Challange: You have to maintain your weight. I am at 205. So either I stay at 200+ or try to get down to 175 or 180.

I would like to race Accenture in Chicago this year and then lose some weight and drop down in 2006.

A brief top 10 "Downsides to racing Clydesdale" list, from a dyed-in-the-wool clydesdale:

10. Aid stations rarely feature milkshakes and double burgers.

9. People think the "F" age group letter on your calf stands for "Fat Bastard" (based on truth...my ex-roomate asked that).

8. Debating the merits of shaving a few grams off the weight of your bike becomes an exercise in absurditity.

7. Needing to swim faster to avoid the harpoons.

6. Sales guys start looking really nervous when you come in to bike stores, and start asking them about their test ride policy.

5. Having to conciously remind yourself that the "carbo load" dinner put on by a race should NOT be treated as a part of the competition.

4. Looking back on the bike, and realizing 28 other cyclists, 2 station wagons, a motorhome and several farm animals are drafting off you.

3. Peeling off your wetsuit, and having spectators catcall in a Fat Bastard voice "I'm deeeeed sexy...get in mah belleh!"

2. Needing to carry roughly twice the amount of gels as your competitiors.

1. ALWAYS being hungry after the post-race meal...no matter how times you went back.

ok, for me, this is an asinine question and reinforces the idea that all of these different groups should be eliminated, just have under 40 and Masters, like running races.

I weigh about 215. When I started tris, I weighed about 20 pounds more. I started for fun, and to get in better shape. I'm fairly happy where I am, but I would still like to lose some more. I think the idea that you would want to gain weight to stay over 200 is idiotic. Why? So you can get another ribbon?

OTH, the list is funny.

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clydes is a different catagory than age group...

last year I raced as an athena, and I can tell you that I will never do it again. not only was I embarrassed by my race photos, (not to mention my friend's photos), but it really does suck to carry the additional weight. it doesn't feel good to be slower. so if you're not a clyde now, but are trying to be (?), then, don't do it unless you prefer to drink beer and eat alot over racing well and feeling good about yourself.

i don't know what the weight is for clydes, but for some men I understand that 200 is still pretty lean...my husband, for example would be a stick at 200.

my best friend would be a stick at 160, and she is about 190 right now with only 23% bodyfat. Unreal! So, my point is, it depends on your bodymake up and ratio. she would fare well racing as an athena, but me, I'm a blob if I qualify for athena.

kc

I am stuck at 210 lbs (6' 3"). I was wondering about signing up for a race as an age-grouper vs as a clydesdale.

If I move south of 200, I would be happy to stay there.

Andy

I'm trying to lose weight not add.

But since I am close to 200 at 205 ,yes I would like to stay Clydesdale for this season only, race at the Clyde Championship in my hometown Chicago and then I will worry about loosing weight. I'll supplement with Creatine when/if I start to go under 200.

So my absurd goal is to only stay a Clyde to race at Accenture. I'll never regain my 145 Lb 5:00 mile stature I had in high school. But for now I get to enjoy reeling them in on the bike, the only real area I can compete in the top 10% with all the other AG's.

And one more thing, at age 42, there is a hell of a lot of competition you younger whipppersnappers have not had to compete against yet!!! Just you wait - Hah!!!

well, that sounds good. if you're supplementing when you get below 200, then obviously you like yourself where you're at. personally, I can't imagine a man under 200 pounds, but then again, I live in the midwest and most folks here are cornfed and paul bunyon types.

I would like myself better at 180 to 185, but no lower. But I was at 221. Way too heavy for me on 5'11" frame.

Now 210 at 6'3" I could handle that!!!

You've got your priorities wrong. If you are faster when you weigh 5 lbs less then you should be at 198. What personal value can there be in a piece of cheap metal that you have to go slower to win.

Herein lies the basic problem with weight divisions.

If you get bigger and go slower you stand a better chance of winning something.

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"A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy."
John Sawhill

That's my problem, I'm about the same size. I think I would be faster if I lost a significant amount of weight, but I would also look like a rail.

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The real downside as I see it, is usually the upside. The upside of a hill.

J

Though there are some darn fast big guys and girls. I've been in races where the #1 and #3 women's overall finishers raced Athena.

There are a lot of fast clydes down here in south florida that even beat out some of the top age groupers.

.

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I have horrible back problems but I have zero problems staying in an aero position for 180k. Why? Because I ride steep and because I train regularly in that position. Simple as that.....Gerard

yes, but you'll stand a much better chance in a street fight with the added weight.

