Typical triathletes.

I had a conversation with a newbie on the walk to my truck yesterday, he complimented the friendliness of triathletes, and I agreed completely.  Multisport athletes are a most supportive and accepting community!

Maybe because I am a woman, but I had exactly the opposite experience. At my second tri, I remember having to remember so much stuff and there was no where there to help. I asked a woman where I pin my number to (front or back of my shirt) and she kind of scoffed at me for not having a race belt. The community was just larger and more anonymous and unfriendly.

At my first bike races, I had elite women cheering for me, telling me they were happy that I came out, and guys offering to go on training rides with me.

So it just seems kind of random, depending on the people that you come in contact with.

I was fairly nervous at my first triathlon. I was setting up in transition and the girl next to me said hello, offered me a piece of gum and chatted me up. She was super friendly and gave me couple pieces of advice about the course and suggested that I leave my bike shoes set up with the straps open. I was feeling much better on my way to the start of the swim. I had a great race and discovered at the finish that this who was so friendly ended up coming in first overall for the women. Talk about class. I love triathletes!!

I thought that male roadies might be nicer to female cyclists than males?

Also, there's less of us, female cyclists, it seems to be about 15% woman, 85% men in the races, I do and in tris, the split was closer to 50/50, so maybe I stuck out less in when I did a tri, and looked like I belonged there, so there were less people willing to help me?

From my experience most triathletes are very helpful and welcoming to our sport.

Hubby and I were in a tattoo shop in SF last week. We were looking for ideas for my future IM tattoo. One of the tattoo artists used to swim and rides a fixed gear bike. He said he had always wanted to do a triathlon. I told him that I'd just learned how to swim 2 years ago and had completed Alcatraz the day before. We encouraged him to try a triathlon. He was so excited that he hugged me when we left.  We told him we would be back next year and couldn't wait to hear about his races.

Personally I think most people have the desire to stretch themselves past their normal limits. Sometimes it just takes someone else who encourages them to try the sport. I wouldn't be in this sport if a friend hadn't suggested that I try it.

My first race was an incredibly welcoming experience (I wrote an article here about it).  Serious triathletes and their finest gear at a sprint tri with 66 people competing.  What I lucked into was even though they were hardcore triathletes, this wasn't their "A race" and they were relaxed and friendly.  I recruited a buddy to do another with similar experiences.  My second season, I stumbled into a tri series (it was conveniently between my brother and I).  Night and day different!  These guys were all business, no chatting, no smiling.  Nobody hung around the finish line and cheered unless they knew the person.  As they worked through the awards, people left as soon as they got (or didn't get) their trophy.  At the end, there were less than a dozen people applauding the last trophy winners (and two of us weren't even from the area).  I felt so bad for my brother as this was his second race (luckily, his first was more like my first). 

We can be consumed with race details, performance, go-fast gear, etc. as bad as hard-core cyclists are alleged (I don't have much first-hand experience with racers). 

I guess I'd end with this question:  "How would you like that (potentially first-time) triathlete to remember you?"