I have to agree. I didn’t see any big packs out there on the Oly course and there were a lot of motorcycle cops too. People were bunching up on some of the steeper climbs but thats only to be expected, it all sorted itself out on the descents.
I had to check my running instincts at the beginning…the first guy to pass me after the top of Lynch I instinctively got right on his wheel and went after him before I caught myself.
Wildflower album
http://www.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=22422418/t_=24185082
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“According to the Officials, the race was pretty clean. One told me that he stalked lots of packs but they mostly resolved within the necessary time.”
I was in the second wave of the men’s 35-39 and did the bike in 3:18:40. Unless the officials were in pick up trucks pulling ski boats there were zero out there while I was on the bike. I did not see 1 motorcycle the whole day. I was passed by at least 6 packs of 10 plus bikes, one with close to 30. It took them longer then 15 seconds to pass so there was no problem figuring out they were drafting. There were many other small packs as well. This was the worst drafting of any race I have ever been in. Just about every person I talked to after the race made the same comment.
Dave
I had an interesting race…I’ve been struggling with fairly serious ITB problems, so I intentionally decided to walk the entire run (was in full red Stanford Garb if you did the race) after biking just under 3:00…There were 2 ways to approach this-one way was to sulk about the hundreds (thousands???) of people who passed me…I decided instead to make the best of it, make some friends, and cheer everyone who passed me on.
WF is a great race venue…I agree that Tri Cal has gone a little over the top milking it’s cash cow, but that doesn’t detract from the fantastic course, the amazing camping atmosphere, and the top notch organization of everything else. Instead of sulking about Naked chicks, bleachy water, drafting, etc…why not take the chance to do your part to make WF the best race it can be…Tri California is the organizer, but it’s the racers who come to compete (not to discount all the amazing volunteers that were there-loved the blow up doll, and that chick with the megafone was awesome) that can make the race great/miserable.
Stan
I raced wildflower ten years ago and it was overcrowded then. Terry Davis is all business and he will keep raising prices and over registering races until most of you decide that enough is enough. Its fun to race and crank it up but Tri california races are usually less monitored then most other events and results are always questionable in light of the cheating. I’ve been racing since the mid eighties and the level of drafting has increased fifty fold. Without personal honor there isn’t anything to be done about it, It used to piss me off but eventually you have to choose to either quit racing or just race for the excitement of it and walk away from the idiots who think drafting is all part of the plan. Terry Davis could give a rats ass if his races are clean or safe, most of you would show up regardless because the race is so effectively marketed. Your sucked in by the hype. The pros show to win money, your money, without it they’d pass and go elsewhere. Why the hell do you go. The college kids finally figured it out and stayed home, someday the race will be only TNT which is they way it should be. They don’t know any better.
The time penalty is the same regardless of the offense. The penalty times and descriptions were posted at the race site by the results and the Head Official stays in the area to answer questions.
Larry
I did not see 1 motorcycle the whole day. I was passed by at least 6 packs of 10 plus bikes, one with close to 30. It took them longer then 15 seconds to pass so there was no problem figuring out they were drafting. There were many other small packs as well. This was the worst drafting of any race I have ever been in.
Here, here. That is so freaking true it’s not funny. I was just surprised by the size and the blatant obviousness of the pack that went by me, disgusting, pissed the hell out of me.
I guess that is to be expected these days when dealing with such large fields.
I hadn’t picked up on the ridiculous camping fees. $50 a day to sleep in the ground with a 3 day minimum, what the fuck?? Do you know that is like a 50% mark up from their regular fees. Shit if that ain’t greediness and athlete exploitation I don’t know what is.
Hey, so which guy were you in the oly race?? I was in 8th I think at the turnaround and rode with a Cal Poly guy on a red specialized (I think it was a specialized) and another california guy in blue on a silver Cannondale I think. I was the guy on the blue Cannondale tri bike with the disk, white and silver aero helmet, white and lack outfit and white decals on my wheels. Anyways, nice race and if I rode with you thanks for the push.
