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70.3 World Championships
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 2006-11-13 9:42 AM |
Regular  408  Rhode Island |  Subject: 70.3 World ChampionshipsWas anyone else there? I have a friend who competed and said the drafting was very rampant. There were AGers doing 2:10 on the bike. He said many of the pros weren't happy with what was going on. I know this is really difficult to police, but my thought was for an event of this level, would it be practical/feasible/possible to rent a helicopter or two? That would allow officials to get around the bike course much faster and easier. Give the riders numbers to put on the top of their helmets. Then officials can sit there with a video camera and show the packs and pacelines to whoever wants to challenge it and could even measure the gap between the wheels and the time spent in the draft zone if they did find a pack. Other than that, I heard great things about the race, that the people of Clearwater were excellent, that the water was perfect, the bike was very flat, that the run was hot and had a 5% grade bridge that needed to be crossed four times. All that and there was an all-star field of pros. Sounds like a great time. Anyone here experience it? |
| 2006-11-13 9:50 AM in reply to: #597573 |
Cycling Guru 15134  Fulton, MD | Subject: RE: 70.3 World Championships Big talk on ST about it ...... Joel (TH3_FRB) did the race and PR'ed by a bunch and he mentioned how bad it was for the bike. |
| 2006-11-13 9:52 AM in reply to: #597573 |
Expert 1035 lake forest, California | Subject: RE: 70.3 World Championships Thats really unfortunate if that was happening. Many things get blown out of proportion as the story gets passed along so maybe it wasn't that bad? I would sincerely hope there were plenty of race officials for the level of the event, and I personally think taking the policing to extremes like helicoptors may be overkill? At some point, we as athletes need to have some sort of integrity.......That being said though I do realize there are plenty of "cheaters" and we'll never eliminate all of the ways people may cheat. Cutting corners, drafting and even performance enhancing drugs are just a part of sports |
| 2006-11-13 10:12 AM in reply to: #597584 |
Cycling Guru 15134 Fulton, MD | Subject: RE: 70.3 World Championships No, it sounds like it WAS that bad ......... People were turning in 2:15 - 2:20 bike splits that usually do 2:30 - 2:40. One guy said at one point into a headwind that he was doing close to 26mph on only 150 watts on his powermeter. THAT is all out drafting. But I wasn't there. You'd have to ask Joel about it directly as he obviously had to deal with it on a first hand basis. |
| 2006-11-13 10:38 AM in reply to: #597573 |
Coach 10487 Boston, MA | Subject: RE: 70.3 World Championships It was bad indeed. (those watching the live feed noticed it) I know several guys who competed which race splits are a lot faster versus what they are really capable of riding alone. I am not trying to take anything away from anyone because apparently the riding conditions were perfect, but still the times are just crazy fast. Of course I guess some athletes just blatantly cheated but I also think many athletes didn’t have other options due the way the race was set up (waves and the bike course) With those bike splits I am sure many will be turning pro very soon!  |
| 2006-11-13 12:07 PM in reply to: #597632 |
| Regular 1025 | Subject: RE: 70.3 World Championships The conditions were also perfect, so times would be faster anyway, I'd guess. FLAT, no wind..... Still, I heard a ton of grumbling about drafting..... |
| 2006-11-13 1:22 PM in reply to: #597573 |
Cycling Guru 15134 Fulton, MD | Subject: RE: 70.3 World Championships Here is a little bit of a telling photograph to give everyone an idea of what happened ....... (Clearwater-1.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Clearwater-1.jpg (76KB - 27 downloads) |
| 2006-11-13 1:30 PM in reply to: #597855 |
Master 1254 Chesapeake, VA | Subject: RE: 70.3 World Championships Daremo - 2006-11-13 2:22 PM Here is a little bit of a telling photograph to give everyone an idea of what happened ....... Yikes - is that from the TDF or Clearwater??? How'd you feel to be at the front of that pull line and see what was behind you. |
| 2006-11-13 2:37 PM in reply to: #597573 |
Veteran 494 Tampa, FL | Subject: RE: 70.3 World Championships That is pretty much what it looked like from the car too. We were waiting in traffic along the bike course and the riders were very close to each other. What I am not sure about is what exactly you do about it. At the Disney Tri this happened too because you could NOT pass, there was no room. I had to drop to 14-15 mph in SEVERAL places to avoid drafting penalties, which in turn backed up the riders behind me and on and on. Luckily very few penalties were actually given. |
 2006-11-13 4:10 PM in reply to: #597573 |
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| 2006-11-13 4:42 PM in reply to: #597573 |
Champion 6627 Rochester Hills, Michigan Gold member | Subject: RE: 70.3 World Championships I'll reiterate my stance. Provide as many officials as required to identify the drafters, and the penalty for drafting needs to be DQ. That's about the only remedy that, if enforced, will have a noticeable impact on athletes' behavior. But, if it's left as is (pack of 100, 2 people get 4 minute penalties), you can expect the drafting to continue. Forever. So we might as well change the rules to ITU, and get it over with. But keeping the charade that exists today does neither the sport nor the athlete justice. |
| 2006-11-13 5:54 PM in reply to: #597573 |
Wife, Mother, Friend. 2457 South | Subject: RE: 70.3 World Championships flat? over the memorial causeway twice on the bike course (big freakin' high bridge- I hit 30 going down hill on fat tires-. The Clearwater Causeway is flat and straight. Most of the course was straight with just a few turns. I figure that's it, not like St A's with a zillion turns and twists. I didn't see much of the bike course, but since everyone's got the same time pretty much in packs here and there, it's pretty hard to avoid getting lumped together on the bike. There were a lot of choppers in the air. Kind of annoying really. |
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