Bloody French keyboards, that should read "Triathlon in France" of course!

(okay, French keyboards have a few keys in different spots, I've had to relearn to touch-type, but in fact the "e" is in the same spot as an English/American keyboard, so I have no excuse!)

Cam

This sounds bad. I planning on entering a MD triathlon on June 1 when I am in holiday in southern France. And I have a Cervelo One with pursuit bars and bar-end shifters.

I will write the organizer and ask him about this. But I have the same problem with French. I can understand and write some because I learned it in school.

I will update you if I hear more.

Felix, Switzerland

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http://www.weilenmann.ch.vu

Hi Camel,

I am not familiar with those rules, but maybe if you can point to the original document I can help with you with the French language.

Hi Camel,


I guess my french is good enough to read these rules. :-)

all you have said is correct as I gather from
www.fftri.com...but....

the part you are refering to is after the paragraph "Reglement derogatoire, sur circuit ferme avec boucles". It is actually saying that drafting is allowed. so this all refers to the races called
"Grand Prix" (draft legal circuit in France).

the previous part has really only one restriction: the tip of the seat should not be more than 5cm in front of the BB.

so, a P3 with 1 disc, 1 trispoke, whatever nice tri bars you want and bar end shifters is fine

I just checked the pictures from last year race I want to do in 2 weeks (Triathlon de Carcassonne LD 2.5/80/20km) and saw the everyone uses bikes as described by Camel in his first post. I already thought that I couldn't do the race or had to rent a road bike.

Now I am relieved. I will still write them and ask about bike rules.

i really hope to start my tri season in two weeks in southern France.

Felix

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http://www.weilenmann.ch.vu

Hi Felix,

Yes, François is right, this only applies to draft legal, so only the races of the Grand Prix, equivalent of the pro series in France. These races are draft legal format. It is the same in Switzerland for some of the pro races.

I did Nice last year with a road set-up (obviously for Nice) but I saw other competitors (from the US mainly, why am I surprised) doing the Triathlon with steep angle bikes, bar end shifters, ...

So I think it's OK to go with your P2K.

What race are you planning on doing in France, Felix ?

Diabolo,
I will do the 'Triathlon de Carcassonne Longue Distance' (as I wrote in my last post). It consists of 2.5km swim, 80km bike and 20km run. From the pictures it looks beautiful. You swim in a nice lake, bike trough/along vineyards (hilly!) and run near the old, famous town of Carcassonne.
I choose this race because I spend two weeks in holiday only 50km away on the Mediterranean coast (near Narbonne) with my family.
By the way, Camel has the P2K. I could only afford a Cervelo One.
Felix

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http://www.weilenmann.ch.vu

Hey guys, thanks for the awesome responses.

François, thanks for the excellent interpretation. I do have one further question though, the rules at 15.10.1 - C Equipment say:

The extensions must be protected. The bars must have plugs ("embouts"). The extensions of the bars must be positioned in a way that reduces the risks in the case of a fall or collision (or something like that).

I wonder if this is what prevents having bar end shifters? I note that the Ironman France website specifically says that this year bar end shifters will be allowed, suggesting that this is an exception to the normal rule?

Felix, can you e-mail me and let me know if you get a response about the race you're entering. I've just entered a Long Distance race here, Tri Sapin Cublize 2.5km, 93km, 21.5km on 29 June. It's the French Long Distance Championships and looks awesome, swim in a lake as well and very hilly bike through forests (cool!)

Cheers

Cam

camelpup@hotmail.com

there is nothing that forbids bar end shifters. I guess they were forbidden last year because the org. of IM France are the same as IM Austria and according to the Austrian and German fed rules, bar end shifters (other than grip shift ) are not allowed.
This was the case for many years in Roth, but changed since then.

[quote]BONJOUR !
J'AI LE PLAISIR DE T'ANNONCER QUE TU PEUT TRES BIEN PARTICIPER AU TRIATHLON LONGUE DISTANCE DE CARCASSONNE AVEC LE VELO QUE J'AI PU VOIR EN PHOTO SUR TON SITE.
CE GENRE DE CINTRE EST PAR CONTRE INTERDIT SUR LES EPREUVES C
COURTE DISTANCE AVEC DRAFTING.
ESPERANT TE RENCONTRER BIENTOT SUR NOTRE EPREUVE.
AMITIES SPORTIVES

DANIEL GARCES
PRESIDENT DE LA COMMISSION REGIONALE D'ARBITRAGE DU LANGUEDOC.ROUSSILLON
[/quote]

Cam, above is the answer to my question. I sent them a link to a photo of my bike and I got the answer above.
I seems to come from the regional president of the technical comision. I don't understand every word. But it says in general that bikes with bar en shifters are only forbidden for draft legal races.
I wish you good luck in your tri. I saw that it is not too far from the Swiss border (200km) and the lake looks really very nice. I have to remember this tri for another year.

