I’m mostly a roadie. Can’t run since I got creamed by a car a few years back. Used to swim and I’d be a duathlon freak if I could find any that were swim/bike. I hang out here 'cuz you guys are more informative and less prickish than folks in the cycling newsgroups/forums.
Anyway, today I did the bike leg for a tri relay team at an event in Elberton, GA. I’ve done the relay thing a few times and I’ve always wondered about a few things:
Why do I see so many guys with huge biceps and shoulders? I used to be a competitive swimmer and I know it builds your upper body … but not biceps and neck muscles. You don’t get those from cycling and you sure don’t get 'em from running. So what’s the deal? Me thinks some folks are spending WAY too much time in the weight room in front of the mirror and not enough in the pool or on the road.
Why do I see so many women who look like Barbi? DAYAMN! Does triathlon training do that to women? Does silicone enhance buoyancy? Does someone hand out business cards for liposuction services?
Why don’t I ever see the big muscle guys or the women with the Barbi-doll figures near the front?
Why are there so many people in the sport who are so desperately awful on their bikes? Assuming what I saw today is representative of the general triathlete populace, there are many, many of you that should invest the time and money to go to a cycling camp over the winter and learn something about pedaling efficiency. I’d have thought watching Lance would have taught a lot of people a thing or two on that subject, but I blew by more folks struggling to grind big gears. You Tri-folks should have some major aerobic engines. Why not use them? (I know the top finishers do.) And I’m no bike-handling magician, but we had a little rain today and people were freakin’ out out there.
Having said all that, I think it’s so cool the way the sport challenges people from all walks of life. I saw all kinds of folks in all kinds of shape and on all kind of bikes … all with their Magik Marker numbers. And the weather for this event SUCKED! And still, people turned out in droves. Very cool. I salute all of you.
Why don’t I ever see the big muscle guys or the women with the Barbi-doll figures near the front?
Both have less time to train. The spend much more time in front of the mirror, and much more time having sex with each other in comparison with the skinny fast ones.
Question 1. Because some guys like to lift as well as tri. What’s wrong with that?
Question 2. Why would you question this? Just go along with the flow and enjoy the scenery.
Question 3. Because they’re not ultra obsessed with getting fast enough to get to the front. If they were they’d be skinnier.
Question 4. Because they work 3 sports instead of just one, and they ride their bikes down in the aerobars instead of on the horns in a peleton where bike handling is at a premium.
Where? Hell, they are not like that here…most look like a poodles ass.
If they are like your typical Tri Geek here they will tell you that they dont need to know how to hold their line, climb properly (efficiently), corner properly (safe), know when or when to not grab a bottle in a group, or any other basic skill cause in Tri it is “not draft legal, and that wont help their (pathetic BOP) race”. Tri guys for the most part are idiots on two wheels…nice people maybe…but novice cyclists with more strength than brains or skills.
psycholist…why are there so many roadies that are so aweful at swimming and running ?
Sorry buddy, but these people are doing their best in all three sports. It is a personal challenge. Sure, they might be able to improve their riding, but perhaps they are working on their swimming first. You can’t really cheat on the swim, but anything up to half ironman, you can get by with just mashing on the pedals. Cycling is the least technique intensive sport of all three. Sorry if I am hurting your feelings, but this is true.
In any event, if you were actually anywhere near the front of any pseudo competitive national calibre event, you’ll see that all the boys and girls know how to ride quite well.
If you’d bothered to read what I wrote, you’d see that I credited the front-runners for their bike skills.
I don’t know how old you are. I’ll be 50 very soon and I’ve probably logged more miles in a pool than any 10 of the triathletes I saw today. I swam competitively in Hinsdale, IL and Bloomington, IN in the early and mid-70s. I wasn’t the greatest swimmer in the world, but I hung with some of the greatest … in the world. I know what it takes to be a good swimmer. I also ran track for a number of years. I know about that, too. So what. My observation stands. There were LOTS of people on the road today who really needed to learn a few things about cycling that they clearly don’t know. If you have a problem with that observation … too bad. I didn’t say I was at some international, elite-level competition and my observations weren’t directed at that level of competitor. That seems to have been obvious to everyone else who has replied so far.
And didn’t I express my admiration for all the people who turned out to challenge themselves? I believe I did. What’s your problem. Oh, I’m sure I know. You’re one of those muscle-heads who spends most of his training time staring in the mirror? Or are you a Barbi?
hey bud, maybe I need to add a whole whack of smiley faces to my post
My main point is maybe these folks don’t care to learn how to bike better. They have limited time, and chose to focus on other things. I never brought your swim and run skills into question, but just as you generalized about many triathletes, I thought it would be funny if I generalized that roadies can’t swim and run. I am sure you were and are a studly athlete in all sports. I never questioned that.
