Generally, the sweepers appear to top out at 20 mph. They'd get caught. You'd have to have 5 or 6 staged ~18 miles apart. And there is nothing to prevent someone from sabotaging right after the sweeper passes.

John

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Top notch coaching: Francois and Accelerate3 | Follow on Twitter: LifetimeAthlete |

Right on. I don't think anybody can fault WTC or any other race organization for something like this. There is only so much that can be done and if some local wannabe terrorist is going to do something like this, they'll figure out a way around any efforts to preempt it. If the organizers swept the course, they'd find another way to try and screw it up.

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

There were tacks at Wisconsin this year as well. Seems like there are just jackasses everywhere.

This is really horrible. Some people have too much time on their hands and too much hate in their hearts. That said, I have to mention:

I think I know who did it.
It was Little Debbie.
She might look sweet and taste fine, but she is upset with the new marketing slogan: "when you think Ironman, think Little Debbie snack cakes"

Drones, baby...Have a few drones hover over the course. They could provide coverage of the race AND monitor the roads. WTC could even arm them with a few missiles and take out these domestic terrorists!

In all honesty, it has to suck to be a victim of that kind of sabotage.

I agree completely. IM and Chattanooga put on a fantastic race. The ppl with the oil and tacks are just random dicks. They exist in every city.

POTD

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Gary Mc
Did I mention I did Kona

Made my day!

Really?

It's happened in Maryland - a state not known for its Republicans of late.

Apparently narrow-mindedness knows no political pounds.

There were tacks thrown on the road at Galveston 70.3 in 2011 near the turn-around point. I initially thought people were flatting on broken seashells along the seawall but learned after the race it was, in fact, tacks.

There was also oil dumped on the Kansas 70.3 course in 2012. I didn't race it that year but was told that those triathletes that were also cyclocrossers did pretty good navigating the troubled area!

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Straightenin' the curves; Flattenin' the hills
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Coached by Mike Plumb @ TriPower MultiSports
https://www.strava.com/athletes/1149072 - https://www.instagram.com/thoswoods/

Somebody has got to photoshop Little Debbie holding a handful of tacks instead of some snack cakes and post it here.

Anyway, I wouldn't even go as far as saying it has to have been angry rural anti-cyclists. Teenagers would do it just because they think it's funny and don't know how dangerous it actually is.

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

+1 Only a party puppet would come up with that response. I'm guessing he favored the communist character in the Bull Winkle cartoon.

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The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

My students are asking why I'm cleaning water off my monitor.

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The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

Or you know, they could start an hour earlier.

Given how prevalent this has become it may be time to spend a couple hundred dollars and equip some of the sag wagons with these.
http://www.ipesmag.com/...gnetic-sweepers.html

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Gotta go pretty slow for it to be effective. From the website:
Most effective operating range:
TMRS1: Suspension height from ground: 3″ – Vehicle Speed: 3 to 5 mph
TMRS2: Suspension height from ground: 3″ to 5″ – Vehicle Speed: 3 to 7 mph

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Gary Mc
Did I mention I did Kona

So...what's to prevent the tacks from popping the tires of the sag wagons? And doesn't a sag wagon by definition follow the bikers? :p

John

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Top notch coaching: Francois and Accelerate3 | Follow on Twitter: LifetimeAthlete |

Interesting. If memory serves, there was oil on the road @Kansas in 2010 as well.

WOW, surprised you didn't try and bolster your argument by pointing out that the tacks only targeted black tires.

Get used to this. There is a growing tide of resentment against these events especially longer events like Ironman which can tie up roads for hours if not most of the day.

And look on the brightside... If they were more aggressive or in the know they would have used Anti-freeze. It is a pain to clean up and you go through anti-freeze on pavement, it is like ice.

I also would not be surprised in the next five years if a car deliberately runs cyclists off the road during a race.

"At 30 MPH, which seems fast for a street sweeper, you are talking almost four hours to go around the course... "

Not to be a math nazi, but how fast do you think the pros were riding? A sweeper could even leave 5 mins in front of the first biker, and be a "lead sweeper".
I know it's never gonna happen, but that doesn't mean it couldn't.

-bobo

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"What's good for me ain't necessarily good for the weak-minded."

I was wondering the same thing. I'd maybe develop one for the front of the vehicle and one in back as a back up. I don't think the tacks would be deep enough to pop the tires of a car though would they? I don't want to find out when I'm driving that's for sure...even less if I'm on a bike!

Don't worry about tacks... worry about oil / anti-freeze

When I used to race we were required to only run water in cooling systems or a mixture with something like water wetter. Occasionally someone would really wad up their bike and get the crank case oil on the track or run regular anti-freeze in which case the track was shut down for about 20 minutes. Anti-freeze and oil bond to the asphalt surface in a slick layer that cannot be just wiped up. Generally it takes applying a solvent and more drawn out process to really get it cleans up to be safe. One of the easiest things to do is fill up balloons with anti-freeze and throw them out a sun roof. There is a long stretch of curvy highway called "The tail of the dragon" that is extremely popular with motorcycles and every year it gets bombed like this.

Damn, we need more power Scotty.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Is there any thought that this might be in retaliation to nearly 12 months of new bicyclists crowding uncrowded streets, breaking laws, and leaving trash behind?

Imagine you live in a sleepy community. Then one day your streets have been invaded with bicyclists who won't share the road and who disregard stop signs and traffic lights. But who am I kidding. Ironman triathletes don't do those things.

You do know that the tacks were thrown mid race? The oil happened before the event and was taken care of before almost everyone arrived. I think my course guys and local authorities did an incredible job responding to the issues. This has nothing to do with be being "lazy" or "cheap."

Brian Myrick - RD