Did they allow drafting in the men’s race this year? The Top 12 men (excluding Carter b/c we don’t know his splits, and Thompson) came out of the water within 18 secs of each other and all had bike splits within 18sec of each other. I suppose the 11 of them all had exactly 10m between them the whole bike course. 
Congrats to Tollakson (aka NiceTri) for the fastest bike split of the day. (>1min faster than the group of 11 drafting)
Did anyone watch the men’s pro race?
My trans spot was near the bike in so we saw them come in as we were leaving with our stuff. The first rider was really far ahead and then 2-10 came in all together. The road is only so wide and with the slow people still out on the course there couldn’t have been that much room for them.
My guess is that there was some drafting, but it was inevitable.
From my understanding, it was a clean race…they follow the stagger rule, so it generally promotes pack riding. Kona 03ish.
That’s too bad. I know TJ pretty well. (top bike) Because of his strength on the bike, he based his season around this race because it is non-drafting. When people are allowed to draft in a big group (legal or not) it pretty much killed any chance he had. He wouldn’t have won overall, but he would have moved up quite a few spots.
This is what you’ll get with the stagger rule. It’s a bit different than drafting as it allows for more cat/mouse “racing” rather than an all-out effort. Basically next to impossible to pass within the allotted time, so you’re stuck.
(LTF 2005, a non-draft USAT pro event)
I must correct myself, Andy Potts(5th) didn’t draft with them. He managed to stay 1min+ ahead of the pack of 10 drafting. The drafting probably cost him the win.
A friend was watching and said it was a spread out pack when they came in to T2, definitely still gain an advantage. It is actually easier to pass with the stagger rule because you only worry about the closest person infront of you, as long as you aren’t directly behind them you are fine, you can use the whole road and pass on the right if that is the best scenerio (I am a pro and have raced in the stagger format.) Racing in this format is easier and harder. Easier becasue you have people around and you can gain some but very minimal advantage from a draft. Harder because you want to stay with the group so if they are stronger cyclists you are more likely to push to hard to keep pace since you can be closer. Non-drafting stagger pro races are much different tactically and physically than AG’er non-drafting
Also TJ is a great cyclist in the sport and a great guy, but he knows this and will probably read this as well you still have to be able to run a decent 10k and with that field, 39 ain’t gonna cut it there just like my 41min sucked ass in Bellingham, TJ see you in Boston this weekend. More credit needs to be given to the top ten drafting guys, they can ride also, a lot better than you might think, look at Kemper and Potts split at Alcatraz (no packs there) or MIM for Potts, Alexander in 5430 Half they are not just runners. I used to think the same thing but with them branching out into non-drafting tri’s you can see that they are good all around, and besides you have to be good at non-drafting as an age grouper in order to get your pro card.
Branden
With the exception of Trenton T., the winning AGer had a faster bike avg then all of the pros! His average was 27.4, top ten pros were all 26.9-27.
39 is not TJ’s normal level. He was trying hard to win the $500 cycling prime and had some other technical difficulties.
The top 4 finishers (not Potts), and some others were cheating. They might as well have done EPO before the race . . . there is no difference.
Starykowicz is not your typical AGer. He won MIM amateur by 4minutes, 4th last year at USAT nationals. I would guess he’ll be a pro soon.
Holy crap drafting=EPO there are a shit load of AG’ers doing EPO then probably like half the field at the larger races.
I know TJ’s normal isn’t 39 but even if he had run what he has run for the majority of the year then he would have been fighting for 10th.
In my view, there is no moral relativism with regards to cheating.
The top 4 finishers (not Potts), and some others were cheating. They might as well have done EPO before the race . . . there is no difference.
<YAAAAAAAAAWWWWNNNN!!!>
It always cracks me up when I hear people complain about drafting and then see pictures of the riders staggered. There is a HUGE difference between drafting on someones wheel (and I mean like 2 inches off their wheel) and what these guys are doing. When I was strictly bike racing 10 years ago, my friends and I did a lot of motorpacing behind a motorcycle. We would average about 30-35 mph and traded off the guy who sat right on the wheel of the motorbike. Even one bike length back it was really hard to stay on the pace. If we had more and you happened to be guy number three then “Good luck to ya’”. There was no way you were going to hold for long unless you were the stud of the group.
These guys are riding two or three bike lengths back and the draft advantage is minimal at best. There may be a big advantage to riding in a group, but it is more akin to running in a group than any kind of cycling peloton.
The only time they might gain a little more was into a big headwind where the relative speed is that much higher.
Chad