So you want to stop drafting? I call bullcrap

Triathlon Forum
1

This is directed to no one person but yet directed at everyone who races triathlon. If you don’t mind possibly being offended keep reading.

you know who is going to solve the drafting problem? You and I, the triathlete who races. It’s not going to be easy and I will bet $267 that the overwhelming majority of you reading this do nothing about the drafting problem except whine, bitch and complain more next season. I’m going to tell you why you are going to keep clogging up Dan’s server with your rants and complaints but not take action.

Because it means becoming an official, giving up a few races a year to officiate instead. It means taking action from the position of an official to bust up those draft packs. It means you need to stop your whining and crying on ST get off you fit ass and actually do something. Can’t get into that IM? Get certified as an official and work it instead. It menas giving up a few weekends per season to go to the clinic and work a few races. I already hear the howls of protest so no need to PM them to me, I get enough PM’s per day already. Hey you want a solution become part of it, after all you are the guys who are contributing to the problem.

It means sending constructive emails to RD’s when unhappy along with solutions, not just whining. It means helping RD’s come up with solutions about the course. You may actually have to write you city council about allowing more road closures, do some PR work about how triathletes can benefit the community and why those extra lanes are needed for bikes not cars on race day. You think this is just the RD’s job then you are a small picture type of person. You have an inherent stake in this as a racer. After all it’s you who are complaining about drafting and 1 lane in each direction. The RD can’t be everywhere and this is one of those things that slip through the crack, the constant PR work and greasing the wheels to get what we need.

It means paying $100 or more more per race because all those cops are working overtime, road permits are not getting cheaper and governments are getting stricter on what you as an RD have to do to use the roads. You want less drafting you need either less people or bigger roads or both. Either way it’s going to cost you. Less people mean higher entry fees. More road space (unless you have done a great job at city hall) means more cops and more costs. So open your wallet wider.

You may havee to abandon the hopes of a good race when a pack comes by you and you notice several of your AG in it. Sure you wanted that IMH slot but hey, it’s only a race. Just drop off that pack and let them roll away. After all it’s just another race and there is always the next race. It means being part of the solution to not draft. Pull off to the side of the road if you are in a pack. Let them roll away. Break off the front - this will take lots of watts for a loooong period of time but you can do it. Or go do a duathlon. I have rarely seen drafting at those and I’ve raced over 50 of them.

it means becoming an RD yourself and offering moore races so people have more choices. More choices mean less people at certain races. If you get a excellent reputation as an RD you can draw the racers in. This may chop into your training time and the races you do.

the purpose of this is not to irritate you, well maybe a little, but to show you that the fault lies in each of us and all of us, from the RD to the official, to the race participant. The solutions also lie at our feet. The real challenge is are you willing to go the extra mile (or 1.6km for the metric crowd) or are you just going to whine, bitch and complain over and over?

2

You are just upset that WSL kept up with you for half a swim…

:slight_smile:

3

Interesting stance. I would agree on most parts. Probably all actually. Personally, I just race the smaller events nowadays as I find they are more enjoyable and I don’t get riled up by what I see on the course. Too many athletes take the attitude of “there are too many people on the course so I can’t help but ride in a pack”, when more often than not that is bull. I personally believe that the IMNA races are far too congested that much of anything can be done at this point to alleviate the solution. And from the photos I have seen from the 70.3 WC event, no amount of officials could have broken that up. I think you are correct though, the athletes have to take responsibility for themselves, however, the RD’s have to be smarter about allowing a reasonable amount of people on the course.

4

Good post Brian.

Nothing more to say but perhaps mentioning that you must also be prepared to loose some friends and make things even worse with some that already did not like you. I once had to DQF a sport fishing team. They lost $75,000 because of my decision. It sure changes your perspective when you have to do that. But someone has to do it.

Sergio

5

DD, the part about becoming an official is interesting, but do you have to own a motorcycle to actually be a draft official?

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No. You don’t need to own a moto. The moto and driver is usually supplied.

7

You’re such a “homer”. And no that’s not a homosexual slurr.
That’s all I have to say.

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I’m still waiting for you to answer my previous question and then step up and become a part of the solution instead whining about it.

9

If you’d take an opp. to read my posts I don’t recall ever whining about anything. Matter of fact I don’t think I ever stated that I had any problem with the drafting. I was addressing your post and your agenda and your suggested focus of fix.

10

Still waiting.

12

Love it…if I were looking for a coach you’d be at the top of the list.

13

Interesting post. Many of the races I do here in CO do a great job of keeping drafting down. I think Barry with the 5430 races does a great job and has great help so I don’t see this as much but I have to say the real bottom line is being willing to not draft yourself. I think the only way more officials helps drafting is if you have so many that you can’t get out of the sight of an official at any place on the course. It is human nature to cheat and no matter how much you try to stop cheating there will be someone who will either, out of sheer lack of respect for rules, cheats or can explain why what they were doing is not cheating. Races are no different than any other part of life, look at the highway for example. If a cop sets up on the highway he doesn’t even need to write a ticket but people slow down but the second people are out of his sight they are back to nascar speeds.

