Originally Posted by
Ronsonic
Aero bars are the most obvious and certain symptom of triathlism.
There are few cures. The crankiness and bad manners that often afflict road cyclists are nothing compared to the over-training, aggro attitudes and oneupmanship of the victims of chronic triathlism.
The only athletically-induced personality disorder that has worse consequences for its victim and those around him (or her) is Adventure Racing. This abomination takes the evils of triathlism increases the ostentatious display of purchasing power by a factor of 4 and then adds abuse of natural habitats and conditioning its participants to completely ignore the beauty of the terrain they turn into a racetrack. These victims are most easily recognized by the kayak / bicycle rack atop their imported cars.
Oh, did I wander off. Anyway, aero bars = tri's not roadies.
As a cranky, creaking old triathlete, I say you are 100% right. Oh, yeah, let me generalize, for those to whom this may not pertain. there I go, writing like Winthrop again)
What drives a lot of them is ego, and they consider anything they pass as slower, less evolved, and non-elite. Their fetish for gear is much like a bass fisherman. It's fun, but "look what I brought," with none of the charm.
Many fail to realize is that at any given time, any rider can be passed, and many ticked-off C&V riders can blow their doors off, having "been there, done that" a long time ago.
Triathletes think aero is mandatory, despite anectodal evidence (getting trounced by C&V bikes) to the contrary. They can't draft in general, so they don't have an appreciation for the common courtesy of the road. "On your left" or "On your right" means nothing to them unless it's about the next open portajohn.
Somehow, while in an aero tuck, their brain suffers oxygen debt, sucking the very roots of courtesy from the depths of their conscious mind.
My experience is that they also tend to forget to use brakes, slow for corners, and let anyone know that they are going to suddenly sit up, stop, or hit the rock in the road and flip over. I've been on four group rides with the aforementioned trimoronic clingons, and all four times, riding the wheels of each other's PlaySkool toy bikes, they piled up themselves and redundantly, each other.
As such, when one blows by, I give him until the next hill, then it's "ON YOUR LEFT" loud enough to scare him into chain slap.
I am pretty ambivalent about it, as you can tell. Just don't get me started.