Relays - warming up?

[slynkie]

I'm doing the bike leg of a biathlon (my first race, yay!), and i'm concerned about the logistics of warming up. The rules state that that the my bike has to be on the rack in the transition area in order for me to get tagged by my runner, but it doesn't say if it's OK to keep the bike out of the transition area until shortly before the runner arrives. It's a short run - 2 miles - and so ideally i'd start warming up a few minutes before the runner even leaves, and then rack the bike in the transition area just a minute or two before I expect him to arrive.

Is there a "usual" way relay biathlons work with respect to this?

Thanks for any advice :)

ps - yes, i've tried contact the race coordinators but haven't had much luck yet..

[Warden11]

In my experience it has to be racked when the race starts.

[rplong]

Just warm up 1/2 hour before the race even begins, make sure your heart rate is going, and just don't sit down after biking for about 20 mins, stay moving until you are ready to get tagged.

[tajsss]

I did one relay last year and the bike had to be put in transition before transition closed, and had to remain. You may try and find out what time transition closes.

Have fun in your first race.

[slynkie]

Thanks all - not ideal, but at least now I know what to expect and can prepare!

[voltman]

Just for the record, unless there are guns involved, you're probably doing a duathlon.

[slynkie]

Just for the record, unless there are guns involved, you're probably doing a duathlon.
Granted my only source is Wikipedia, so it goes with a grain of salt, but it sounds like technically a duathlon is a type of biathlon, where biathlon refers to any two-sport event. ah well.

Personally, I used the term biathlon because that's what the organizers call it:
http://www.nytc.org/dbacceptance.cfm?ID=2

[Treefox]

Granted my only source is Wikipedia, so it goes with a grain of salt, but it sounds like technically a duathlon is a type of biathlon, where biathlon refers to any two-sport event. ah well.

Personally, I used the term biathlon because that's what the organizers call it:
http://www.nytc.org/dbacceptance.cfm?ID=2

Biathlon (http://www.biathlonworld.com/eng/news/default.htm) involves cross country skiing and shooting - sort of the Norse version of Modern Pentathlon. Wikipedia does point this out.

So the use of 'biathlon' by the organiser to describe those events is somewhat misleading...

----

Other than that, I've been to duathlons where both happened - bikes had to be left racked after start of race, or where cyclists could still warm up (which was odd because I saw people on their bikes while I was still far from the finish of my first run, thus making me think I was falling waaayyy behind - actually it was people warming up).

[jbierling]

I did a duathlon relay and the organizers had no problem with me spinning on a trainer inside the transition area while I waited.

-Joel