Would you have scolded me? (Page 2)

Did you want glassy water on the swim, smooth paved road for the whole bike and no rocks on the run course too?

the whole triathlon is a series of "inconsistencies". she didn't throw her wetsuit and towel on the person's gear (i hope).

I like how you evaded the original question in my post and conveniently left it out of the quote.

The op said that they racked their bike backwards.  If you think about that for 12 seconds, your confusion level should also rise...and your response wouldn't be quite as shoot-from-the-hip as it was.

 ...and no...she didn't throw her wetsuit and towel on the person's gear.  Her bike was on top of the other persons gear.

gsmacleod - 2011-06-20 12:28 PM

TriPatrick - 2011-06-20 2:03 PM I do not understand how the OP's wheel was cover the running gear.  Why would you put your running gear so far deep where someones wheel could block it? 

The racks are similar to these: So the OP had their bike in the race like shown here but when they returned their bike, their bike was on the opposite side (next to the road bike in the picture). Normally with this type of rack the bikes alternate (as shown in the picture) and your transition gear would go in the spot next to your bike. Shane

Thanks Shane confusion has been eliminated.  Now I understand why someone could have been upset. 

really ruined the race for her huh?  I say BS.  She still won her ag.  What it sounds like is you hndlebars turned and the wheel was blocking her running stuff....if thats the case....Boooo WHOOOOOO!!  Seriouls a small ush on the wheel and its unblocked.  Its better than having your running shoes kicked behind a rack with a bike laying on top of them like happened to me in one race,.

I find it is best to be really bad at swimming, but really good at cycling.

When I get to T1 there are plenty of wide open spaces. Heck at my first HIM I could see my bike from 500 yards away, all alone on the rack.

Then I go real fast on the bike and get to T2 before most people, I can easily find my shoes and have plenty of space for my bike.

Perhaps it would help this lady to go a bit faster on the bike.

All kidding aside though, no, I would not have freaked out on you. Not like she had a $250,000 winners purse on the line.

Well then its not as I suggested.  Foul is right.  You didn't rack your bike in your transition space.  Still no reason to flip out over.  Think of it as a lesson learned....

Gonna agree with the others and call foul.

Racking by the front wheel instead of the back isn't a problem.  I do this all the time.  In T1, I have my bike pointing out (racked by the rear wheel).  When I come in for T2, I rack nose in.  Each method is fastest for that transition.  However, I always re-rack on the same side of the rack I started on.

That's where you made your mistake.  You racked on the opposite side from where you started, a definite no-no.

Maybe it could have been faster?  Ask Damiano Cunego or Levi Leipheimer how valuable 4 seconds are.

Just sayin...

Lesson learned...have fun at your next race.

This is the stance I take as well.  Nothing irritates me more in transition than people that are in SO much of a hurry that they inconvenience others.  For example, in a transition area where you are supposed to rack by the seat...everyone racks by the seat before the race (it does set their bike up for an exit in the out direction).  But then they are in too much of a hurry in T2 to spend a second turning the bike around so they throw it on the rack by the handlebars...which takes up too much rack space and by the time I get to T2 I have to shift all sorts of bikes around to have room to put mine back in.  They saved a couple of seconds...and cost me more than a couple of seconds.

IMHO, your "hurry" should never cost another competitor time.  There's no excuse for gear being all over the place.  You may have saved a second by not picking up your wetsuit that ended up all over my gear, but I lost that same second having to move it.

It really does only take an extra second or two to make sure you are putting your gear where it belongs.  So I think that when people don't they are being really rude and hurting my race experience.

None of this directed at the OP of course...sounds like an honest mistake.  But just something to think about for future races.  Because it is REALLY annoying to come into transition and find a "mess" or stuff in the way that shouldn't be there.

heh, I am not evil about it or anything, but if you (the royal you) don't care enough about your wetsuit to not leave it IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRANSITION AISLE, then I don't care enough about it not to run my bike over it.  And then run over it.  If it's ON TOP of my gear, I'd imagine it would be quite far from transition - at least as far as I could toss it.

 I would think of this way.  When this person setup their Ts, they setup their gear in a way of how they want their T2 process go to...rack bike, helmet off, shoes on, glasses on, race bib, go.  People, myself included, will use this mental process of rehearsing the steps so when they get off the bike...rack bike, helmet off, shoes on , glasses on, race bib on...go.  Then just imagine, they have a hard bike ride and look forward to the run, maybe their best event,....okay when I get to T2...rack bike, helmet off, shoes on, glasses on, race bib on..go.  Then when they show up... ah!! I can't get to my stuff....I don't want to move the bike next to mine, because its not mine, I don't want to push it over...now I have to reach around from the back or from the side....ah!! Maybe I need to get my stuff out first and then rack bike.... wait..do I rack first then helmet... ah!! oh wait...I left my glasses there at T2... ah!!! Darn it... my sequence is all thrown off... darn it I left my race bib... ah!! 

I understand flexibility with T1/T2s, sometimes things might get knocked over..bottle or maybe glasses...but this is why they have bikes going different ways so each person can enjoy their own race their own way.  If I messed up like this...I would have asked the person how can I make it up for them...to keep the karma gods happy... sometimes saying "oh sorry" won't take back the mess up.  However, owning up to the mistake and trying to make it up, even if the person didn't want anything from you, a simple hand shake saying I'm sorry would have cleared things up.   If it was me, I found find out that person's name and send them a gift card from an online Tri store, $20 bucks or some sports thing, case of gels/gift to pay back the karma gods.  I hoped you enjoyed the race and you tell this was important for this person because they probably stayed around to tell you. .."oh sorry"...   

I retract my previous statement, I thought you just switched the front and back not sides of the rack.

You screwed up,  at least you own up to it.  

I still don't think(hope) I would have gotten all upset about it. 

nm... maybe bad taste