First, I agree with your sentiment, if during the race you want to require a helmet for liability reasons, fine, whatever.

Second, I can't remember the last time I've ridden my bike without a helmet on.

Third, what really bugs me about the "must ride your helmet" both before and after the race is that I actually think it results in LESS SAFE activities sometimes. When I'm going to and from transition from the parking lot, I'm almost always going to have a backpack on with my gear in it for the transition area. And likewise, I'm probably going to have an aero helmet and not a normal road helmet. These two things DO NOT WORK WELL TOGETHER. The tail of the helmet constantly hits the top of the bag and prevents me from turning my head much to either side, or "locks" my head so that the tail is always to one side of the bag and preventing me from looking to one side of the bike. So while having the helmet on _may_ prevent some head injuries if I am in an accident (which, frankly, that's not as conclusive as most people think it is), it also _may_ increase my chances of being in an accident in the first place. I'm pretty sure, for me at least, that my chance of being in an accident increase far more than the helmet reduces my chance of injury from an accident. So in the end, a net loss of safety for me.

Now, we can all argue whether or not it's smart to ride with an aero helmet with a tail that hits the top of a backpack and that I should be walking instead. Fine, maybe I'm stupid for doing it. But ... that's the choice I've made to ride with it on to save me a mile of walking down a road with little to no car traffic on it and little to no chance of a serious accident occurring.

I don't cringe. I just think they're idiots.

Yes I posted that a guy was leaving the transition area to ride his bike to his car that was parked in the designated parking area for the course and was DQ'd while still at the "race site". Not X miles from the race site, like the made up scenario you were suggested could become an issue (once you leave the "race site" usat doesnt care what you do, you could leave the site, give your car to your wife 5 miles from home and ride home with no helmet, and USAT wouldnt care nor have any authority).


And according to the rules, USAT contends that it has that authority. So I think you just don't like that they can do it (which I can understand, it's basically non sequential to the actual race results). But I dont think it's some breach of contract that you imply they are doing. They are in fact simply adhering to the rules. It may be a stupid rule, but that's irrelevant to what you are saying. You are implying that USAT by doing that is going beyond their reach. I disagree due to how the rules are setup and YOU as a participant acknowledge/agree to live/race under.

The simple solution here is just wear your aerohelmet backwards...

You know, I think you're onto something. It completely defeats the purpose of the rule and actually makes the helmet unsafe in an actual accident, but ... Silly me, I was certain there was a rule somewhere that the helmet must be worn "properly" or "as intended" or something to that affect. But, looking through them again right now, it seems that as long as it meets the safety standards and has the chin strap fastened, I'd be good to go!

I am taking a normative position, however, it's not worth the time or expense to go after it. But I assure you that if/when I win the Powerball I would be happy to goad a USAT official into a DQ and then game on! Now back to reality.

Do you agree that WADA/USADA have authority over what I put in my body outside of a competition?

Yes, but I don't think the viewpoints are contradictory. PEDs taken OOC directly impact what happens during the race and many other races. By contrast, when an athlete chooses not to wear a helmet while biking to the race, or departing the race, it has zero effect on the race. Left undefined in the latter discussion is when does the race event start and end, and what is the geographic extent of the race venue for which the authority to enforce that rule lies. Those boundaries are undefined. Conversely, we might ask when does the race's liability for its athletes legally begin and end -- recognizing that a personal injury lawyer would attempt to stretch those lines around the globe.

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Several years ago I was down in Galveston for the 70.3. Three days prior to the race I was in the parking lot where transition was being setup. Keywords: being setup. Nothing was actually setup yet. I was dropping off some stuff for our tri club tent that was between transition and the run course. I decided to take my bike out of my vehicle to cruise across the parking lot to take a look at the swim course. I did not put my helmet on. I actually had some race official stop me and threaten to DQ me for the race three days later. It was still just a parking lot at this point. There were some Ironman trucks around but nothing was setup. I looked at him, looked at the parking lot, and literally said "Are you fucking kidding me?" He said he had the authority to do so. I told him good luck with that and rode off.

I know the USAT rule. I wouldn't ride around like that on race morning or bike drop off the day before but this was on a Thursday before a Sunday race in what was still just Moody Gardens' parking lot. I fail to see where USAT/WTC could exert their authority in that situation, and I would have liked to have seen them try.

That is a great example of overzealous enforcement. As soon as the safety toads put a rule on the books to coerce rather than encourage safe behavior, officialdom goes power mad.

I thought he was some know-it-all, Type-A triathlete dickwad.

There's some redundancy in there

And people wonder why races are so hard to get permits for and end up going away and ........wait....WHAT!?!?! that means I am agreeing with something H2o dave said.....for fuck sakes...I can't I can't!!

Paul, I was flabbergasted by it all. There was even more to the story.

When I came back through a few minutes later the guy I encountered and another official were waiting to talk with me again. The previous guy I spoke with was younger (30's) and this other guy was older (50's). They asked for my name and race number. I told them there was zero chance of that happening and I also reminded them packet pickup was still a day away so technically I didn't have a race number yet (yes, bib #'s had been posted on the internet site already). Apparently, the younger guy didn't like how dismissive I was of him earlier and was worked up about it. The older guy pulled me aside and told me the rule. I told him I knew the rule but did not think it was in anyway applicable to the current status of the parking lot. He said we would agree to disagree on that. He said the rule was in my best interest and all that and they were only trying to enforce the rules and set the tone for the weekend. I told him I appreciated that but thought they were way overstepping their authority. The older guy seemed nice and understanding and we all moved on with life.

I also need to add that the younger official was not wearing any official shirt or anything. So when he initially said something to me I told him to mind his own business and worry about himself. I thought he was some know-it-all, Type-A triathlete dickwad. He then told me he was an official and it was his business. So he and I got off on the wrong foot immediately.

i know i'm going to regret this, and it'll probably end up in his sig, but on this ONE topic, in general, ignoring the argument in favor of eschewing coaches, i think dave is on solid ground in this thread.