I think you have to either change the rules, stagger like pros in some races perhaps or shorten the draft zone otherwise I don’t see it ever being different.

14

Martin…best response yet.

15

I agree…and will add to your list:

It means FOLLOWING THE RULES. Rather than riding outside the cones when someone is blocking, it means you must actually SLOW DOWN (gasp!!!). It means you must not shout “Fuck you asshole, move over, stop blocking” when it’s actually the drafting is 5 people deep. Slowman has a valid point that in the “heat of the moment” people tend to motor forward rather than follow the rules (while playing police officer to others).

I find many people find excuses to break the rules rather than race smart.

Kudos for folks who take your challenge. I spent a season officiating and it wasn’t pretty…

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DD

  1. i hate drafting, and i give up doing my local race, put together a fleet of guys on motorcycles, and then we go out and bust drafters on race day. that is what i do - what do you do ?

  2. drafting exists for two main reasons - really one, but sorta two.

  3. reason one is because RD’s do not care about it. they say they do - but here is a very very simple truth. if they gave it the same attention they give water quality, road closures, run distances, buoy placement, aide stations and so on it would cease to exist. all it takes to control drafting is about 1-2 motos per 4-5 miles of course. presense is EVERYTHING. make a presence and the problem goes away. when is the last time you saw that many moto’s patrolling a tri ??? we do, and the race is draft free, brother. and, some attention to the course, wave size, and so on. RD’s pay attention to where the swim is, where the run goes, where the parking is - but when it comes to drafting they do not give a shit - if they did it would be gone.

  4. lots of triathletes have come to see drafting as the equivalent of a spitball - part of the game. the sporting ethos is that drafting is " not really cheating if you do not get caught". that ethos is deteriorating, as evidenced by many of these threads. why this is is myriad . . . . the sunday tri-a-tri types don’t know, or care. the hardcores are looking to see impressive numbers om their powermeters to impress themselves with. the guy who just wants wants to go out and run a clean race is getting squeezed out by the guy who just cannot bear to see the reality on his computer that he is not so fast as he thought he was.

  5. it is a problem. my daughter, a pretty good bike racer, used to do tri’s, but laughs at them now - she KNOWS young riders and females especially all draft like mofo’s - has had then sit on her for miles and then go up and get medals and smile for their proud dads and teammates. she is embarrassed to be in one. she does not think - she KNOWS tri is a joke sport in this regard, and will not waste her time in it - she does the one i and my buddies patrol on the bike leg, because she knows her time means something.

  6. let me restate this. drafting is solvable. RD’s could do it, if they wanted to. they do not wish to. that simple.

17

So, you’re still caffeine-fasting, huh?

18

Bold post, for better or worse. But by default it puts you in the lead position to answer questions. Some of these I can obviously look up myself, but there are a lot more people out there that wouldn’t make the effort, but if you plant a little information, sometimes …

  1. Am I correct that USAT would be the one and only place to go to in the U.S. to get certified as a race official for triathlon?

  2. If the answer to 1) is yes, does that certification carry over to WTC races (not that there are that many WTC races at the moment, but looking at the future …?

  3. For the record, I keep seeing Jimmy Ricitelli as the head official, such as at IMoo this year, does WTC or USAT still cover officials at IMNA events? (sort of a continuation of question #2)

  4. How much time does it take to become an official (at least qualifying the first time through the process)? I assume this requies travel to a training seminar. Where and how often are the seminars held? How much do they cost? Are they hard to get a reservation? (I have heard of a few politics being involved in some USAT programs, such as coaching certification.)

  5. Is there an annual recertification requirement, or refresher course required? I would again assume this would require travel to a seminar site.

  6. How easy is it for an RD to come up with the motorcycle end of the officiating team?

  7. How willing are RDs to accept officiating help, particularly from noobies with no reps? Are RDs required to pay the officials? Are they willing to pay the officials?

Thank you

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parkito. i am not a USAT official, nor is my crew - tho we report to one.

presence is everything. just riding by with a clipboard and a steely gaze is all you need to do.

i am experienced in riding moto’s in bike races , pace cars in crits, and so forth. my crew are very very god riders, they get free fod, a tee-shirt, and they have fun. it is not that hard to find good motorcycle riders.

our RD cares about drafting, so he gets road closures - we have lots of room. can’;t get those closures ?? then you do not care about drafting - excuses walk. either you wish to solve the issue or you don’t. our RD does, and he gets what he needs to do it.

20

I still think the way to go is with some variety of “self-policing.” For example, let any racer report any other racer for drafting. At the end of the race, have a formula such as “A racer with X (X >= 5) reports gets a penalty of (X-4) minutes.” So when that pack of 5 guys goes past 100 people, each of the 5 guys gets a 96 minute penalty. To keep it honest, the list of who-reported-who would have to be public. Would there be abuse? Of course. But I suspect there would be way to deal it.

Thoughts?

21

Exactly what I was trying to say! Well done.