I was looking at a bunch of pictures from St. Anthony’s last year. I noticed that none of the bikes had “bullhorn” handlebars. They all had the traditional “drops” or whatever they are called. Some did not even have aero bars. I’m signed up for the race this year and want to be fully educated before I get there. The last thing I want to do is show up with an illegal bike or something disasterous like that.
Is there some restriction on how the bike handle bars can be set up for this race? (I know this was an ITU race until this year. Perhaps this had something to do with it?)
EDIT: THIS MIGHT SEEM LIKE A DUMB QUESTION, BUT I WANT TO BE AS RESPONSIBLE A PARTICIPANT AS POSSIBLE ABOUT THIS SITUATION BY FINDING OUT WHAT THE DEAL IS AHEAD OF TIME.
Im sure the pictures were all of the ITU race, i would def. use a full tri set up on that course, just be ready to corner on it.
Good luck with that race pledge, it has become rediculously crowded in recent years, i would never do that race again unless i raced ITU. Don’t be too nice on the swim, or else you will get taken advantage of. On the bike, watch out for everyone and there grandma, half the people out there have no clue how to handle a bike, it’s not really there fualt, but it know longer becomes a race when your stuck behind people taking up the whole road, drafting, taking corners extremely slow or too wide…
They should have restrictions, that race is more dangerous than most crits that i’ve raced in.
I read a bunch of posts from after the race last year (2003) and people were just irate about the race being so dangerous. Now they have added another 1,000 participants for 2003.
I was pretty excited about going. Now I’m a little freaked out about it just being ridiculously dangerous and slow, making my trip from SC a waste. Should I even bother going now?
The pictures you were looking at were probably from the ITU World Cup race which was draft-legal. You can definitely use regular aero bars as an age grouper, and this year even the pro race will be non-drafting, meaning they will be using full tri setups.
I was in one of the last waves last year, meaining that from about 5 minutes into the swim until the end of the race I was constantly passing people, and thought it was crowded, the race was great. All of the people who are complaining about too many people probably had bad races so early in the season and need to lay the blame. There are a ton of Team in Training athletes that go to St. Anthony’s and they are not always the most in tune to triathlon etiquette. But overall, this is one of the most enjoyable races that I do every year, worth my trip from Colorado.
Do the race. You’ve already paid the entry fee. Turn it into a nice beach weekend with a race as an after-thought. St. Pete has great beaches and restaurants. I will never do this race again, myself. The bike course is ridiculously set up. It was dangerously tight for 1800 people and now I think they are allowing up to 3000. Way too many turns (over 25), all tight, slippery transitions to cobblestone/brick, bikers on each side of the road, including through tough turns. If you draw an early wave start, like I did last year, then you should be fine. Otherwise, prepare to ride defensively and not post your expected bike split. If you go with lowered expectations, perhaps you’ll enjoy it. Again, the venue is great. Watching the ITU race the day before is a blast.
Definitely go and do the race. There are many turns, but it’s not as bad as folks are making it out to be. The weather will be nice and the course is flat. Think about a wetsuit if they allow them. And if you are using race wheels, my suggestion is a disc. Best of luck to ya and just enjoy yourself. It’s an epic event.