If you knock my helmet off my aero bars, please put it back!

What a bummer!  This is a big problem.  I've seen people knock helmets off racks before, but they always put them back in the best way they see fit.  I really hope whoever knocked it off was unaware.  Sorry!

Hook one side of your chin strap over the aerodrink straw. It's not going to move more than hanging by the strap if someone hits it hard.

That sounds like a good easy fix. Why didn't I think of that? Thanks.

Yeah, that does suck.

I think this should be with anything in transition. My last tri someone racked their bike right over my stuff(I was still on the bike) my shoe was under their tire and the other one pushed to the other side of the rack, my socks that I had rolled into my shoes were laying on the ground...did not make for a happy T2! I know we are all in a hurry as it is a race but be aware of other people!

I stopped putting my helmet on my bars, it saves me two to three seconds, but after getting it knocked off twice it simply wasn't worth it.

I've had my neighbours wetsuit draped over my bike spot when I came back from the bike, at the same race that someone stole my wetsuit from!!

I agree, we're all in a hurry but it would be nice if people could respect everyone else's stuff.  Sorry to hear you lost a top 3 because of it.

I'm only MOP newb, but it sounds like the race officials were not doing their job.

 USA Competitive Rules: 7.4- "No participant shall.....interfere with another participant's equipment in the transition area."

Guess I've been fortunate so far.  The few tris I've done have emphasized transition etiquette in pre-race briefing and had wonderful volunteers in transition area watching over things. Accidents happen, but from what you describe someone should have noticed & tried to put your stuff back. 

X2

Not necessarily.  I've seen guys take their bike off a rack in such a way that it make the whole rack bounce, affecting bikes that are several spaces away.  Whoever knocked it off may not have known they did it.  And if they did, other than at the beginning of races checking helmets and bar end plugs, I've never seen a race official monitoring transition durng the race

To keep your gels from getting knocked around, you can tape them to your bike's top tube.  Saves you time and energy in T1 since it's one less thing to remember to grab.  I like to use clear packing tape with one of the ends folded over on itself a little so I've got a good handle to grab and rip it off the bike easily.

I had some rack their bike in my spot (over my gear) and had the nerve to ask me why i moved his bike.

Those people are the worst.  If you leave your wetsuit over my bike rack position, I move it but do not put it back

Sounds like the moron who got mad and told me to stop drafting off of him when I caught up to him and at the same time we all had to slow down because there was a large group of walkers in front of us (was on a narrow bike trail).  I laughed, told him to get a life, then quickly dropped him.

this is the reason why all things i need are either attatched to the bike (gus are either in a pocket before the swim, or tapped to the bike), helmet goes UNDER the bike, between my running shoes.

all it takes is one shake of the rack, a bit of wind, someone bumping into it, etc, and its 4 racks away before you know it.

Generally I'm first(ish) to my rack, you mean I'm NOT supposed to throw peoples helmets, deflate tires, and steal nutrition? :-)

To keep your gels from getting knocked around, you can tape them to your bike's top tube.  Saves you time and energy in T1 since it's one less thing to remember to grab.  I like to use clear packing tape with one of the ends folded over on itself a little so I've got a good handle to grab and rip it off the bike easily.


I used the same tech. in my first Tri and it worked great.  I used Blue Duck tape that actually matches my Bike color.  I also was able to write on the tape to remind me of what to do as I was coming into T2 so my legs were prepared for the Transition to Run. 

I highly doubt anyone intentionally did that. 

Far more likely, is that in the frenzy of the transition, they failed to notice that they had bumped your helmet off your bike. Trifolks are a remarkably helpful group, and this type of behavior is far out of the norm.

Of course, if they'd noticed, it would be their responsibility to put it back, but I think it's more than fair to say that if you're going to be pushing so hard for seconds in your critical transition, you should have a more failsafe method to have your helmet at the ready, as you should expect these bumps and nudges in the tightly packed spaces. 

I've had other folks's shoes, goggles, etc., overlapping my space when I got to transitions - I'm sure they didn't plan on doing that, but they're hauling out of transition.  

i am normally one of the first people back into T1 after the swim, and i can tell you, when the rack is full, it only takes a TINY bump to shake the whole rack, as in pulling my bike out is enough to watch the whole thing sway back and forth. frankly, if i do that and stuff falls off other peoples bikes, i am prob not going back for it.

if it falls off that easily it is simply asking to falls, and my guess is someone didnt even know they had done it, or wear an entire rack away and simply moving their bike was enough to knock it down.

I'm sure it was an accident, and I am done complaining about it. And honestly, if I would have swam a little harder or biked a little faster, and got the placing, I probably would have forgot about it. I just needed to vent. Thanks for all the response, this forum is the best.

I agree with this... I see a lot of people place things very gingerly on their bikes or on the racks (almost having to find a perfect balance to get it to stay) and I wonder how it is ever going to stay there.

Accidents do happen though... I got back after a bike once to see that my bike spot was completely gone! These were racks that sit on the ground and they have a "slot" for your wheel. I think someone on the end had mis-racked one over, and it had a dominoe effect down to me. No place to put my bike! I spent a good 45 seconds debating on what to do - which was ultimately the difference in NOT beating my time from the year before. I'm sure the person didn't mean to do it, but it was frustrating.

I try to do what I can to get as much space around me as possible so that these things don't happen.  I also don't normally put my helmet on my bike for the same reason.

When people are coming out of the water, trying to run, can barely stumble, trying to get there wetsuit off, and see where they are going all at the same time, they probably won't even notice that they bump anything (or the top of there wetsuite hanging around there waist bumped something), and certainly wouldn't be able to put it back in the correct spot.

Try to find as much space as possible
Put your stuff as protected as possible
Make friends with your neighbors before the race
And hope for the best.

I don't think these things are intentional, just apart of the situation.
Michael