Hey Awood are you the chap I spoke to in the Pavillion post race? I was a couple of places behind you?
I would like to blame race officials, but some of you people are amazing. The pro pack, from what i’ve seen, is adamant about not drafting. I biked about 20 miles with Heather Golnick, and we were always mindful about being legal, to the point where she’d pull up and say ‘we’re ok.’
The pros don’t need to be policed, the age groupers do. I don’t know how some of you people can live with yourselves knowing that you are cheating. And whomever was riding that orange/yellow fluorescent bike–you can’t be that conspicuous and draft, idiot.
Sorry about the rant, but this is destroying the sport. I had a very tough swim/ride, and due to herniated discs, couldn’t continue. But at least I know I raced on my own merits.
I was able to finally drop Heather. If the lowlight was the drafting, the highlight was blowing past Kate Major and riding with HG…
Did I hear alligators clicking away near mile 3 of the run?
Glad everyone had a great time out there and hope to see you all real soon!
I promised her a beer and hot dog, so I’m pretty sure that she will come out.
No hat?
If she shows and races…I will throw in my gatorade hat… although I am sure she would prefer the red bull hat.
I’ll have plenty of Gatorade hats at the finish line - Red Bull is a banned substance in state parks. See you on Thursday night - NO RAIN! Z
I gotta ask the group, when someone passes you and decides to slow down right in front of you, is it your responsibility to hit the brakes to get the right spread? I will admit after 30 -40 miles I tired of doing that. However, if it lasted more than I was comfortable with a jumped into a higher gear and made sure that I really passed the rider. And yes after dozens of trips past LT my run sucked. This was my second race after a 12 year hiatus, and the first was St Anthony’s this year, a race in which I got a blocking penalty for what I thought was avoiding drafting. Not sure how you experienced folks handle this.
BTW Spencer Snith helped my 80 year old grandmother avoid falling over a barrier at the race right after his DQ, Thank you!!! and I’m sorry you got screwed for dropping a freaking gel wrapper
Unfortunately, the answer to your question is yes, you do have to slow down.
I would imagine though, that what you described happens a lot in races, and must be very difficult to deal with, both mentally and physically. I’m not sure what I would do if I was in your shoes, but it would probably be the same thing you did.
Drafting happens from time to time and its almost impossible to completely avoid during a race this large. The difference is that when an honest person is in that position they make an effort to get out of that position. Whether its back off for a few seconds or stand up and hammer a few seconds, neither are that big a deal over 56 miles. This weekend some people were making a concerted effort to stay right on other’s wheels. I had a few packs pass me that looked like they were in a team time trial. Thats what really bothered me.
-and I’m sorry you got screwed for dropping a freaking gel wrapper -
Maybe if there were at least one official out on the bike course central FL would not be littered with gel wrappers and half full Gatorade bottles. I cannot tell you how many competitors I saw mindlessly dumping their litter outside of the designated zones. Is that what you all do during training rides? We are out there on a beautiful Sunday, enjoying God’s country and athletes are trashing it. Makes me sick. Thankfully IMNA cleans up along each of the roads on the routes so that the cities will allow the event to come back and our roads will be clean.
Personally, I would rather people draft than trash.
That is my rant.
Oh, I’m almost done-Ditto for dropping your gel wrappers at/near Waterfront park in Clermont on the weekends. Running/Riding on Monday morning along the path you can see the destruction of the weekend triathletes/riders who come to the area to train.
Ever heard of the saying-leave things better than you found it? I think some triathletes need to learn that one
red bull a banned substance? are you kidding?
I just got back to california after the disney, finished in 5:04 which I was happy about. I saw the famous windimere draft pack with a lot of triathlon guys tailing after it and also I was out there in the front 20 guys in my age group so there was a lot of space between groups, but still there were 4 groups of 3’s and 4’s that passed me. I was sooo pissed as I was trying to do well and it really demoralizes me when people are drafting off me right in my face. but what can you really do. I just hope that they learnt the lesson and hurt bad on the run, I passed about 15 people in my age group on the run so it made me feel better that the age groupers in my field were eating crap on the run.
