NomadVW 

These guys couldn't hold a predictable straight line if the bike was attached to a rail.

Today's course.. 4 laps of this thing as the bike leg of a team relay, olympic distance triathlon:
https://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1012098

Be careful to look at the two 140+ degree turns around kilometers 4 and 6. Yeah, those were fun x 4. Taking it @ kilometer 4, you got to follow the 140+ degree turn with a left hand 90 degree turn 10 meters later.

So... I YELLED at all sorts of people today. Our local community services running the triathlon doesn't consider cycling a sport to pay attention to, so when they told me there'd be 300 participants today, I had visions of people riding bikes everywhere (I won't call them cyclists.. I refuse to). These people took turns in all sorts of ways, from all points on the curve. One chick looked back at me as I was coming by on lap 3, we made eye contact, and she proceeded to dive from the far left at my front wheel taking a right hand turn. You had folks riding 2, 3+ abreast where I had to get on the other side of the road to get around them. Then, you'd have someone riding down the middle of the road, and I'm left wondering - do I go left or right? Bah.. And, to make it all that much better, since it's laps of the course, you have to come almost to a complete stop to get your arm "swiped" with a marker because with 300 people, there's no other way to count laps. That's also real fun x4.

Last year I rode the 40 km in 1 hr 5 min 45 sec. Respectable enough. I do my 2x20's on this course now and on a good day I could get around 14 minute laps, so I was hoping for a total time of sub 1-hour. It was not to be. Between loads of people on the course, causing all sorts of havoc (and at times a 10-15 second wait to get your arm swiped), I squeezed it out in 1 hr 2 min 2 sec. Power numbers are so abysmally low that I won't even post them. It was a sad, sad effort.

If TT's are gay (which I'm beginning to think they are), the only thing gayer is TT's as part of a triathlon team.

On the up note, I was still the fastest bike on the course today out of all the teams and individual participants. Our team overall crushed all of the other teams, so we got first place with a trophy and a new pair of sunglasses to walk away with.

And how wrong is it that as I'm passing someone I have to come by them and get an eyefull of a speedo'd, non-leg-shaved *****? *shudder*

aballas

sweeping generalizations are cool...

waterrockets 

Wow, that sounds rough.
I remember passing people in a 120-degree corner in my tri last year. We did two laps, and I got a solid earful from people complaining about my passing. They would have really freaked out if I had started shoulder-checking, like in a crit

patentcad

>>If TT's are gay (which I'm beginning to think they are)<<

Come to a large NY Metro Area USCF triathlon. It's like combining a testosterone injection with a trip to the Cycling Schwag Skunkworks. Even the old dudes are fast (some of them).

Greg180

Dang I should have read this before I joined our clubs Tri team this year.

All of the people that were my mentors in road racing said I would like enjoy the fun and relaxed atomshere of the Tri vs the rabid intensity of the road racing. By the way they also like cyclo-cross.

botto 

while i can appreciate your general sentiment, how about using a less juvenile term to describe your contempt?

damocles1

It's really fun when the local tri-dorks show up at our pracctice crit...!
Nothing says fun like following a ****** on a tri-bike in the corner at 30 and have him pull his chute to make the corner...

They usually get screamed at until they leave.

carlfreddy

Um, we don't allow Tri-bikes (or aero-bars) at our Tuesday Night Crits.

I'd hate to think of the damage those aero-bars could do in a wreck.....

botto 

i'd be more worried by how many of the aero bars would CAUSE a wreck.

waterrockets 

Yeah, our weekly training crit is USAC, so no aero bars. Our Tuesday Nighter is unofficiated, but the A racers badmouth the aerobars so much that you rarely see a set. The problem then is that the B group is dominated by aerobars, so it's really tough to break off the front and stay away. I haven't heard of an aero-bar related crash in that group in the 7 years I've been here though -- they only use them up front (which is what shuts down the breaks).

San Rensho 

They are slow as snails. I'm not saying they are all slow, I just haven't seen one thats fast.

I see swarms of them every sat and sun on the road here in Miami. Full kit, $5k+ in equipment, always riding in a paceline (whats that all about?), in a 53/12 spinning about 50rpm, and all over the road because they are on the antlers. I'm spinning along in a 42/19 and passing them. I don't get it.

YMCA

Botto - I think he was using "gay" and "gayer" to refer to how much fun they were having.

waterrockets 

Yeah, I'm not as jaded here, with a large selection of triathletes who can TT in the 27-29mph range. There are plenty of slow tri riders too, but same with road bikers.

tfro

Yeah the issue is, signing up for a triathlon isn't very intimidating for people new to the sport so there are a lot of slow people. But at a local HIM a few weeks ago, the fastest bike was done at an average just under 27mph for 56 miles, can anyone on this forum do that? Maybe one or two?

Ever been to a rally? Lots of slow 'rallythelets' there.

I will say watching the bike in/out of a large triathlon can be great fun.

mtcycle09

this means a lot coming from a guy who doesn't have the balls to sign up to run a full tri. And by the way we don't all suck at cycling and looking at your times for a 40k tt you not the best either. so how bout you stop being so Ignorant and start respcting other peopls sports.

CrimsonKarter21

Wa wa waah wah wah wah.

rizz

What's the catch? Was it all downhill with a tailwind?

edbikebabe

Ummm..... You hate 'em? Don't do 'em.

ElJamoquio

Well, I guess it's good that they self-police them to the front...

But still, I see aerobars, I give a wide berth.

patentcad

The 'I hate triathletes' statement gets nods of approval from the Road Nazi High Command.

UT_Dude

I don't hate triathletes. I don't like triathlons, because they involve running and swimming... That said, I may go do a Half-IM relay in two weeks *shudder*. 56 miles in the TT position is gonna be interesting, kids.

waterrockets 

You might consider throwing your old (higher) stem back on for this one...

Should be fun though. My brother-in-law is coming up from Houston to do the half as well.

NomadVW 

First, mine was the fastest of all times on the 40km course yesterday (teams and individuals), so I can't suck at them that bad.

Secondly, you don't know if I've ever done a tri or not based on the fact that I participated as part of a team yesterday.

Finally, spell check would have made your point a little more coherent (oh, and the lower case I, too).

GatorFL

I thought the first post was pretty funny. My panties remain un-wadded.

GatorFL

I thought I'd add a sketchy triathlete story for you: I crashed in a triathlon today. No one was near me. I had a momentary lapse of all bike-handling skills and ate $H!t. Granted I can usually ride the white line in my aerobars and was sitting in 4th place out of about 1000 people, but it was still a little sketchy. I did get bonus points for my euro-creep temper tantrum when I found out my bike was broken so I couldn't finish and threw it across the street into the bushes.