Life Time Fitness Triathlon - Olympic (Page 3)

Hello Everyone,

I participated in the Life Time Fitness Triathlon this weekend as a USAT Certified Official. It was a nice morning and the people at the event were great. I spent a good portion of the morning moving up and down the transition area (mainly in the 401 - 850 numbered sections). Most of the time I was looking for racking errors and missing bar end plugs. I thought I would post some of the things I found.

Missing Bar End Plugs: This is a safety hazard for bikers. Everyone should be checking for this before you leave home. Most race directors, like myself, will have a box full of them. Fortunately, Erik's Bike Shop was giving some out to the volunteers.

Racking Bikes Incorrectly on the Bike Corrals: I found that many participants did not know how to legally rack their bikes on the corrals. This is a simple fix during pre-race, but can cost you a penalty once the race begins. Rule of thumb is that your belongings/towel etc should be next to your bike wheel that is touching the ground. You should alternate the direction you hang your bike based on the bike that is next to you. Does not matter if you are a seat hanger or a handle bar hanger as long as you have your things by the wheel touching the ground.

Helmet Check: We spent time looking for the CPSC label on Aero Helmets. There are some unauthorized helmets out there.

Missing Bike Numbers: All bikes must have a bike number.

Extra Stuff: I saw some people who brought way too many personal items into the transition area. I even saw someone who had two bikes in the transition area??? Confusing there.

These were all pretty fixable situations.

So the race began and I was off to meet up with my BMW Motorcycle Driver to prep for the bike portion of the event. We waited for the groups of bikes to begin coming out on the course. One by one, all 16 of us (officials) motored out onto the beautiful and technical bike course. As we moved along the race course past participants we began to see clumps or groups of participants riding along. I had a number of penalties I collected out there. The key things I found were people in the drafting zone of another cyclist for longer than 15 seconds. The draft zone is 2 meters wide (1m on each side of the bike) and 7 meters long (measured from the front of the front wheel). Many people would move in from the rear of the cyclist in front of them and not complete a pass or drop back out of the zone within the 15 second time. Some people rode side by side, in each others zone, for 30 seconds plus. Another thing I saw was people committing position fouls, like riding on the left side of the course or crossing the center line. Some people were passing on the right, not good. We saw some people dropping water bottles, gel packets, etc. this is considered "abandoned equipment- 2 min penalty".

Overall it was a great day, not too terribly many penalties, but enough to make note of.

Anyway, it was another great event and I am looking forward to next year's event. I might just have to race it myself and let someone else ride the motorcycle.

See you all at Heart of the Lakes, Chisago Lakes, Turtleman, PigMan, Square Lake, Treadman Duathlon, and TCM.

Kona or Bust, err maybe a PR for this slow, chubby triathlete.

Bill

Sparco Thanks. After the race I determined that I was not so much swimming slowly as not swimming straight. I finished at the BOP for the swim and I think my biggest problem was sighting. I wear glasses and can't see more than 10 feet in front of me. Last year I didn't really have a problem with it but I think it was easier to stay with the pack on the short course and the buoys were closer together. I probably ended up swimming 1.8K because I was zigzagging. The swim caps that matched the buoy colors did not help either.

I am going to get some contacts today.

Edited by murphvoss 2008-07-14 10:26 AM