5 more days till race, need a little more advice

Hey! Here's my rec if you are worried about the aid station stops. If you can't grab your bottle comfortably while moving, it is better to do a pull over at the tail end of the aid station. I have seen people pull up with joyful relief at the front of an aid station and stop and those that are still biking are unable to smoothly pick up some fluids. This act will help to keep the aid station from jamming up.

Secondly, my experience is that it's not that crowded. Most people don't stop (just grab and go) so there is not normally more than a handful of people. Just be conscious about not stopping abruptly. If you are able to hand signal a stop. (o:

Good luck on your race!! Have fun and fall in love!!

D

Don't worry, you will be fine.

1. In my two races I have yet to run in to a "pack" of riders - remember drafting is not allowed.

2. The fact that everyone finishes the swim at different times generally means that the number of people getting on the bike at any time is limited.

3. Unless you are doing a long race there will probably not be water stations on the bike course.

4. Stay to the right unless you are passing someone, in which case you should get around them as quickly as possible.

Most of all enjoy it!

Bill

Yeah, as a rookie, I was wondering about the "aid station" thing on the bike. How long does the bike ride have to be before they start putting in aid stations? I would think that even the 5K run at the end of a sprint tri would not have water stations outside of the transition area.

In the sprint races that I have done this was the aid station trend:

After swim, aid station in T1
After bike, aid station in T2
At half way point during the run.

In Olympic, I had 1 to 3 water stations during the bike (depending on the heat, basically), and then 3-4 on the run.

D

You'll be fine! If the race is a sprint, there is usually not an aid station for the bike. I've only seen aid stations for the run in a sprint. If you can't comfortably reach for your water bottle, then try wearing a camelbak. I have for a few races until I felt comfortable with my bike handling skills to reach for my water.

If your race is USAT sanctioned, there are specific rules concerning drafting and passing. Since I am so slow, I stay to the right, as someone passes me they will usually announce, "On your left" . Just keep your pace and let them pass, but you have an obligation to drop back a little to make sure you stay out of the draft zone. Also the passer has a set time in which he or she must pass or they have to drop back.

I've only passed 2 people in my life. One girl was riding with her shoes over the handlebars...never could figure that one out. So passing and drafting are typically not an issue for me.

Good luck with your race.

When you pass, always on the left, definitely stay in your lane. Do NOT cross over the line or go outside the cones. That's a DQ if this is a USAT race. I know someone who find that out the hard way.

i was nervous about biking with loads of people too, even though i had group starts for the mtb races i did 10 years ago. crashing on pavement is so much more painful and embarrassing. the tri i did was pretty small, so there were not big packs of people on the ride. there was an aid station on the ride, only because the bike loop and run covered some of the same ground. even though i had water on the bike and felt well hydrated, i still attempted to grab some water from the aid station. first cup went flying, probably splashing the guy handing out the water ('sorry!'). second cup i got, but squashed most of the water out of it. oops. anyway, with drafting and passing, they gave a good description of what was okay and what was not in the race materials i picked up the day before the race.