"I bet you I could have ridden sub 2:40 at Wildflower on that bike with my 1991 body and with that exact nutrition plan. That set up is probably decently fast given the narrow tubes the J Disc and the fairly narrow pad placement. Here is my 1991 IMC Penticton set up"

That is eerily accurate. In fact, I rode 2:39 and finished with a PR for the race (11 times since 1990) with a time of 4:47.

Was your 10:30 Penticton time a PR as well?

It is interesting how technology is helpful but more so as you get older...

Regarding World's Toughest, just posted this video to the World's Toughest thread. 1991 World's Toughest.
https://drive.google.com/...WWNNczNSZ2VVbFE/view
My training partner, Larry, had some great parents who would film our events.

Check out:
- The mullets
- How incredibly low key this was.
- How the swimmers popped up early (and ran in the water, loosing time) instead of just swimming to the swim finish
- The speedos
- j-discs
- Early Giro helmets
- Clip on bars on road bikes

As a side note, this was one race where, sadly, beer didn't taste good after it. We were simply too ruined.

Those bars look totally hairy. How the F did you descend with those?!

Chuckie V!

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STIndiana
America Multi-Sport, Inc.
America's Half June 10, 2017
USAT RD Century Club
http://www.americamultisport.com

Dev - your pic does show a pair of Scott "Extreme" bars. I believe the Scott "100k" bars were a separate and much narrower version that made the Extreme look like ape hanger bars in comparison.

I used the same model (Extreme) on my Litespeed 6/4 Blade - an ex Chevy LA Sheriff's custom frame that I bought after the team folded. Found it on an ad on rec.sports.triathlon newsgroup and bought it from Dave Lettieri who (I think) at one point was Armstrong's tour mechanic before opening his own shop.

I really liked the minimalist design of the Extreme bars compared to the clunky alternatives at the time. I had it mounted to the super-adjustable Look Ergostem to get a low position.

I think I nearly killed myself with those bars coming down from close to 9000 ft high on Monitor Pass at World's Toughest Tahoe 93. They were only 38 cm wide and because of the placement of the brakes, you really could not brake too hard, because the brake lever would hit the bar before "full force"....but what the heck, I was only 28 and that was a "speed enhancement" feature to make sure I did not chicken out and bleed off too much speed by braking too hard. It was no problem at Penticton or at the F1 course at Esprit....you adapt. I even did an "upgrade" and put a look ergo stem on that and placed those bars 4 cm above the front wheel and did a few tris Chris Boardman position! The handling with the ergo stem with the bars close to the front wheel was surprisingly stable.

In terms of PB, 10:30 at Penticton at 25 was one of my bests and that was done off only Olympic tri training, and a weekly 20K long run (of course every run was done at 4 min per k's or may as well not bother going out the door). I did 2 long rides of 4 hours hammering with the Olympic tri crew for half and then going back out for more. The PB was only 10:18 at LP and 10:20 in Kona. I've only done mainly slow courses: LP, Penticton. Tremblant, Whistler, Tahoe, South Africa, Nice. The fastest course I have done is Texas and that is still kind of slow (similar slow to Kona). As for Wildflower I went on basically the same technology as those pictures and had my best race there in 96 (28/2:39/1:28+transitions) when I was young and could run fast. That day I missed a KQ by 8 second. The technology helps us today on the bike, but on a slow course like Wildflower you can't gain thing back with tech....this year my split time were 32+2:48+1:48. I want to believe that the wind on the bike was more!

Did my whole first season rocking just a speedo, no top. But I was 19, cut and didn't give a shit about what everyone else thought.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

Here are two more pics - evidence!

1. Cowman! Here he is without horns in 2001 at the Donner Lake Tri (great race BTW).
In 1991, when I was finishing the run at World's Toughest, that crazy guy was just heading out, horns included (!)
What a legend.


2. Aerodynamics and such in 1990
- Giro helmet - first thin hardshell they made
- bladed front spoke wheel
- j-disc!
- Descente shorts (before they disappeared)
- Scott Clip-Ons
- Nishiki International bike
- Selle Italia Turbo saddle
- Downtube Shimano 600 SIS shifters
- TIME high-heel shoes
- Super aerodynamic long sleeve shirt :-)

Haven't seen anyone say:

TRIMBLE one piece frame

The USTS race in Lake Mahopac outside NYC

Exceed

the thing designed to hold your shoes open to step in to FAST-TRANS (I bet ST has one in the garage still)

when all you had to do was prove you could complete two of the three events to get in to Ironman (ran a marathon, rode a century) IN!

The Midwest Classic 140.6
Ca[e Cod Enduranceman 140.6

Fletcher Hanks and his races on the DelMarVA peninsula

My first triathlon was in Woodstock Ontario in 1983 so some Canadians might remember that. The race was a SRB, but I can't remember why they switched it around but it might have been because of the heat and they wanted to do the run earlier.

