Hello all, this is my first post to this newsgroup. I am fairly new to the sport and was wondering about the general opinion of water tub use (or something to facilitate rinsing your feet off) in the swim/bike transition. I’d be interested to know if you use them, and whether you think they impact your performance at all. Thanks much!
I see this as a suggestion for newbies frequently, personally I have never used one and have only seen one person doing so (she had a frisbee). I don’t think it is necessary and it probably will not make you any faster, but as long as you keep your transition set-up small and out of everyone else’s way there is no reason not to do it.
I keep a spare water bottle in my transition area and use it occasionally to hose off my feet. It comes in handy for other things as well, not the least of which is drinking. The tubs seem to take up a lot of space and get in the way.
I was doing a race where the trip up the “beach” (pile of rocks) to the bike racks left my feet covered in nasty crap I didn’t want in my bike shoes (rocks, goose pooh, sand, seaweed- it looked like I was wearing caveman shoes). One of my customers in my bike rack had his little wash basin sitting there. Unbelieveably, he was a shittier swimmer than me, and I bit him our of the water. So… Yup, I soiled his basin. I did it, goose pooh and all. Stuck my filth incrusted feet in and did the “crushing grapes” thing. It was huge: My feet were restored to their pristine condition.
So if you want to bring basins to the race, I absolutely encourage it. Put your stuff next to the silver Cervelo P3 in the transition area. No, not that one, the other one, with the Vision Tech bars and the Azoto saddle and the little nudie girl on the top tube and the Zipp disk with the big Bikesport decal.
I’ve done so many triathlons I’ve lost count and I have six shelves stuffed full of tri T-shirts (heck… some are so old they are faded and/or yellowing) and I have never stepped in Goose poo…this sport never seems to amaze me. Eeegads…Now, that seems to be just one more thing to look forward to…Goose poo.