Tri bike stigma in groups? (Page 2)

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I don't know, man... I just watched the ITU boys have at it in DC and I'd hesitate to call any of them girly-men. They basically raced on a crit course. It was awesome.

To further some up;

I never claimed to be skilled at riding in packs. Please quote me if I did. (and yes, adults do talk like that even though I was writing and not talking)
I never claimed I was good at riding in a fast group. Again, quote me if I did.
I never claimed the skills were beneath me, just that I don't care to learn "specific nuances." Once more; a quote?
I never claimed to be awesome, just good. I claimed mad skillz to be exact. At least you did quote me there.
The stigma I take exception to is that triathletes are not good at handling their bikes. Group riding skills and good bike handling are not one and the same. Do you like the stigma that roadies are pompous Freds?

Edited by mrbbrad 2009-06-23 8:19 PM

I had clip-ons on my road bike and no one in my club said anything. I never dropped into aero on a group ride, so maybe they trusted me.

There may be a few people in both camps with gigantic egos who always have to make EVERYTHING a life-or-death competition... thus, the whole "Roadies hate getting dropped by triathletes" and vice-versa idea. I don't think that really holds true for most people though. It's more of a different riding style and bike set-up issue. It should be obvious that if you usually train on a tri-bike, you are looking at long, solo distances, so why would you practice cornering or focus on smooth riding? And that OK... there's no need to take it as a judgment on your worth as a person or athlete. Just like roadies need not be bashed because they "only" do one sport instead of three.

And... if time-trial bikes were safe/OK to ride in a group, don't you figure they'd be approved for use in these giant pro stage races? If the pros don't do it, there's probably a decent reason.

I agree with Marvarnett too.

At Vision Quest we do not allow tri bikes on our group rides unless it is a triathlon specific group ride and the reason is 100% because of safety.

Poor handling skills and bad reaction decisions cause almost all bike accidents in group rides and triathletes are just not riding in 2x2 formations or in a peloton on almost all of their rides so their bike handling skills deteriorate or are not property developed.

We split our groups rides into 3 groups and if you've never rode with Vision Quest before you must ride in the 3rd group until we are comfortable that you can handle your bike correctly in all situations and will not cause accidents. Once that occurs then you are allowed to ride in the other 2 groups...of course assuming that your watts/kg are sufficient.

Again, it's nothing against triathletes. We do this even with cyclists we don't know that have never ridden with VQ before. We must ensure safety on all rides and that's the only way it can be done properly for everyone.

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Yup, half the world is below average.  The catch is that triathletes and roadies are separate worlds when it comes to bike handling.  Not bashing your self proclaimed mad skillz, but I suspect that if you were interested in joining group rides and spent some time in the paceline, you would learn something.  I sure have.

I'm not sure I agree with you on either of the two points above.

First off, the comparison is really not really fair because a far lower percentage of "roadies" are actually racers compared to "triathletes". If you split roadies into seven categories (pro,1,2,3,4,5,non-racer) and then split "triathletes" into groups of equal percentages (Eg. if 0.25% of roadies are "pro", then take the top 0.25% of triathletes and compare those head-to-head), I think you'd find that the triathletes in each group could pick up comparable "bike handling skills" very quickly. IMO, they are certainly not "separate worlds".

If you ride organized centuries in Colorado you'll see almost zero tri bikes making the vast majority of the riders "roadies" but very, very few of them will have anything close to the "bike handling skills" that I have. Further, I'm probably at about the top 10% of triathletes in terms of speed and I'm confident that I have "bike handling skills" comparable to the top 10% level of "roadies" (except in terms of climbing/descending where I'm probably far better than most at the 10% level since I do it on every ride).

On your first point, half the world (+-1) is below the "median" not the average.

I never thought of that.  I don't have a tri bike but that'd make sense.  But even on my road bike I hate group rides though I have only done it a few times. 

However I am at home on a mountain bike and I'll ride right on the of a buddy mountain biking often times hitting tires through fast downhill sections.  No clue how we haven't wadded it up and when I do wad it up it's usually by myself.

I guess the answer is simple.  If someone gets to close to you throw your bike pump in the other person's front spokes.  They'll be sure to leave plenty of room next time.

x2... I often do rides with our local bike club on my tri bike, and it's never been a problem. The rides I tend to join are of the more casual, social variety as opposed to the hammer-fest variety. There are both kinds of rides offered by our local club. I'm not sure how the hammer-fest group would feel about a tri bike, but the groups I tend to ride with never have a problem. I can handle my tri bike just fine on a group ride, but like I said, these are more casual group rides. There are not really any "pacelines" forming on these rides - sure, people ride close together and draft, but they're generally not inches off each other's wheels, or formally taking turns pulling, like a real paceline would.

When riding with a group on my tri bike, I never ride in aero position if I'm anywhere near other riders for reasons stated above - mainly, that I couldn't get to my brakes fast enough if I needed to react quickly. I will drop into aero position if I'm in front, if it's safe for me to drop off to the side, or if I'm well back of other riders. Other than that, I'm on the bullhorns.

If there's a group ride you're interested in trying out, just contact the organization, ride leader, etc. and ask if they have a policy on tri bikes on their rides. Some will be okay with it, others will not.

It was a joke of sorts

But, don't forget to factor in the standard deviation and account for short term drift

Edited by mrbbrad 2009-06-25 8:09 AM

Mine was a joke too but I forgot to add a smiley at the end.