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2014-10-15 2:28 PM
in reply to: jhaack39

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?

Originally posted by jhaack39
Originally posted by 3mar I'm going with figure skating.
Worse. I'd, still rather dress like Johnny Weir. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBqHqcel_fYI'm the guy yelling at the beginning and stomping his foot in the oversized gear. I went through 3 outfits during my weightloss and didn't get properly fitted kit until this spring. I posted last years, 'cause we won and suuuuucked this year.

So cool!

Here's some more guys that are WAY cooler than triathlon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW3QVLlK-kE   (perfectly SFW)



2014-10-15 2:30 PM
in reply to: jhaack39

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
Originally posted by jhaack39

Originally posted by 3mar

I'm going with figure skating.



Worse. I'd, still rather dress like Johnny Weir.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBqHqcel_fY

I'm the guy yelling at the beginning and stomping his foot in the oversized gear. I went through 3 outfits during my weightloss and didn't get properly fitted kit until this spring.
I posted last years, 'cause we won and suuuuucked this year.


That is awesome. So wait a minute...in one hobby you wear a skirt...and in the other you shave you legs....
2014-10-15 2:33 PM
in reply to: velocomp

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
Originally posted by velocomp

Originally posted by Kido

I agree with the crossfit observation.  Gyms are popping up all over the place here drawing a lot people.  Maybe mostly the people wanting to get fit vs compete.

Let's be honest.  There is no fit vs compete.  Crossfit people do it to look good.  That may change after a while, but.... Just my opinion.




And they are some sort of cult. The only people that I have ever suggested do triathlons were running and riding buddies who expressed an interest in it. The crossfit people don't seem to understand that we are training for something specific. They are constantly trying to get me to do that garbage "just a few hours a week". I respond with "is that on top of the 10 hours a week I spend running, swimming, biking, and strength training? Because I can't cut into to that."

Anyway, I wonder if some of the decline is also due to people having bad experiences at poorly put on races. More people are organizing races, and not all of them know what they are doing. I am sure that the logistics of a tri are complicated, but some races are badly organized to the point of being dangerous. I did one last year that was extremely dangerous, not just for the athletes (should not have been swimming in a river running that high and fast after two days of rain), but for people who had nothing to do with the race. They had us biking on an open MUP with no signs warning everyone that we were going to be out there. Yep, dodging elderly people, dog walkers, and toddlers while trying to ride at 20 mph. There were several people who were doing that for their first race. If I were them, I would never attempt a tri again. I heard there was a bit of community backlash as well.
2014-10-15 2:38 PM
in reply to: Kido

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
I got a bit off topic with the ice skating tigers and stuff but...

I started this triathlon business a couple of months ago and have seen all the major triathlons in my area sell out (Escape to Miami, Miami IM 70.3 and Miami Man Triathlon). So it seems pretty bumpin' down here anyway, but I have nothing to measure that against. I do know that the moment I decide to do a tri I sign up right away out of fear of it selling out. So that has to say something.

P.S. I'm not 100% positive about the IM 70.3, but heard it and am too lazy to google to find out. The other two I know sold out.
2014-10-15 2:39 PM
in reply to: jhaack39

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?

In my part of the country it is still very popular, and I have people all the time coming up and telling me that they are wanting to do a sprint race coming up. And I think that is cool, cause that is exactly how I started, I just wanted to see if I could do a "sprint" race. That was 5 years ago and I am still going. I do not think it will ever become a household name due to the fact hat it is not TV friendly, I mean I do not even sit down to watch triathlon on TV.

And I do consider myself to be an athlete and I am proud of it! Early on, I very easily could have been like that woman at the pool a previous poster spoke of, but now I enjoy hearing the excitement about racing.

 

So no, I do not think the popularity has gone away for racing, as for the site, I know why the activity on BT has decreased.

 

Ever since BT took away that little swimming video game, this place ain't been the same!!!!!!

 

2014-10-15 2:47 PM
in reply to: cwpeters

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?

Originally posted by cwpeters

 

How tall is your friend? I'm 6'5" and could use a cheap bike and a good set of clubs.

 

Sorry, Chris, he's only about 5'-9".  Don't think either would fit you.  

Mark



2014-10-15 3:08 PM
in reply to: jford2309

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
I don't have a good feel on this but I am shocked at the low posting rate of BT in the last year. I work in a bike shop and when I mention BT to folks they have never heard of it. I even posted it in my local run group when somebody was looking for a place to log workouts.

