There seem to be many variations for the mount and dismount line. A wide line for the mount and a box for the dismount, line for both, etc.
What is the experience of the vast Slowtwitch of the best set up for a mount and dismount area 1) at the same place, i.e. one road with one side for mount and one for dismount; 2) separate mount and dismount area?
Who should monitor the area for violations - volunteer or official?
Asking for help/suggestions to make local Tris as good as they can be.
A lot would depend on how the transition area is set up. Is the bike exit / enter the same place? How much space do you have?
Just don’t put the mount line at the bottom of a hill. Watched the #2 woman out of the water at Vineman 1/2 have to walk her bike up the hill because she was in the wrong gear and almons fell over (her mistake I know). Also a lot of swerving until people get up to speed is dangerous.
Make the lines as wide as possable as well so one person having problems clipping in or out does not back up the race. Make the line far enough from the T1, T2 as well.
Dave
most races I’ve done have you exit and re-enter the transition area at different points.
It seems to me that if you’re going to potentially penalize people, it should be monitored by an official but I don’t know how many officials you can realistically have.
Mount … single line
Dis-Mount … Zone (we’ll be using about a 10 meter zone at Full Vineman races this weekend.) … the goal is to get the athletes off the line at the originating line and use the 10 meters for cushion. Quite often volunteers ahev to scream at athletes for dismount and it brings them to a screaching halt.
Monitor … if you are going to assess penalties here it would best be a USAT official. Otherwise you put a volunteer ina togh position … unless they are experienced.
Good Luck …
The area we have to work with for one race is a 2 lane road. We do place the lines at the top of the hill. Width is a problem.
2 issues that came up in a recent race were a volunteer being instructed by an official to take numbers of mount/dismount violations and how to place the lines to clear congestion.
I like using the box for a dismount and a WIDE line for a mount. There will always be a problem at the mount line of people stopping right after the line to get on their bikes. This creates a great deal of congestion.
Thanks for a reply.