Dunno about that, strolling through the transition zone in a grassroots race is a clear indication that people don’t give a fuck about what’s “expected” for bike setup
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I think your goal is noble. I think the mechanism for getting there is not by organizations banning them unless they are unsafe !!
The problem is there is no mechanism to counter the bullshit on social media and the influencers.
Until that happens, some will come up with $1000 oxygen boosters and the lemmings will line up for it.
The brand new EZ02, double the oxygen !!!
Every other triathlon subreddit and FB thread is someone asking if they can do their first triathlon on a random bike found in their garage. The other half are people looking to upgrade and wondering if a road bike with clip-ons will suffice. And when you try to suggest “Road bikes are great, but if you’re buying new and will only ever ride this for triathlon, maybe get a TT bike” the whole community comes out in force at the mere suggestion of your elitism.
I think the concern over bike cost and “keeping up with the Norwegians” is a pointy-end of the field concern that most triathletes (even most people doing an IM) don’t spend their time worrying about. Its something we worry about here on ST because we’re the 1% of triathletes who live, breathe and sleep this sport. If the others are worrying about the cost of getting into the sport, its not in custom front-ends, its in the sum of entry level gear: wetuit, basic bike, shoes, etc.
As a parallel example, last year on the IM FB group site, when the water was looking borderline for wetsuits, I suggested that anyone who has any remote dream of qualifying for a WC maybe consider going sans-wetsuit - owing to the fact that its likely to roll long and slots are going to tighten up significantly once it all moves back to Kona. I’ll tell you, I got shot down so hard like the elitist snob that I am and how dare I remotely even suggest that a weak swimmer forego their wetsuit or spoil the supportive mood by suggesting that we’re racing each other.
Anyway, my point is that the concerns that we have here on ST are not the concerns of the triathlon masses at large. Things like whether the WC slot rolls to 100, or you’re saving half a watt with an integrated front end are not even thought about in the large triathlon community.
While largely I agree with you, talking to young first timers that’s not totally the case. I think @marcag has a point with all the endless stream of influencers pushing all kinds of high end stuff, for a newer athlete becomes overbearing. They don’t see my ancient P3 coming to T2 ahead of all the superbikes but one in my age group, and they can literally have my set up for a year of daily starbucks (bike plus race wheels for $300 x $5 starbucks). On the tarmac on race day I literally saw no one around my vicinity with an ancient cheap set up like that. My $1500 set up was not holding me back, it’s the stupid 8 lbs over last year that’s the problem (more so on the run…what a disaster), and I could have saved $$$$ just eating less food too.
Yeah, and I’m being a bit dramatic. I think that the answer is probably somewhere in the middle.
Maybe we say that the there are two tiers of affordability concerns
- Entry level - collecting all the various items you need to actually do the race, where people are blissfully unaware about integrated front ends or CRR specific tires but are worried about what an entry-level road bike might cost.
- Top end - where shaving 30s off your bike now costs $1,000s to do so and you now have to “look fast” before you can consider yourself competitive
I suspect that most people are happily somewhere in the middle. Once you’ve solved the entry-level requirements, there’s probably a jump in people’s minds where they say “I’m here to have fun, but if I wanted to be competitive, I’d need the $10k bike to do so” - when the answer is that you can get most of the way there on know-how and gumption.
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Speaking of, doesnt GTN do a weird bikes of roth episode?
This stuff is one of the drivers of moving over to MTB tri. It actually puts it closer to swimming in terms of technique driving speed (rather than money, training, or talent which I find myself lacking). Unfortunately, the popularity has gone down in the last several years and events have disappeared…which is strange since one does not need road closures, course marshals (drafting is not a thing), etc. One of my kids finally showed some interest in road triathlons; but after being out of the thick of it for over 5 years, it seems Im now behind on the rules as I keep seeing things that I thought were against the rules.
Did you normally podium? If not what does it matter someone spending money on a shovel ‘may’ go 10 seconds faster than you?
haha, you and I are having the old timer “get off my lawn syndrome” but I agree that some of this is a bit out of hand in terms of arms race effect on equipment purchases and the perception it creates about accessibility for anyone who wants to think they can compete near the front be it locally/nationally etc.
I don’t think we need to go back to Eddy Merckx hour record , but simplifying the front end rules by eliminating all hydration contraptions and limiting extensions to circular extensions with limited dimension pads won’t materially take away much speed from anyone, but takes away the perceived need to add another $1000 - $3000 of expenses, and makes things cleaner to enforce. But I think largely the cat is out of the bag as an entire segment of the industry where vendors have invested in product would lose their TAM. That TAM would dissappear overnight. For the sport, it’s not a bad thing, but for those who have invested in product R&D and inventory build out it would suck.
Ironically, the Eddy Merckx style rules actually made it much more expensive for teams trying to break the record. Since some of the equipment wasn’t made any longer, it made it more difficult for teams trying to break the record.
I know its a bit different here, where if you define what an aerobar is, tri bike makers will then logically make parts for the masses - but there are sometimes unintended consequences to just saying “we’ll freeze aerobar design to what was available in 2019.”
Yea, but the same thing happened to Emilio with the Water Rover… They kicked him in the balls.
Yes I do. Honestly, it really does not make a big difference; as this is just a game that I like to play…what bugs me more is doping and other cheating (drafting in a draft illegal race). If I am going to PAY to compete against others with a specific set of rules, I expect those rules to be followed…otherwise, I might as well save my money and eat a really nice meal with my spouse and go for a hard workout.
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“and other cheating (drafting in a draft illegal race)”
On the other hand, in many Ironman races it’s nowadays close to impossible to avoid drafting due to the number of riders.
IM is happy to allow more drafting on the mid-back section of the races. They get more people at the same time they keep increasing registration fees and people get faster times, which makes them happier and more engaged to race again.
I don´t know if it´s been commented elsewhere but the fee for 2027 WC is now $995.01.
That was Kona slot price 6 years ago.
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Going by UCI rules makes no sense. The UCI position limits are crap if you want to run afterwards. Why should we limit the sadle position in triathlon?
UCI rules are UCI and not a subset of their rules. I’m looking forward to the waiting line at the bike check-in for the officials to measure the full geometry.
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you are probably right about the “economics of drafting” and i guess nothing will change. But it would be more clear and fair if Ironman would find a formal way to deal with this. For example loosening the drafting rule for some races for age groupers or reduce number of participants or modify the courses.
ok lets allow recumbent bikes if we need to be ready to run after. triathletes dealt with closer to uci style bikes - cervelo p3 and earlier days, no hurt going back except egos
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Remains to be seen how you will enforce the strict geometry rules. You cleverly ignored that part because it’s not feasible in triathlon.
Actually, it was done for years! They had a physical hoop that they brought into transition areas. If it did not pass, you took it off, or you did not race.
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Physical hoop will not help you with stem to saddle distance. My position isn’t UCI because my saddle is too far forward. What about enforcing frame sizes based on height? There’s many rules that are difficult to enforce in mass participation events where they would have to check 1000s of bikes.