Note to anyone reading this-when I say rode with, no we weren’t drafting, actually we pretty much kept dropping each other and then realing each other in. Don’t want to get anyone excited here;)
“According to the Officials, the race was pretty clean. One told me that he stalked lots of packs but they mostly resolved within the necessary time.”
I was in the second wave of the men’s 35-39 and did the bike in 3:18:40. Unless the officials were in pick up trucks pulling ski boats there were zero out there while I was on the bike. I did not see 1 motorcycle the whole day. I was passed by at least 6 packs of 10 plus bikes, one with close to 30. It took them longer then 15 seconds to pass so there was no problem figuring out they were drafting. There were many other small packs as well. This was the worst drafting of any race I have ever been in. Just about every person I talked to after the race made the same comment.
Dave
Having marshalled and raced in many triathlons, I doubt that you can reliably judge who’s drafting and who isn’t from a participant’s vantage point. I’m prone to take the word of an experienced official over that of anecdotal evidence from someone in the thick of a race. You were in a prime spot for drafting to occur so I’m not saying that none of what you saw was drafting just that you’re not in a position to judge accurately. There were 6 penalties in your age grooup so someone was there handing them out. There’s no way to know who got the penalties when you see them out on the course so any drafters you saw could have been penalized for all you know.
The number of Officials on the bike course is largely determined by the race director who decides how many he’ll pay for. It’s also his responsibility to arrange for adequate motorcycle coverage. It’s rare that USAT can’t come up with trained Officials. RDs want their customers to enjoy their experience and that’s the person you should direct your comments to. If they get complaints from people about being penalized, they might lean towards soft enforcment. If athletes ask for better enforcement then it might persuade them to provide the resources.
Larry
I know the bleachy water has bothered me for the last 3 years. If it is bad enough for me to notice in a race, it is bad.
At least they are reusing the bottles after picking them up and cleaning them.
does motionbased take into account elevation changes? A regular gps watch often won’t so you loose the elevation gain in the distance. I have no idea if it was long or short, felt like that damn dirt hill went on forever and final plunge wasn’t long enough.
Cal - silver cannondale, trispoke front and ch aerocover rear. we passed eachother quite a few times. you held off burke on the run though, nice job he was really charging through the field.
Most GPSs tend to fall 2-3% short of actual distance because of the vertical algorithgm and corners that get “flattened” into straight segments due to the sampling rate (there are are some arcane wGS84 and satellite errata that also can occur). I use a Forerunner 201 for running and biking and see this level of error routinely – the only exception being when measuring a very straight very flat stretch.
So if someone measured 6.02 then adding 2-3% gives you 6.14 to 6.20 miles – IMHO this seems pretty realistic given that WF is hilly course with many corners.
They got me for drafting. Obviously it really enhanced my 1:35 Oly bike split. What a joke.
Let’s to the math 25 miles = 44,000 yards, divided by 4,000 bikes = 11 yards per bike. Each bike is maybe 2 yards long so that leaves 9 yards per bike space. I’m sure I am analyzing this wrong by how can you not be drafting or blocking at some point during the race?
Welcome to IMNA racing…Have you done any of their IM’s? Talk about price gouging. Hotels, airlines, food…The localities prosper while the athletes get their wallets plucked.
The difference with Wildflower is that other than that gas station in Lockwood I don’t think the people around Lake San Antinio make a dime out of the weekend. I didn’t spend a cent outside the confines of the park and I’m sure I’m not in the minority.
In n Out Burger in Salinas does OK I guess.
Most of IMNA races are like that though…Blackwater in Cambridge, MD gouges the hell out of you due to the fact that it’s a remote location and they know triathletes are going to pay whatever they’re charging for rooms, food, or whatever…same goes with Lake Placid or IM Canada…
The only race where I had an option was IM Cali…where San Diego is so big that you can shop around…not that San Diego is cheap anyway…
I’ll bet Paso Robles gets a pretty good boost over the weekend. Hard to find a room over there.
In n Out Burger in Salinas does OK I guess.<<
The Denny’s in King City had quite a few cars with bikes in the parking lot at 8:30 AM on Sunday morning.
clm