I really do love it when I see gaggles of people during an IM drafting each other and going fast. It makes me realize that there are alot of cheaters and by not drafting, I am abiding by the rules and living to a higher standard. If noone drafted, then the standard would be abiding by the rules and how could I set myself apart if we all abided by the rules? Let em draft, let em go way faster than me by using the wind cheating aerodynamics of other riders. It will not effect me in the least.
FACT: I will never race in KONA
FACT: People who do draft will not effect your place in KONA if you have the ability to qualify anyway.
FACT: The same people who are always bitching about drafting on this forum are hypocrites. How are they hypocrites you ask? Let me tell you. If your one who bitches about drafting, do you also go to a forum and bitch about the person you saw speeding on the way to work? How about the slob you saw littering? Did you go to a music forum and bitch about the neighbor who has his music too loud? Point made.
FACT: Someone else drafting will not adversly effect your life in any way, shape of form.
MYTH: My buddy Rob killed two quail with one shot last year during a quail hunt.
MYTH: My dogs never get into the garbage.
FACT: If your defending those who say drafting effects their life, your as big a hypocrite as they are.
MYTH: I will never post on this subject again.
Sadly, your second FACT is actually FICTION. And that’s the problem.
Kona slots in many AG’s are very competitive. Drafting on the bike is a major advantage to those who choose to cheat in this manner, as not only do they get a faster bike split, they also have fresh legs to potentially run better too. Apparently you didn’t read the threads about all the drafting (Pro and FOP AGers) at IMC??
People who otherwise might have qualified for Kona got shut out by drafters who blatantly cheated, and got away with it.
So, IF a major life goal was to get to Kona, then indeed drafters very well may have impacted one’s life by cheating them out of a slot.
I think some of your MYTHS are closer to being FACTS than your FACTS. 
PS - I am not a big hypocrite, I am a HUGE hypocrite. Absolutely MASSIVE. And that’s a FACT.
I admit it…I love the drafting
Their is a visceral thrill to cranking along on a group ride or in a smooth running echelon in a road race at 45+ km/h for a long time - you cover a lot of ground on a bike very quickly! But that is road riding and this is triathlon! 
Hmmm. point well made but I am still going to say FACT on number two. So someone is complaining that they did not get a KONA slot because someone else drafted? I cry foul on them. Perhaps they just should have ran the whole race or maybe not stopped for that bon bon.
Seriously,I doubt that these poeple complaining know exactly what people were drafting and not drafting. Did they have a pen and paper in hand and were writing down race numbers and comparing them to those who got a KONA slot? I doubt it. More than likely, it is their preception that they did not get a KONA slot because someone else drafted them out of the position. You would have a really hard time of conviencing me of this without some serious evidence. Till then it remains a FACT.
Crikey,
Is this your blog? http://draftingsucks.blogspot.com
Are you just being clever here?
H
If that is his blog then why is he posting Clearwater drafting pictures in August/08?
Hey d-bag, you are an idiot. Take a look at the Clearwater results from '07. Notice the difference in the various age groups is around 5 minutes? Guess what? The 30-39 men went first, then us younger guys went 5 minutes later. The race was decided on the run. The top 5 18-29 men averaged aproximately 5 minutes faster than the top 5 men 30-39. Coincidence? NO! Did drafting affect the overall results at the race touted as the world championship? Yes! Are you wrong? Clearly!
Herbert,
The pics over the causeway are from my camera from Clearwater the first year they had it, I knew those pics looked very, very familiar. Trigrrlpt took the pics. The one on the straights not sure who took but I love the one where you can see the moto in between packs.
Playing devils advocate for a minute, I suggest the blog author (not me, but I’m going to say go ahead and say “you’re welcome” to the thank you I know is coming for using my pics) not cast stones as the course is poorly designed to prevent drafting especially on the back side where it seemed to be narrower and over the causeway towards the middle of the course. One of those too many racers for too little course or too little course for the number of entrants.
Not only did I hear that directly from participants, you can see the cones in one of the pictures. The course practically forces drafting, there is literally no where to go to get away from a pack of riders short of pulling up and quitting. A check of the results makes it obvious how much drafting affected both bike and run times. If you were a good/descent swimmer, you were going t end up in a ‘situation’ right out of T1.
From my limited experience in racing and from what I’ve seen it seems to me that most races are decided on the run anyway. I do my best not to draft but do I suck a wheel until I pass? Yep, but I try and do that within the 15 seconds allowed. Have I seen blatant drafting in a race? Who hasn’t. Do I care? Nope. I guess maybe I’m new enough to this sport to be naive enough to still be out there racing against myself.
Looking at these pictures it is always tough to make a call about a static image, but in this picture specifically you can see a lot of “space” in front of the athletes.
I am not sure who caught whom here, and I am sure some people here are truly “caught up” in things, but I have seen blatant drafting like this during races such as Gulfcoast Tri and Ironman Florida. And in each of those cases the racers might have limited space but certainly enough space to not ride like that. In fact, some people I had passed individually earlier (cruising past them at good speed), all of a sudden came cruising by me hanging on to the end of a big pack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWzdIF8eCDs
Here is an eyewitness account. My husband, who appears on the screen for a split second in the beginning of this video pulled this pack at IM Florida last year. He reports that the pack slowly built up behind him for many miles. He did manage to drop them eventualy.
Illegal drafting does effect his races and his placements. That is a FACT. He doesn’t bitch about it on the internet, he’s out training (I am the bitch in the family) but he will tell you in person what he thinks about drafting. He is NOT a hypocrite.
It seems that the only three options for an official are to ignore drafting, give a warning, or issue a penalty. Just wondering, couldn’t an official who finds a huge pack, simply shoot to the front and force the entire pack to thin out, mandating a several second gap between each bicyclist? This would cause a huge loss of time for folks at the back, but it is easier than trying to hand out penalties. Of course a pack would tend to reform later, but the possibility of getting caught in a logjam could discourage large pack formation, or give an incentive to be at the front of it.
I think you are on to something. Sort or a “you can’t pass the official when they have a red flag up”. They could slow down to 15 mph and “release” riders 1 by 1. Of course, one big pile up would put an end to that.
That is by far the best idea I have EVER heard on the subject. Somebody send this to Jimmy ASAP…ride up and shut the group down…let them go at whatever interval…let riders approaching pass far left…
Couldn’t the official just give penalties and be done with it the way they are supposed to? Seems a lot simpler and more effective.
I for one support drafting…but the penalty thing ain’t working hence all the bitching…
If there is one thing one gathers from this board it is that the reason the penalty thing “aint working” is because penalties are not being given out as they should
.
I dunno, I worked the tent into town at IMUSA in 07…there were 43 penalties given out in the 4 hours I was there. I would assume that the other 2 or 3 tents had a similar number. Seems like a good amount to me
Well that’s great that you feel that way but you are talking about one person’s experience in one race in just a single tent. Have you seen the never-ending threads on this board where people detail there experiences with persistent, flagrant, and unpunished drafting? There’s a new one every other day.