I will be honest I have not been around much in the last year. IMAZ was great and having that board was lifeline but after the race, well, I had that post IM funk followed by some pretty serious health issues. All that to say I am getting back in the swing of things, going to AZ to volunteer and sign up for next year. When I went to the 2014 IMAZ board there are 3 pages. This race is a month away and there are only 3 pages????

Do you think this is a triathlon thing or a BT thing? If it is a BT thing, WHY?
2014-10-15 3:13 PM
in reply to: KeriKadi

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?

Originally posted by KeriKadi I don't have a good feel on this but I am shocked at the low posting rate of BT in the last year. I work in a bike shop and when I mention BT to folks they have never heard of it. I even posted it in my local run group when somebody was looking for a place to log workouts. I will be honest I have not been around much in the last year. IMAZ was great and having that board was lifeline but after the race, well, I had that post IM funk followed by some pretty serious health issues. All that to say I am getting back in the swing of things, going to AZ to volunteer and sign up for next year. When I went to the 2014 IMAZ board there are 3 pages. This race is a month away and there are only 3 pages???? Do you think this is a triathlon thing or a BT thing? If it is a BT thing, WHY?

Oh no!!!!!!

2014-10-15 3:40 PM
in reply to: KeriKadi


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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
Originally posted by KeriKadi

Do you think this is a triathlon thing or a BT thing? If it is a BT thing, WHY?



It's an internet thing. As I noted, I have another hobby that's somewhat obscure and participant driven. There's really only one board for it...save the remnants of Usenet and a spinoff or two where people left because of a personal beef. And it is restricted solely to discussion related to that hobby. To the point where anything that is not at least fairly loosely related will get deleted.

But, there's now tons of blogs, quality websites, podcasts, etc...that didn't really exist before. For non-forum types those are more than adequate. They didn't exist early on and were hard to find (http://www.bradfordcompany.net/~/yourlastname.yourfirstname/blogspot.com). I'm sure that's happened with tri as well.

Also, for boards, once you attract your base customer community.....it's like emailing with an old friend. A massive flurry of back and forth. But, you can really only trade emails or phone calls for about 2 days before you have nothing terribly relevant left to say and it becomes "What's up? How you doing? I'm doing cool. See ya!". I mean, ya'll have answered my newb-type questions what 2...3 zillion times now? Or gone over the best ____ [insert gear here]" question how many times? I'm more than glad a lot of you are willing to do that.

It's also a bit like the million monkeys in a room. At some point if enough of us monkeys log in, given time...we'll cover just about everything.

Not sure when BT started, but for the first few years I'm assuming it was POPPING. Heck, even Facebook reported an actual decline last year, didn't they? It's still a REALLY healthy forum. I'm a forum junky. I'm sure it gets livelier 'in season' and when there's something exceptionally compelling being discussed.

I go back to the idea that you can buy a tri bike for under $1500 from a half dozen or more manufacturers. Same with "triathlon" wetsuits, transition backpacks, sunglasses, shorts, tops, suits....If it weren't "big", you couldn't do that. I own a factory. I'm shocked at how inexpensive some of the gear actually is. Not that it's cheap, but I'm shocked at how inexpensive some of it is. Especially with the engineering or manufacturing processes involved. That just means there's some fairly serious quantity being made to meet fairly serious demand.
2014-10-15 3:47 PM
in reply to: Left Brain

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?

Originally posted by Left Brain

I don't know dude.....I think your other hobby is cool as hell!  And.....my wife digs the clothes too!

Yeah, you do run across those kinds of people.  That's a turn off for me.

I remember some guy trying to pick up a girl at the gym talking about how awesome he did in his first and only sprint triathlon...  How cute...

2014-10-15 3:55 PM
in reply to: Kido


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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
Oh, and I've never shaved my legs.

For either hobby.


2014-10-15 4:10 PM
in reply to: 0

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?

Originally posted by jhaack39
Originally posted by 3mar I'm going with figure skating.
Worse. I'd, still rather dress like Johnny Weir. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBqHqcel_fYI'm the guy yelling at the beginning and stomping his foot in the oversized gear. I went through 3 outfits during my weightloss and didn't get properly fitted kit until this spring. I posted last years, 'cause we won and suuuuucked this year.

