This is what my Training Peaks shows after 4.5 hours of catching and racking bikes at Sunday’s Ironman Arizona. The flow was slow beginning around noon, as many of the 51 male pros were already in and the first of the pro women were on their way.
Most of this time I was waiting in line to catch a bike, with intervals where I was running the bike to the racks, and some time spent reversing mis-racked bikes to prevent problems later. I managed to get about 6.2 miles over the course of the afternoon, racked probably 60 bikes, finishing up around 4:30p
Tip if you’re doing your first Ironman or half coming into the dismount line. Unclip at least one leg before stopping and you won’t have to be held up by your bike valet person. Yes, 112 miles is a long way, but you still gotta stay alert and come to a safe stop, even if someone is there waiting to get your bike. Quite a few people mistook us catchers for kickstands and of course, they fell right over.
I don’t pay anything for Strava, but apparently it gets my activity uploaded from Garmin or Training Peaks and is visible to a few friends who give me kudos for things like “Lunchtime walk.” I don’t really use it or pay much attention to it.
Triathlon volunteering or volunteering for any event gives a different perspective.
I volunteered for barrel age beer tasting working 12+ hours in setup, pouring, and cleanup. It is a lot of work to stage an event and the people drinking weren’t as selective as they should’ve been.
For triathlon the kids events are more fun than the adult events as both can be unappreciative, but adults aren’t as earnest or cute while they race.
Sometimes you see cool techniques, gear, form, etc. that you can incorporate and other times you see failures that you need to avoid replicating.
My XC team I coach had some kids and family at a couple of the aid stations. They were all disappointed the event isn’t coming back because they never realized how much fun it would be to volunteer! They were just complaining to me yesterday how sore their arms still are from holding the cups!
I’ve done bike catching twice and it’s definitely a workout.
Back in 2024 I did bike catching and racked up 50k steps for the day. Also a bonus, if you have an athlete racing, you get prime access to them as they come off the bike and get ready for the run!