That very well may be the case Jill but the fact still remains, the bigger you get the slower you get.

A good small un will beat a good big un any day.

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"A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy."
John Sawhill

The downside is you might win.

Last summer I did 2 tris. I won the clyde divison in both. Between the friends who gave me some good natured ribbing about being a clyde and the aquaintances who gushed over my "win" and thus forced be to explain that I did not really "win" a triathlon, I spent more time talking about my weight last summer than I ever had in my life. I think it psycologically scarred me. Somehow the fact that I beat 80% of my competitors never quite registered with me or my "fans", just the fact that I really do weigh more than 200 lbs. I now have a plaque and a trophy to forever remind me of all the buttered popcorn I have eaten over the years.

I'm a pretty fast big man but I think in the future I will opt for being an anonomous big man. I'll take a top 10 in my age group and then enjoy my popcorn in peace.

Just do whatever you feel comfortable doing and forget about all else.

But don't think going Clyde secures an easier victory. A couple of years ago I missed weigh-in by one pound at St. A's, so raced AG (35-39). I ended up placing higher in AG than I would have in Clydes. Florida has some very fast Clydes - big guys that are lean and mean. One of my training buddies is 6'-3" and 215, but I would guess his BF is about 6-7%. He blasts the swim, crushes the bike (mangling smaller guys), and holds on with a pretty darn good run.

Good luck.

Unless the bike course is hilly, its only the run where the clydes are at any disadvantage and many of the big guys can start the run with a decent lead over the little runners. 6' + and over 200 lbs is a fairly typical size for a swimmer so you find alot of ex swimmers in the clyde ranks. (Next time you think of clydes as fat out of shape pigs, keep in mind that Michael Phelps is only 5 pounds short of being a clyde).

In a flat time trial, being over 200 is not a problem on the bike, and some of the big guys do have a cardio vascular system that is more than adequate to overcome the additional frontal area they have.

But, gravity does take over on the run. . . . .

Blacksheep has hit the nail on the head. A couple of issues I have with the clydesdale category:

1) I could very easily race clydesdale, and expecially when I began. But I thought of it as a sort of second class. I don't want to compete against heavier people, I want to compete with the whole range.

2) Clydesdales tend to start later in the day, I like to get moving.

3) Until I get really, really good I mainly compete against myself. Forcing myself to be slower to try and get a podium spot seems rather silly.

4) Here in Nor Cal, the people who race clydesdale and thena are just as fast as age groupers.

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"...it should be swim, bike, run, cage fight." - el fuser
"I noticed that I am in your sig line! Wow! That's s first for me. Thanks." - Fleck

I compete in the PAUSATF road and XC racing series....a USATF club racing circuit for Northern California and Nevada. Its a pretty good standard of competition with former olympians, olympic trialists and the occasional aspiring olympian showing up to run.

We run a couple of 10K road races a year and if you want to score in the top 50 you generally need to run sub 35 minutes, top 25 sub 33:30 and top 10 usually goes about 31:30. I ran 33:48 a couple of years ago in a race and finished 61st man.

I know most of the guys who score regularly and none of them are remotely close to 200lbs. If a 200lb athlete finishes in the top 100 I don't think I've ever seen him. Most of the guys weigh less than 140lbs.

There might be some relatively fast 200lbers out there, but they are never going to be able to compete with equally talented smaller athletes. Physics just gets in the way.

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"A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy."
John Sawhill

thanks for calling us second class!

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I really don't mean it THAT way. Just think about the race starts: Elites, Age Groupers, oh yah, now the clydesdales can go. Trust me, I am right in that class, just don't register to race in it!

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"...it should be swim, bike, run, cage fight." - el fuser
"I noticed that I am in your sig line! Wow! That's s first for me. Thanks." - Fleck

I look at it this way,

The swim- I can keep up with the front of the pack and I usually find you weenies drafting of me in the swim, ha.

The Bike- I hammer it on the short courses and very few people pass me

The Run- Well this is where I throw the white flag, your right, being heavier makes it harder on the run so I just pick on you guys as you pass me, ha

But the way I see it is that I beat you in 2 out of 3 events thus making ME the winner, hahahhhahahaha

.

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I have horrible back problems but I have zero problems staying in an aero position for 180k. Why? Because I ride steep and because I train regularly in that position. Simple as that.....Gerard