did I hear Wildflower is not filling up as quickly as it used to. <<
LC has 2,152 entrants and the Oly has 2,666 entrants as of yesterday. 61% and 63% of capacity, according to their website. Not sure if that’s not filling up less quickly, or they are adding capacity.
clm
I’m a novice triathlete and really love the sport for all the reasons we discuss. But, it seems that there are four real factors that limit the growth of the sport compared with other endurance sports, especially running. First is swimming. Everyone can run. Lots of people can’t swim and don’t have the guts to try to learn. I really admire those of you learning how to swim in your 30s and beyond. Second is time. Triathlon training takes a lot of it. You can be taking your shower less than an hour after you start to get ready for a serious running workout. More or less impossible to do that one with bike or swim workouts. And, you can get fit a lot more running into four or five hours a week than biking. Third is race size: you can pack a lot more runners onto the road than cyclists. Fourth is cost. A year’s worth of running shoes cost less than so many triathlon toys.
For me the biggest problem is time because I can swim and don’t care that much that my bike costs thousands less than the ones I drool at. I can find the time now, but who knows how long I can do so. I think that the time commitment is the one that leads to the most turnover in the sport. The bad news if you are in retail is that the sport will probably have its ups and downs depending upon how trendy triathlon seems at the moment. Maybe you need to diversify a little and be seen not just as a good triathlon store by triathletes, but also as a good bike store for cyclists, a good swim store for swimmers and a good running store for runners. Shouldn’t it be time for another mountain bike craze to take off?
Less participants, just at the same time the market is flooded with way too many new products. I predict a boon of great deals on tri goodies!
Hi Lee,
Happy holidays! The concept we discussed on the phone struck me as being a recipe for success. You are one of the guys at the leadin edge of how this industry is (rapidly) evolving.
All the best,
Tom.