Felix

PS: This weekend I have the first races (Intervall Duathlon Zofingen) on my new (2002) Cervelo One. Looking forward to use it.

Felix, Cam,

The Tri Sapin is indeed a great race. Two of my friends did it two years ago, and it is well known in France (and french part of Switzerland) for being the most friendly organisation around. Great atmosphere, great race, great course (and hard).

I wanted to do it last year, and this year, but it is the French championships and there are more participants, so it's not as easy to find the best accomodation and it makes the event bigger and more official (I don't know if it takes something from the atmosphere of the event of the previous years???).

I may do it next year though, if Felix wants to join the party.

Good luch for the race, Cam.

Laurent

Laurent,

Do you know the Triathlon International du Jura (http://triathlondujura.free.fr) ? This is a medium distance triathlon (2.5/80/20km) in 'La Tour du Meix' (Lac de Vouglans) near the Swiss border, 90km from Geneva. It is held on August 31. It also looks good.

As you can see I checked the neighboring countries for longer triathlons because we have only two long (IM Switzerland, Iron du Valais) and two Medium (Demi Iron du Valais, Tri Locarno) distance races in Switzerland.

Felix

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http://www.weilenmann.ch.vu

No, never heard of this one. But there is also the Savoy'hard, a medium distance near Aix-les-bains (70kms from Geneva). Supposed to be nice (and hard too).

Are you doing the Iron du Valais ? (I think I'll do the half)

As for Locarno, I wouldn't mind doing it, it's a beautiful place, but I think it's a pity that it is draft legal, especially for a long course like this. I know that the ride is all flat, but still.

Cheers,

Laurent

I will probably do the Sprint on Sunday because I am in holiday in Nax (opposite from Crans-Montana) where only the Iron du Valais passes. I do IM Switzerland and can't do another long triathlon that close.

I did Locarno last year and was disappointed that it was (for the first time) draft legal. But I suppose this will change this year again. Otherwise tri suisse wouldn't lsit this race.

Felix

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http://www.weilenmann.ch.vu

I read somewhere that France was selling bike parts to Iraq. Of course they said no!!!!!!!! it was only weapons, information etc. The French said they would never sell anything to Iraq that wasn't on the U.N. sanctions list. They ended the denial with "you americans are infidels."

I did it in 1996. it is a really nice race. the lake is very clean. the bike has some rolling hills, a tough little climb at 18% right out of T1, then a cat3 pass around 40km lasting about 7km.
the run is also going up and down all the time.
generally it tends to be pretty warm for this race.
the organization is really nice.

really smart...every country has its goods and bads, but one thing is universal...stupidity.

but I now the US sold a lot of weapons to Saddam especially under the Reagan administration and lifted some limitations on sale of chemical products (used for chemical weapons manufacturing) to Iran and Iraq at the same time.

yep, we know Iraq had WMD, because we still have the receipts..

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"It is a good feeling for old men who have begun to fear failure, any sort of failure, to set a schedule for exercise and stick to it. If an aging man can run a distance of three miles, for instance, he knows that whatever his other failures may be, he is not completely wasted away." Romain Gary, SI interview

Hey Camel, I raced in the Rennes olympic distance on Sunday. One of the guys I traveled over with was on the same setup as yours. No problems. The French seem a bit more chilled than organisers in the UK. Even in a biggish race like this with the likes of Beignet (Sp?) et al.

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"Language most shows a man: Speak, that I may see thee. It springs out of the most retired and inmost parts of us, and is the image of the parents of it, the mind. No glass so mirrors a man's form or likeness so true as his speech." - Ben Jonson, Timber, or Discoveries made upon Men and Matter.

that would be Bignet...

beignet means doughnuts :-)

hope you had some Crepes...it's the region.

what I meant was please no lecture. For the US sales to Irak just read the Time and their analysis of recently declassified documents. For the WMD I'm still waiting for them to be found (and may be they will be).

No crepes on this trip. Just shot across on the ferry for the day. Live on one of l'Iles Anglo-Normandes (sp?) and frequently pop across to sample the delights of the region and slaughter the language. A bit of a Francophile - a rarity on this forum I suspect.

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"Language most shows a man: Speak, that I may see thee. It springs out of the most retired and inmost parts of us, and is the image of the parents of it, the mind. No glass so mirrors a man's form or likeness so true as his speech." - Ben Jonson, Timber, or Discoveries made upon Men and Matter.

Pas une rarete totale. Nous rodons........

Dan