Was he doing the full triathlon, or also just doing the bike portion? If a guy's coming out of one event, and planning on going to another, his pacing is bound to be a little different from somebody that afford to go all out on the cycling portion.


On how much the aero matters, a lot of things don't matter much in a lot of circumstances, and you can pay a $1,000 extra and pick up 30 seconds over 40 miles or something. On the other hand, competition with people of similar abilities is the one place where 30 seconds WILL make a difference, so there you go.


I rented a tribike for a weekend last year. Yes I was faster on it. I had problems holding my head at the proper angle, though. I'm assuming working on my positioning and technique would help there, but it's not an instant solution for everything, either.