No, I don’t mean that literally. What I mean is, who is Dan Empfield? Yes, he’s the founder of this site. Yes, he’s the founder of QR, inventor of the tri-bike, tri-wetsuit, etc. But, who is he really? Clearly this man has had a profound impact on this sport, including myself, considering I ride a QR, sport a QR wetsuit, sit comfortably on his westsuit bike seat cover, and don various products touted heavily on this site. It just struck me that I have jumped on this site weekly for over 2 years, and yet don’t know who the man is. It appears many of you go way back with Dan and probably know him quite well. So any great stories to tell, ribald or otherwise? Was he one of the IM heavyweights of the early days? Was he a well-known race director? Etc. Just curious.
What have the romans ever done for us?
Education.
Well allright but aside from education?
Running water…
all right, aside from running water and education.
architecture
ok, aside from the education, architecture and education…
substitute slowman and say
tri bike
ok, except the tri bike…
tri wetsuit?
ok aside from the bike and the wetsuit?
slowtwitch,
ok, aside from the bike, wetsuit and website…
FIST fitting
ok aside from the bike, the wetsuit, the website and the fitting methodology. what has Dan Empfield ever done for us?
On a more serious note, I think there is info on him on the site, grew up in UT I think, ran, involved in early days of tri etc etc
there is no single slowman. we are a collective (like the borg) of slowmen, each of whom has his specialty.
when you ask a question about geometry, it’s really john cobb who’s answering under the slowman pseudonym, and when the topic is coaching it’s actually paul huddle. and so forth. all the political essays and USAT criticism is written by steve locke.
as for the photos of slowman on the site, it’s just a shot of a guy who answered a casting call. sort of like betty crocker or aunt jemima. i believe he’s an underwear model in real life.
…if that underwear model looks like Smith from Sex in the City, I guess the thought of the tri-borg is somewhat less frightening . . .
I hear it’s the same deal with Martha Stewart, there are in fact many Martha Stewarts.
I think they’re having a rough time comming up with an “inmate Martha”.