I would have broke 5hrs but had to pee so bad on the bike to run transition!!! great race though but they definately need a lot more draft marshals and a big pelet gun for that local peloton!
Yes, I was kidding, Red Bull is NOT a banned substance in Florida State Parks. I do discourge the use of Red Bull at my races, since Gatorade is a sponsor. Red Bull does not sponsor races in the US, only athletes.
I believe that once someone crosses the plane of your front wheel, it is your responsibility to drop back the appropriate distance. Kind of sucks if someone grinds real hard to pass and then slows down right in front, but that’s the rule.
Red Bull does not sponsor races in the US, only athletes.<<
Are you sure about that? There are some races out here with Red Bull as a minor sponsor (as in lots and lots of free product).
clm
Really? If they do sponsor events, it must be the local distributer that is sponsoring, as their corporate does not support events - only athletes - same with Oakley Sunglasses - they support athletes but not events.
I am not saying that this is a bad way to market your product - both events and athletes bring attention to your product. Most companies do both - Gatorade has some athletes - Payton Manning for example and supports lots of events from Triathlon to football.
I would be very surprised to find out the Red Bull is providing sponsorship “FUNDS” to these events. Product maybe, but cash - I doubt it, unless again the distributor is paying for the sponsorship.
Red Bull likes to go to big events and hand out product - you will find them at most large athletic events - with a truck or car with the RED BULL can on top - 3-4 college kids with cold packs handing out product. So they get the crouds without supporting the event. (It’s called “gorilla marketing”)
They showed up at the Ironman Expo in Arizona and started handing out product. The Ironman staff informed them that they could purchase an expo booth if they wanted to support the event and market to the athletes at the expo or go across the street and hand out product. They decided to go across the street and give out product.
Z
Hi Feman…If you were returning to Denver then yes tis me. Excuse my friend Dudster from an earlier post, he thought 8ish beers + wine consumed at ‘jump up’ in st croix was a tad excessive.
Ah, the discussion that is as old as the sport comes back once again:
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There are blatant drafters, who draft to gain an advantage and improve performance, but my feeling this is a small percantage
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In many of these bigger races, the drafting rules are almost impossible to adhere to - too many people in too short a period of time on too little road. It’s a physics problem in reality. Wave starts can help, but often compound the problem and make it worse if not really well thought out. There are some other solutions to this, but most are unfeasable or unpaletable
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There are many rec-triathletes, who are mid to back of the pack, that could not care less about drafting. They don’t draft on purpose, to gain advantage or performance. My suspecion with these folks is that it’s more about cammraderie. Here’s a nice group of folks riding along at my pace. Let’s just have a chat and enjoy the journey/joy/pain together! Drafting? Who cares!
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I think there is a real confusion out there as to what a triathlon bike leg really is: Is it an ITT? Well no, not really. Is it a bike road race? Well no, not really. What is it then? It’s a seeded, by swim ability, head to head bike race, raced under modified ITT rules. Got that? A big contributor, from what I have seen, is few people actually ride like this in training. They either ride solo, or they ride in a group. I know of exactly no one that rides regularly like they are racing a triathlon bike leg( see # 3 above).
Fleck
my friends and i do. we go out , 3 or 4 of us on our tri bikes, and ride in a line, but well spaced apart.
we don’t like riding close on aerobars, especially on the roads with traffic, it’s dangerous.
I know of exactly no one that rides regularly like they are racing a triathlon bike leg( see # 3 above).
Fleck
You don’t know me, but now you know of me, and I do that. Last summer, two friends and I would do a weekly ride that consisted of a warmup, an 11 mile TT where we were within shouting distance of each other the whole way (until I couldn’t keep up, of course), and a cooldown followed by a short run. I’m continuing the tradition with one of those guys this year, schedule permitting. It raises both our games. No drafting, but racing.