Transition Setup

Originally posted by Coach Gil

I have a local race coming up that I have done the past 3 years. It is a great course and has been well run previously. Found out the race has been sold and has a new company running it. One of the immediate changes that they made (that we just found out about late last week via e-mail) was that they are now assigning transition spots. In the past it was first come, first served as is the case in many races. This particular race has 2 separate transition areas. In the past, packet pick up was on Saturday, get there, get in line early, get your bib etc. and head quickly to T2 to set up your run gear for the following morning. Get up early, get to T1 race morning and grab a rack spot, the closer to the bike exit, the better as it is less running with the bike.

The response from the "new" race director was that it was in the spirit of fair competition that they were using USAT best practices and fair guidelines in setting up the transition areas. OK, cool. I guess that sounds legit. The only problem is that the areas that contain T1 and T2 are not even close to the same size. Meaning, if I have a shorter run with the bike in T1, I should have a longer run with my bike in T2. That way it evens out. But I don't see how they are going to make that happen with the real estate they have to work with. Did I have an advantage under the old system? Yes, I did. But, I also was up at 3:00 am in order to get to the venue as early as transition opened to get my spot. I also got to packet pickup early and stood in line for quite some time. My point being that these advantages were available to all athletes if they chose to do so. We would hear the groans from the guys who showed up at 6:15 and had to move down the line to rack their SC or P5! Hey, T1 opened at 5:00, I was there at 5:01. I guess the early bird no longer gets the worm! It's all good for me, I am top 1/3 at best. But, some of the local beasts are not happy about it. Guess we all have to just work a bit harder is all!

Originally posted by Clempson

Every race I have ever done has had assigned spots based on bib numbers.  Even local small sprints.  I can't imagine first come first serve transition spots being a smoother way of doing things. 

Originally posted by Clempson

Every race I have ever done has had assigned spots based on bib numbers.  Even local small sprints.  I can't imagine first come first serve transition spots being a smoother way of doing things. 

Originally posted by Jason N

Yeah...especially if it's a race big enough to sell out.  Generally AG's will be racked together, so that should keep the AG racing on an even field.  There could be an advantage for others in terms of the overall, but in general, I've noticed that bigger races also have an elite division...again, where they are racked in the same area to keep them on an even playing field as well.

Originally posted by Jason N

Yeah...especially if it's a race big enough to sell out.  Generally AG's will be racked together, so that should keep the AG racing on an even field.  There could be an advantage for others in terms of the overall, but in general, I've noticed that bigger races also have an elite division...again, where they are racked in the same area to keep them on an even playing field as well.

Originally posted by Clempson
Every race I have ever done has had assigned spots based on bib numbers.  Even local small sprints.  I can't imagine first come first serve transition spots being a smoother way of doing things.