Last night, about 5-minutes prior to the start of the evenings B race, a person wearing a t-shirt, cycling short, and cycling shoes was rolling up to the starting line riding a road bike set up for triathlon (bento box, bottle cages behind the seat, and Profile Carbon clipons). I was just about to head back to the car to finish prepping for my race that would start an hour later when I saw him and asked if he was there for a training ride but my question was answered when I saw he had a race number pinned to the back of his t-shirt. He told me he was racing to which I replied that aero bars where not legal for mass start events and that he would need to remove them in order to race. Well he was pretty bewildered at that news and asked why nobody had informed him earlier when he had registered for the race. USCF events (like triathlons) depend on volunteers to make things happen and some of them may or may not be racers themselves and even when they are, they do not always have time to notice what equipment a competitor intends to race on.
Fortunatley another of the ‘A’ racers was quick on the spot with a Park multi-tool and offered to remove the aero bar extensions while the racer went and informed the head official what was happening and could they wait on starting the race about 3-5 minutes. There was not enough time to remove the mounts/pads, so once the extensions where removed, we flipped the mounts upside down and then draped the cycle computer harness, which had also been mounted to one of the aero extensions, over one of the mounts. Just as we finished ‘stream lining’ this guys bike, the race officially started and fortuantely the guy was able to throw his leg over the top tube and get one foot clipped in time to join the group before the last rider had even crossed the start-finish line.
I was curious and waited for the bunch to make a lap and was pleased to see our t-shirt clad hero was not only hanging in there, but had made his way forward and now sat about mid pack among the 40-50 strong group as they churned by at 24-25 mph! I had to go finish my own race preparations so I do not know how our young triathlete faired in the end but I was told after the race concluded that more than half the field had opted to depart prior to the finish so who knows. So a word to the wise for those who are considering taking a foray into the world of USCF road racing - which I highly recommend as it can be a lot of fun (assuming you don’t mind racing handlebar to handlebar with a relative bunch of strangers), realizing that not everyone has a separate bike for road racing, criteriums, and time trials/tris (thought everyone did - grin), remember even though you might be racing on a one-day USCF license, other than Time Trials, you will have to make a sacrifice and leave the aero bars in the car or at home because they are not legal for mass start events sanctioned by the either the USCF or state race organizing entities.