Are conditions fast this year? I have a number of friends that I’m tracking online, and they’re all riding WAY faster than normal (like 30-45mins faster than they usually ride at IMFL).
drafting?
Conditions are perfect. Mr Support Crew did a 4:44 and he doesn’t draft.
I’m having visions of multiple huge packs. IMF reached the point of critical mass this year where most of the racers decided that drafting was fine and the packs started multiplying like cells in an embryo. Like when there’s a riot and the majority decide looting is justifiable.
Just a cynical vision I had…I’m sure the weather had something to do with it or maybe a race day course change?
I love it when he’s called “Mr. Support Crew”!!
Is 4:44 typical for him at IMFL or are the conditions better than usual?
Something like this.Altogether now follow me!
Conditions are perfect. Mr Support Crew did a 4:44 and he doesn’t draft.
I saw Joe come across the line…you sure he is not some Greek god or something? Did he maybe sell his soul? Touched by an angel? Baptised by a Saint?
"Baptised by a Saint?’
Yes, that woudl be MRS. SUPPORT CREW
"Baptised by a Saint?’
Yes, that woudl be MRS. SUPPORT CREW
I thought that was “Touched by an angel”…
I think we both have some brown on our noses…
Sorry, I meant to copy the “touched by a saint” and picked the other one…I think we all get the point. No one gets to the start line of these events, with support from the home team (whatever that is). Its like a fighter pilot out in his F-18 doing the mission, but there are many man hours/years of engineering work in the hangar and the shop floor from faceless support crew that go into putting these guys in the air. Same for triathletes. Without 100% support from the home front, most of us are dead in the water before we get to the start line !!!
Dev
Are conditions fast this year? I have a number of friends that I’m tracking online, and they’re all riding WAY faster than normal (like 30-45mins faster than they usually ride at IMFL).
Look at the pro women’s times! PNF kept saying there was no wind and the water was perfect for the swim. Apparantly the wind stayed pretty light.
Mr support crew has informed me there were some very large packs out there. He and a couple other athletes had trouble trying to shake off “a pack of about 50”. He was pretty pissed and if you know Joe he doesn’t piss off easily. He let them go and fell back just as a marshall pulled up and started flashing cards. He said, even that didn’t break them up.
I did see a lot of slashed numbers at the finish line, so the marshalls were out there trying.
1.5XBW squats for reps? grin
“Mr support crew has informed me there were some very large packs out there. He and a couple other athletes had trouble trying to shake off “a pack of about 50”.”
I’ll post some evidence of the pack of 50 from mile 70 when I get back hom tomorrow. Just plain stupid.
I did some analysis using the preliminary race results of the age group competitors to project how close the riders were coming off the bike. I combined the swim and bike times for each athlete and measured the distance (in seconds) each rider came in to T2 behind the rider in front of them.
I may have missed some of the females when I pulled the data, but I got all the males between 18 and 59. The transition times were also not available. Of course, I am just showing finishing times, so there are probably riders in these batches who did not ride in those packs and were instead overtaking them as they moved into T2.
Here is a summary of my results:
% of riders coming in to T2 within 20 seconds of the rider in front of them: 92%
% of riders coming in to T2 within 15 seconds of the rider in front of them: 89%
% of riders coming in to T2 within 10 seconds of the rider in front of them: 81%
% of riders coming in to T2 within 5 seconds of the rider in front of them: 60%
% of riders coming in to T2 within 2 seconds of the rider in front of them: 33%
Here are the combined swim and bike times for one big and very fast group of 11 athletes:
5:45:035:45:075:45:115:45:265:45:285:45:325:45:385:45:445:45:455:45:545:45:57Next batch of riders:
5:46:225:46:385:46:455:46:475:47:245:47:45BTW, It’s not fair to just single this group out---- There were many, many others. Look at the third batch:
5:51:425:51:485:51:565:52:055:52:225:52:265:52:295:52:295:52:315:52:315:52:345:52:425:52:435:52:515:52:555:53:015:53:065:53:155:53:165:53:195:53:205:53:285:53:325:53:455:53:495:53:495:53:525:53:595:54:005:54:035:54:075:54:075:54:295:54:31When the full results are posted, I’ll do a full analysis. Anyone have any good guidelines on what should constitute a pack? I’m thinking that if 1 rider comes into T2 within 10 seconds of the rider in front of them, there is a good chance they were drafting. I’m also thinking that if 3 riders come into T2 within 20 seconds of each other, there is a good chance they were a pack. If I get bored I’ll look at some results from past years to see how they stack up.
-Marc
Maybe I’m missing something, but 22 mph ~ 10 meters/sec, so if there is a 1 second gap between riders, they could all be riding legally…and drafting.
You definitely can’t prove that any one rider was drafting by looking at the times coming into T2, but the more tightly grouped the riders are, the more likely you have drafting. That first pack of riders I listed had a 60 minute spread in marathon times and a >5 minute spread in swimming times, yet rode into T2 within seconds of each other. Given how different their swimming and running capabilities are, there has to be some explanation for how close they rode to one another.
My hypothesis is that more drafting has been going on lately and that there was a huge amount of drafting at this year’s IM Florida. I think you can show that by looking at the times coming into T2 over the past few years: If they are more tightly bunched than they used to be then it indicates increased drafting.
-Marc
i raced today. the packs were crazy. i tried to pass them but realized i was blowing myself up (they were 50+ people) so i sat 4 bike lengths off the back. every once in awhile another group would come flying past me and i’d be in the back of an even larger group. by the time i was heading down the final stretch to T2 i could not see the front of pack. FWIW the draft officials didn’t seem to be giving penalties. ( i only saw 1 person in the penalty tent on numerous occasions after they rode with the group i was behind) they would ride up to the pack, watch everyone struggle to get some space between them and the rider in front of them and drive away. as soon as they left, the pack would reform. oh well.
<<My hypothesis is that more drafting has been going on lately and that there was a huge amount of drafting at this year’s IM Florida.<<
And this is new? Same bunch of posts every single year after this race. Yet people keep signing up for it. Where is that cartoon?
clm
Golly, I guess I wasn’t just imagining that in my head. Will there ever be a tipping point where IM competitors decide en masse to blatantly disregard the positioning rules? Has that already happened?