I was in the first 3 miles of the bike after a good (for me, it’s always relative) 22 minute swim (Oly race in Wisconsin) swim. I shifted after a nice long climb to begin a downhill section. All of a sudden, my chain flies off the front D and I’m pissed. I have to pull over to unwrap the damn chain and get going again. One by one, a few riders start passing me,no big deal. Then, like a freight train here comes 10-15 riders in a pace line! I can’t freakin’ believe these guys would be so disrespectful. I screamed “nice pace line guys” as they went by. I hopped on my bike and gave chase, rode about 20 meters behind them and just couldn’t believe what I was seeing in a USAT Oly race. Who knows how long it went on for, they were going faster than my 21 average but I was simply disgusted.
Why not just cut the course or hide in the bushes and do half of the run?
You’re preaching to the choir. I just finished my first half ironman in Macon, Georgia. I actually rode up to people and said what a nice job of drafting they were doing. They didn’t even care.
I would gladly pay an extra ten bucks a race to see a few more marshalls on the bike course. I remembered one guys number and later looked up his results. He got one 4 minute penalty. I think that is slap on the wrist.
He was looking back so often, getting caught once was worth it. If I drafted for a 56 mile race I could make up 4 mintues with the added speed of drafting and the fresher legs on the run.
Penalty time for drafting needs to be increased, or have a separate first wave at the swim for people who want a draft legal race.
that’s exactly what I’m talking about - it just seems so easy to cheat, if you can live with it. It doesn’t bother me when I get passed by people that are obviously faster than me. The safety is another issue. People all over the road. Kind of reminds of the various posts about cars. Last week I was training, I passed a guy on a road bike and later came up to a red light. This guy flies right through without even slowing down, couldn’t say whether or not he even looked.
I thank whatever gods may be that I’m fast enough to chase f-ers like that redlight-bandit down. ain’t let one slide yet. sometimes I’m courteous about it (joe resolutionist on his huffy in early January), sometimes they get a broadside (the LBS’s wet dream: C40 and full USPS kit but barely capable of 15mph)…but they get something either way.
as for drafting, the RD yesterday gave the same speech to each wave before he sent them off, beginning with:
“I encourage squealing. You see drafting, you tell me. USAT is here but they can’t be everywhere. Drafting sucks, so don’t be afraid to remind each other of that out there.” or something to that effect. Mah Hee-row.