As for the muscles heads, perhaps this is the choice they make, so who are we to judge. No one said that everyone entering tris want to get fast. Some just want to participate regardless of speed etc. In any event, first time anyone called me a musclehead. 5’6" 140 lbs, been racing tris, running, biking and XC skiiing for 21 years. If you are curious, you can do a search on my name and check out my results. I’m not hanging out with the elite, but I suspect you will find that I am not Barbi either (you’ll find me under M35-39 in races over the past 5 years)
Psych, I understand what you are saying, but I think you have to consider that many of the triathletes you saw riding today took up cycling because they wanted to be a triathlete, and have therefore always ridden on a bike with aerobars, and perhaps something with some steep geometry that’s a bit twitchy. I’ve met very few triathletes who have ever ridden rollers (unless they came to triathlon from a roadie background) and thus really don’t have many good avenues for improving their pedaling efficiency. I think your observations are correct, but you are perhaps knocking them a bit hard given the route they’ve taken to the bike.
Hey guys, I can ride rollers no hands with one leg, descend switchbacks quicker than most my roadie friends, corner, hold a line etc etc, but why is this so important if I am riding in a straight line in a tri ? For some reason, many roadies (not all) have this compelling need to pick on the fact that triathletes can’t handle bikes well ? So what ? It is not neccessary. It would be like saying many roadies can’t ride unicycle well. Who cares, its not imporantant in their event ? In tris, what is most important is that the dude doing the event achieves his/her own personal goals and not harm fellow competitors. For some it is winning (in which case they better be good aerobically and technically in all sports) for others, just finishing. Bike handling is only an issue if you crash your machine or take someone out. If you are outside the draft zone, an idiot on wheels is largely a non issue…
How about the roadies who bitch and complain about poor Triathlete bike skills take a break from whining and try to teach what they know? Most triathletes I know do most of their riding solo or with just a couple friends. It’s great to say that these guys need to learn this or that, but exactly how does anyone expect that to happen?
Hey guys, I can ride rollers no hands with one leg, descend switchbacks quicker than most my roadie friends, corner, hold a line etc etc, but why is this so important if I am riding in a straight line in a tri ? For some reason, many roadies (not all) have this compelling need to pick on the fact that triathletes can’t handle bikes well ? So what ? It is not neccessary. It would be like saying many roadies can’t ride unicycle well. Who cares, its not imporantant in their event ? In tris, what is most important is that the dude doing the event achieves his/her own personal goals and not harm fellow competitors. For some it is winning (in which case they better be good aerobically and technically in all sports) for others, just finishing. Bike handling is only an issue if you crash your machine or take someone out. If you are outside the draft zone, an idiot on wheels is largely a non issue…
I certainly wasn’t commenting on all triathletes! I was simply replying to psych’s comment on the lack of pedaling efficiency he saw with some people. I thought bike handling was a fairly important issue at LP on Sunday, especially on the downhill into Keane - in parts I was coasting about 50mph only to have somebody riding brakes and sliding toward the centerline. They really do jeopardize safety if they can’t handle the bike properly
As I said, I don’t fault any of them, since most who are in that boat are simply not very experienced on the bike because they haven’t been at it very long. I think if you look at my post, I really wasn’t trying to knock anyone. When I race I know there are some fast swimmers who are very inexperienced on the bike that I’ll have to move around at some point - it’s just part of the sport.
Naw … don’t need the smiley faces. Thanks for the polite reply to my less-than-polite reply, though.
I understand what you’re saying. I said what I did in my initial post, not as criticism, but to point out to some who may be looking for a way of improvement that there is more to cycling than just mashing the pedals. There could be some serious value to learning good cycling technique if they care about improving at triathlon.
The event I rode today was an olympic-distance event. I’m sure the average participant spent more time on the bike than they did in the water or on the run. I believe that, if they cared about their finish times and about improving them (and who wouldn’t?), they could make the biggest difference with the least amount of effort by doing a few simple things differently on the bike … like NOT grinding huge gears up the hills in the early miles of the course … not grinding at all, for that matter. That was my real point. So many of them could have had a better bike split with just a few refinements to technique and with no improvement in fitness whatsoever. But you’re right, too. If swim technique is lousy, a little technique improvement there could go a very long way as well.
I’m sure that, when the splits are posted, the front runners will have thoroughly waxed my ass even though I just did the bike and they did all three disciplines. I wasn’t addressing myself to them.
My other main point I was trying to make was … DAYUM! There were some stunningly gorgeous women participating in that event today!
Bob and VM, you both have good points. I agree, I was whipping down Keene last Sunday myself at >80 mph and there as a dude up front of my riding perhaps 40 mph riding the brakes in the middle of the road. On the one hand, I was annoyed that I had to
a. slam on the brakes myself
b. pass on the right
c. pass on the left over the centreline
since b and c are penalties, I had to go for a. I think (relatively speaking) at the front of the field (let’s say top 5 -15%) I expect better bike handling and the common sense to stick to the right. On the other hand, I only have myself to blame cause if I swam quicker, I would never be behind this dude.
and bob…to your point, fast folks never “look good” and rarely do very good looking folks get really fast. As one poster said, the former too skinny to look good, the latter not skinny enough to be fast…
So on that note, tomorrow, I start my weight training program again
Is my seat too high?