Do people actually read posts on this forum or just see what they want to see?

Not even close.

Any wonder why so few of the pros ever bother to come on here.

Last year was actually the only year they have been even close in the swim. Kienle also had an even better swim in 2015 than this year so he's been way more solid in Kona overall. I'm sure Lionel can make good improvements but I think he might have more work ahead of him than Kienle did.

I never said that. He just seems to be so open about addressing everything he is trying to change, I was simply wondering why no mention of the swim.
Apparently that means I have a fetish for him, and don't believe he should be able to work on his biking at all.......sigh.....

This forum never ceases to amaze me.

"The Garneau is crap - he should be riding something different", he gets one of the fastest bikes, and easily the most successful bikes, and it's "well it's not the fastest, it's at least 0.77773256 watts slower than my polished turd on square wheels".

"His position's crap - he should get fitted by someone who knows what they're doing." He goes to IOG and it's "god his position could be better".

"He can't swim for sh*t." Goes to Kona, swims faster than he has previously and it becomes "he's still a sh*t swimmer and he should focus on that to the exclusion of everything else - who needs to seek improvements elsewhere - he's such an idiot"

"He's so stupid for going it alone". Ok, I'll engage with a series of coaches and advisers "God, you're stupid. You're doomed to fail as you'll never listen to them."

"Why are there so many Lionel Sanders threads - there are other triathletes you know". Oh, another Lionel Sanders thread, I know, i'll go on there and complain about it.

"It's great we've got an athlete who is engaging with the fans and sharing information about his daily life". "F**k you Talbot Cox, what you do is sh*t and I wish Lionel Sanders would focus more on improving than the stupid videos he does".

Any wonder why so few of the pros ever bother to come on here.

And before anyone comments, the irony of this is not lost on me. I am coming on the forum to complain about it.

My view.

Lionel is one of the best things to happen to the sport in a long time. He has more reach and appeal than anyone else. Even Jan. Canyon signing him was absolutely the right thing to do. He may not be the "best" but that's not what sells. Personality sells. Tiger Woods will still shift more stuff for his sponsors than pretty much the rest of the pro-golf field combined. Michael Jordan still sells more merch than most other basketball players. Lionel, in the triathlon world, is pretty much the only person who stands a chance of transcending the sport and attracting people from outside of the sport. For Canyon this is a no brainer.

For Lionel this is a no brainer. There is the obvious psychological benefit on being on the bike that the past 4 Kona winners have been on. If he's 2.36764 watts slower than the Scott Plasma, who gives a sh*t. That equates to about 0.1 mph in completely sterile conditions. The reality is that in the real world, he is now not giving anything up. Nowadays no one gains anything on the bike (in terms of aero - all the bikes are as good as the same), but there is stuff to be lost. He is not losing anything. That's a win. He can now focus on his swim without worrying about losing out on the bike.

And I'm pretty confident that his fit is a work in progress and is still better than almost anything 99.9% of people on here have got. Of course, I do forget that the forum is inhabited by a bunch of people who "Could be the best but for...".

This news is exciting (well, as exciting as news can get in the rather dull and sterile triathlon world) and has generated a lot of buzz. It wouldn't surprise me if Canyon have already made their investment back.

Not close at all

in my opinion, the reason more pros don't come on here is that some of them are intimidated. they don't understand their own sport. they can't explain how they ended up on the bike they ride; they know nothing about the position they ride; they are afraid to say they made their product choices because of the size of the check. and they have no intention of shoring up that weakness.

in my opinion, the reason more pros don't come on here is that some of them are intimidated. they don't understand their own sport. they can't explain how they ended up on the bike they ride; they know nothing about the position they ride; they are afraid to say they made their product choices because of the size of the check. and they have no intention of shoring up that weakness.

the reason the few pros who do come on here are here is that they do have that confidence. they can explain what they do, and why they do it. because of that, they do their sponsors great good, they are 5x more marketable than other pros, and they (rightly) get the deals.

now, i'll grant you, we've had some real asshole "experts" on here. i think cody beals and some others could've been treated better by a few of the "experts." i got tired of it too. so, we have a dozen fewer than we did 3mo ago.

but, jordan rapp (as one example) got very marketable very fast about a decade ago because he was willing to explain the reasons he did what he did. you're going to see more pros on here in the future. why? i spoke to 2 bike brands this morning. they just don't want pros who can't come on communities like this and transparently interact with their consumers.

two groups of people are entirely naive to the situations they're in: the asshole forum experts that don't have posting privileges here any longer; and the pros who don't know why they aren't getting the deals they aren't getting. or, why they just got dropped.

Soooooo I may have a real dumb question.
Lionel appears to be using the zip Evo 110 extensions. I'm sure like tons of other people on this forum I run the same extension but I notice he has them installed so that they curve out at the ends.I was under the impression they were supposed to curve in i e he has them installed on the wrong side.OR
I HAVE BEEN RUNNING THEM BACKWARDS FOR A COUPLE YEARS.
Or it doesn't matter which way and its user preference.
Does anyone really have the answer to this.

3. Impressed with him destroying a very well known KOM in Palm Springs. OTOH, how do you not have your Garmin right? It’s not a big thing, but the guy keeps making rookie mistakes. At some point you’re no longer a rookie. We love you LS, but sheesh...

Soooooo I may have a real dumb question.
Lionel appears to be using the zip Evo 110 extensions. I'm sure like tons of other people on this forum I run the same extension but I notice he has them installed so that they curve out at the ends.I was under the impression they were supposed to curve in i e he has them installed on the wrong side.OR
I HAVE BEEN RUNNING THEM BACKWARDS FOR A COUPLE YEARS.
Or it doesn't matter which way and its user preference.
Does anyone really have the answer to this.