IT wrote:
Richard Blaine wrote:
Tangentially to your point: the ITU is pushing draft-legal for the sprint distance hard. That means road bikes and no tri bikes. However, it also means having to ride in close proximity of people with questionable bike handling skills. So, as the famous Dutch philosopher Johan Cruijff opined: "every disadvantage has its advantage".
As I said, I would like road bikes and no tri-bikes all the way to and including Oly events. It would help the sport create delineation between ITU/short course and Ironman/long course.
But, pray tell, how would you regulate this mythical non-tri bike? Can I have a CAAD12 with full basebar and aerobars? Can I have a P4 with drop handlebars (and clip-ons if you allow them)? Will the officials come armed with goniometers to check seat angles? And to turn your argument on its head: what am I, a dedicated short course racer, going to do with my P4 in which I have a fair investment?
In my opinion the only way you're going to achieve this is delineate it as draft-legal with no aerobars allowed (you can ride a bare basebar or a mountain bar if you want :-), and non-draft where you can ride whatever you want.
IT wrote:
We currently have bugaboos about drafting the way it is right now.
And they're attempting to draft on tri-bikes. That would not be new. They could continue trying to implement no draft or allow drafting which would help the under 30, more specifically under 25 crowd, develop their skills for ITU.
Huh? Whaddaya mean by that? Are you referring to people riding in pacelines in overpopulated Ironman races?
As for allowing drafting: Do you really want to mix total novices, who swerve all over the road when they take a drink, and who jump when I unexpectedly show up on their left shoulder, with pacelines? Have you noticed the carnage in current races when there's a stiff crosswind? You really want to mix those people with echelons?
People racing draft-legal now make the explicit choice of racing draft-legal. Even if they're not super confident in pacelines, they know what they're getting into, and will adjust their riding style. A raw rookie, who bought their first bike 3 months ago to get fit, and is now doing their first sprint, has no idea.
IT wrote:
Drafting is one of those "Pavlov dog" moments. If you can't draft, you soon learn to draft or stop trying. Generally the person who can't draft crashes themselves by following too closely. Stronger riders and better riders crash much less often due to drafting.
he way most cultures and boys are, crashes would be an enhancement to the thrill of the sport for the young.
As a TBI survivor I find this comment insensitive and irresponsible.
Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.