I did IMC in Penticton back in 1991 and 1992 when there were about 1,200 racers and I stopped doing them because they were getting too crowded...

As for other things from back then, for some reason I remember that Dave Scott would rinse his cottage cheese to get rid of some of the fat.

There was also a girl on a cover of Triathlete (or Triathlon) magazine and I bought the magazine (I usually just browsed through them in the store) just so I could keep her picture. For the life of me I can't remember her name but it certainly made me want to stay in the sport.

I did my first 'half' (2nd triathlon) at the Inaugural Tinman Triathlon in Menomonie, Wisconsin August 1980. The distances were 1 mile swim, 55 mile bike and 12.4 mi run. TriFed/USAT did not exist so apart from not cutting the course there were no rules. I recall the water was in the upper 60s and we all wore speedos. Everyone used road bikes because tri-bikes were not yet invented, nor were aerobars or lockstep pedals. We did not wear helmets. We drafted....legally. We stopped and got off our bikes to refill a water bottle and eat a banana or fig newton...no one was handing you anything. And it cost a whopping $12 to enter.

Men’s tri bike with 2 24” wheels

Anyone remember them?

Lets take Seat Shifters a step further. Seat Shifter was invented by Rick Sutton. He was also the founder of Sea Otter Classic. This photo might also be a good test (if you can name them all. One of the 4 might be more difficult to name due to his relative lack of race talent.

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Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com

I will exclude myself too, but she dated Rob Bistodeau until we convinced him to throw her out with the trash. Question for you though, do you remember when she claimed she changed her name, and do you remember what that name was?

---

Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com

Changing tents at What is now called Olympic Distance Triathlon.

How did they settle on those distances?

I still have a white J Disc in my garage.

didnt read all the responses.. but ill add

RIP-N-HAMMER clothing

daved

Hind Tactel one-ply socks!

Just pulled these out; must be 20+ years old.
So sweet!

Man oh man, an 11 year old thread someone dug up and you expect me to remember a question I asked??? Talk about Zombie threads, I can't remember how long I just spent in Seattle on our RV road trip!!!

We are now in Bend OR, it looks to be a pretty cool place. Hit the local brewery in Sisters(yes that is the name of the town outside Bend) and think we might just stay a few days and check this place out...

Enjoy your stay here in Bend Monty.

Everyone else, you can thank me later for starting this thread many years ago.

How about this one; Who crawled across the finish at Kona and asked ABC Wide World of Sports "Did I finish"?

Fernanda Keller?

I still have mine (sort of), all that's original is the frame. Nearly everything else has been replaced at least twice. It currently has 10sp Ultegra/105, an early Kestrel EMS fork, and a Frankenstein Oval/Profile aerobar, and now mainly resides on my trainer (but still gets out for occasional rides). The original "Too Pink" finish has faded to a very pale pink, and the top of the top tube is off-white. Here it is in pinker days, about 18 years ago, with a Profile BRC fork/Airwave bar, and J-Disc:




I had bigger hair than Souza back in the 80s/early 90s :)


All of my road and tri bikes are set up with the original PD6401 and PD7401 pedals from the late 80s. Still haven't found a pedal I like better, and with the number of bikes I have, changing wouldn't be cheap...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

Thanks to whoever keeps bumping this thread. I'll try not to duplicate things that have already been mentioned:

- Ken Glah's clothing line (speedo and man-bra) with the boomerang pattern on it - I had neon yellow, neon green and blue
- Nike BRS gear, including the running shorts with no liner because you would just pull them over the swimsuit
- Harold Robinson - can't believe no one had mentioned him
- when the USTS series became the BLTS series
- one-year-only USTS/BLTS venues (e.g., Austin 1983)
- Bass Lake, then Hilton Head
- when you could compete as a pro just by declaring yourself as one
- Hans Dieben (the original dominant old guy)
- Paul Thomas
- Campy Shamal wheels
- Alexandra Paul

Ian

I can only speculate. I was aware of Ironman Hawaii on Oahu then, but the 140.6 wasn't a magic figure or settled distance and I imagine the organizers felt it was close enough to a half. But no one perceived it as a "half", just something that was challenging, but much less difficult than that 'thing' they were doing in Hawaii. The Tinman lasted from 1980 to 2006. By the end, it was still an odd duck with the swim at 1.5 miles, the bike at 58.6 miles and the run still at the original 20k. I saw a historical compilation from Lew Kidder that listed the Tinman as the 21st triathlon held in the United States, but his list missed one that I did in Madison, Wisconsin a few weeks earlier. There were no triathlons in Wisconsin prior to 1980.