jkhayc wrote:
Trigirl357 wrote:
Grant.Reuter wrote:
Well it’s a convient excuse at least. If I ever say I had a bad race because my power meter dies I hope someone hits me in the nuts with a wiffle bat.
There has to be a douchebag in every bunch.
It's not a douchebag move to say that becoming more self reliant is a good move when it comes to racing.
I worked at a TBT drop off for a few years and they are a (seemingly) very inefficient company who provide an incredibly valuable service that - due to said inefficiency - experiences logistical problems on a mildly regular basis. But, if you transport 20,000 bikes a year to 100 different races between 500 cities...(totally making those numbers up but I'm sure they're not terrible estimates)...you are bound to experience problems, inevitably.
So, as an athlete, it is your responsibility to armor yourself against these potential issues as best you can. Learn how to do basic stuff on your own bike. Don't own a powermeter where you bike shop thinks you'll need a specially manufactured screwdriver to change the battery. Get other athletes to sign up for a race with TBT (minimum of 3 of 4 I think) and a new dropoff point can be created. Talk to your (more) local bike shop and convince them it's a good idea to be a dropoff location as people will spend money at the shop when dropping it off (this is a lie though, there is zero incentive or reason to be a TBT drop off for small shops. TBT should give them a percentage of transport sales on their shops' bikes but, like I said TBT seems inefficient).
I could go on for thousands of words about the logistics of racing triathlons and how frustrating it can be but I'll stop now.
Regarding the Douchebag remark... there was no advice he provided about being self reliant. Others found a more productive way of suggesting becoming more self reliant and even provided examples based from experiences they had. I also already addressed this myself in my original post. His remark was purely to demean the way I have trained, was uncalled for and was vulgar by referring to striking his mansack with a hollow plastic bat meant to inflict pain. I clearly stated I was looking for "options and solutions." He provided no constructive criticism, advice or insight. I have zero tolerance for this behavior. Keyboard courage. Pure Douchebag remark.
I appreciate your feedback regarding TBT. I understand things go wrong with mass numbers - hence the reason why I liked the smaller trailer transport companies. Now it looks like we are back to the TBT monopoly and I am just not willing to take the same chances of not having my things/bike arrive since all of my races are essentially destination vacations.
Since my original post I have found out that TBT has pissed off many of the bike shops in Houston. No one wants to work with them any more - combination of poor communication, treatment and no benefit to the shops. I knew they used to come into town a lot with several shops when I used them before and was quite perplexed to hear when they bought out Cycle Chauffeur that they couldn't get the well known bike shops to call them back.