just that at the front of the race, when the riding gets a lot faster, and the stakes are higher, the draft zone is larger.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Cheers Paolina on an excellent season as a Pro !

I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do next year..and I sympathize w/ you on the pack situation. Unfortunately, I think its going to get worse before it gets better.

I hope I'm wrong.

Flecks' been nice enough to help me out on some run questions,and I gotta agree with the school of JFT : )

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_______________________________________________________

Seeing him in deep torment, I said. " You can have my last GU , but its been down my pants for most of the run". - John Hirsch

Take care of your body, its by far the coolest thing you're going to ever own.- Can't remember who told me this, but I love it.

Darn...I want a clean and pure race for me too... :-))

www.ironm4n.blogspot.com

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http://www.konashelley.blogspot.com

"""""Darn...I want a clean and pure race for me too... :-))""""

Don't race an IM then.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta