Who should “we” love/hate? Who’s out there for the fans to follow and fan boy over or anti-fan boys?

ETA: The Transition 4 crew w/ Eric lagerstrom is doing really good job of promoting their brand w videos but other than that I can’t think of many pros that put themselves “out there” beyond run of mill IG posts.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

So you started another thread.

Strange.

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Exactly.

To answer the original question, at least from my perspective: He goes against the grain of the orthodoxy of the triathlon. This drives some folks crazy and makes other people root more for him. Others feel he has been gifted with awesome genetics that he is wasting by doing things his way instead of tried and true methods.

Bottom line, he is an interesting character in an ordinarily mundane group.

I see what you did there......

I don’t have a problem with the Lionel threads. As far as I’m concerned the more of any discussion the merrier. I’m just trying to understand why so many about this guy. Like, what’s his deal.

I should add I don’t follow any pro sports. I couldn’t tell you who won the Super Bowel last year, let alone a regional IM championship. I just can’t seem to find the time to care (unfortunately, because I’m sure I could learn a thing or two by following the pro circuit).

But what’s Lionel’s deal? Maybe a fanboy (or hater) can explain. Is he like some average Joe turned self-coaches Pro who gives hope to many aspiring pros here, or what?

See my above post. I’m indifferent towards him but he is basically the only pro triathlete that puts himself out there routinely. He is good for the sport in my opinion.

He did battle drug addiction in the past and used the sport of triathlon as an avenue to keep himself on the right track. That makes him more relatable in my opinion. He is also pretty forthcoming with his opinions and doesn’t give canned, generic responses which is also refreshing.

Check out some of Talbot Cox’s interviews with him on YouTube and reach your own conclusion. He certainly seems to be a polarizing figure around these parts.

Yeah I didn’t want to start another thread about it but it’s no wonder he wouldn’t come here to post or give his thoughts directly. So many jackasses with no business giving opinions think they know it all. He trolls them online with his videos and they eat it up create another thread and hate some more. It’s quite annoying for sure.

I love Lionel for his story and the way he works. I enjoy watching his progression and seeing how open he is with all his successes and failures. Not many are that open and you can guess why since no one is very forgiving here and no need to create that noise. It won’t stop probably just get worse and then move on to some of the other athletes that frequent this site and push them away by interjecting their lack of knowledge as superior.

I’m with you, I don’t get the obsession but some people just can’t quench that thirst in their lives so they need to vent about it here I suppose. Seems pathetic to me, but to each their own.

Did you ever think that he's posting content he likes and everyone here just thinks that he's trolling them when we're all creating it in our heads?

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Chasing PB Podcast Latest interview with Eli Hemming on Targeting a US MTR spot in Tokyo

I would say because he is North American on a discussion board that is predominately from that region. And also because he is a regular social media sharer of what he is up to. If he was a German that trained hard in a mountain shack all year and then just turned up at Kona once a year there would not be much to talk about.

As others have said, he is transparent. I would put myself in the "fanboy" category, but I'm also a big fan of Lange, Keinle, and Vincent Luis. HOWEVER, go do a youtube search of those guys and tell me how many videos they have posted of them training. I can tell you its maybe 1 for each of those guys, thats it. Thats the difference. Another example, I was never a big fan of Henry Shuman until I came across a video he made of him training. Lionel provides triathlon fans a look inside the life of a pro...I find it entertaining and motivating...others, not so much.

Lionel is a soap opera. There is no grey, only black and white extremes. Fanboy, hater or broadly neutral is irrelevant - the story itself grabs the attention where so much else is bland/predictable or just not available. You can see the man's soul.

What on earth does this all mean?
Surely if you're giving the three categories of "Fanboy, hater or broadly neutral", that means you've got black, white and grey? Feel free to switch around the black and white any way you want but saying neutral is not grey is pretty absurd. I think you might have to decode your post.

Everyone loves to gawk at a three car pile up. That’s Lionel.

He's a constant topic of discussion around here because:

a) he's out there, putting out mostly unfiltered content about what he's thinking, what he's doing, his challenges, and what he's doing.

b) he's wired a little differently from most other pros, and that makes him interesting.

c) his backstory is rather inspirational (overcoming challenges, etc)

d) for some people, they have a need to feel superior to people who are clearly better than them. Because LS puts out so much raw content, he's an easy target for them to pick on all the things he seemingly does "wrong".

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Simply because he is the coolest tri guy out there, he does not afraid to put raw content about how he feels\trains etc.
He was drug addict that turned his addition in to Tri addiction and took it to very high level, not many people can do that, but many people would like to do this, they just don't have it in them, so to fee la bit better they will throw negative comment here and there, typical human behavior...

He is Chuck Norris of Tri, little crazy in his chase, opposite of soft meatballs representing 95% of the population.

As a bike dude and not tri, the number of specific topics on the same person here is rather.....excessive.

On bikeradar, bikeforums, or the uk TT forums there is no such thing as 5 active topics on one athlete at a time.

You guys take it a bit far “omg, he just took a poop, start a new topic!”

But what’s Lionel’s deal? Maybe a fanboy (or hater) can explain. Is he like some average Joe turned self-coaches Pro who gives hope to many aspiring pros here, or what?



Lots of information on the internet about his story.

Well, for me it's his accessibility. He's out there, engages with fans, and creates content people want to watch.

He doesn't speak in canned responses.

But most of all to me, is that he comes across as human, and not just a shill front for a company. Sure he does have sponsors and shows their product in his videos, but the videos are not there simply for the purpose of hawking his products.

Redbull does a ton of vids, but I can't help but see the product placement in every scene with Lucy or Daniella.

Others who post vids usually only talk about their sponsors or show off how great their products are.

Lionel give you access to him. The good, bad, quirky, and sometimes ugly. He's real, relatable, and interesting.

I agree with all of this.

Also, I think of Lionel as an underdog. He doesn't really know what he is doing, he isn't a product of a corporate marketing machine, he didn't grow up as a triathlon prodigy - he is a dude with a rough past that discovered he was super fast on the bike, and is now one of the world's best half distance triathletes.

That is an underdog story a lot of people can get behind.