Lol - as I was reading your posts my first guess was bagpipes. I used to be a Scottish Highland Dancer. Yeah, patently uncool. But *I* think you're cool

(...and your pipe band is pretty damn good!)

Not that that has anything to do with triathlons. Which I no longer do either. I took up mountain biking, which seems to be what all of my other Colorado BT friends from way back when did when they got sick of tris (I've been on BT for a LOOONG time). 



Edited by Stacers 2014-10-15 4:16 PM
2014-10-15 4:14 PM
in reply to: 0

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?

Originally posted by Stacers

Not that that has anything to do with triathlons. Which I no longer do either. I took up mountain biking, which seems to be what all of my other Colorado BT friends from way back when did when they got sick of tris (I've been on BT for a LOOONG time). 

Shushhhhhhh! Don't talk about mountain biking or more people will start doing it.

Add me to the list of switching to mountain biking.  I needed a break from triathlons and decided to give it a try and loved it from day one.  I don't compete, I just go out and ride and have fun.  I'll stick to XTERRA races for my triathlon fix.



Edited by csharp1171 2014-10-15 4:15 PM
2014-10-15 8:48 PM
in reply to: jhaack39

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
Originally posted by jhaack39

It's still a REALLY healthy forum. I'm a forum junky. I'm sure it gets livelier 'in season' and when there's something exceptionally compelling being discussed.



I joined BT last January, I think, when I googled beginner triathlete advise. Seems appropriate . It seems to me that here, and the other cycling forums I've been on for a few years, get a lot less traffic in the summer. That's a GOOD thing! To me, that means that people are spending their free time out there doing what we spend work hours and all winter day-dreaming about doing! The downside is that the forums slow down so when you are bored, there isn't much new to read and the most popular threads are the ones about the forum declining... LOL.
2014-10-15 11:40 PM
in reply to: Kido

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
I've been away from BT for a couple years now as well as triathlon, so here's my perspective. Before I got into triathlon oh so long ago, it was the mystique and the seemingly unattainability of it, relative rarity of it, appreciation of it, and aspiration to it that made it seem so "cool" to me. I can remember speaking to someone at a party and she told me how she had done an olympic distance race and I was so in awe since it never seemed like something I would do. To me, there is no doubt the sport is vastly more popular today than it used to be (in my tri club, membership has only grown). Perhaps this familiarity makes it less cool. Is an iphone 5 still cool? Triathlon lost some of those qualities for me, but was instead replaced by a familiarity and it's still something I respect, but I wouldn't call it "cool" or think of myself as being cool for having done them. But when I talk to people about some of the things I've done, i do sometimes hear wonder and a bit of awe from them.

Perhaps the real question is does it really matter if it is cool or not? Maybe it does for the indoctrination of new participants and the continued growth of our sport.
2014-10-16 7:24 AM
in reply to: 0

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
Originally posted by enginerd
Perhaps the real question is does it really matter if it is cool or not? Maybe it does for the indoctrination of new participants and the continued growth of our sport.


I think that is the real question, and I don't think it ever mattered. I don't care whether someone likes triathlon because they are competing with a friend, or because they think it's cool, trying to annoy their wife, is incredibly vain, or thinks their dog told them to do it. I don't understand why we think that just because we like a sport - and for different reasons, any of them valid to that person - that we ought to have anything in common. I didn't get into triathlon to make friends, but I have made a few doing it.

As for growing the sport...
If you love competing, then you need a venue. If you want that venue to be close to you, you should probably support the ones that are. If that means helping them grow, then you're in the tough position of trying to recruit new people or drag past ones back into it. That's pretty tough in my experience, a job better suited to a race promoter. If your venue of choice is surviving just fine on its own, and is the 'right size' for you, you don't *need* to grow the sport. That is, you're not under obligation to. I suspect more people would be turned off by someone evangelizing triathlon than they would be by someone who just stays fit and keeps it personal. It's up to you. If you're a Type A personality, it's probably pretty difficult for you to contain your exuberance about anything, so you might feel you HAVE to tell EVERYONE how GREAT TRIATHLON IS and THEY HAVE TO TRY IT. I think that's what we saw over the last few years - a lot of new people discovered it for whatever reason (and I don't think it's important to figure out what reasons those were, I'm no historian) and a lot of those people were really vocal. Some stuck with it, some didn't, it's just life.

Is it cool?
It's a unique sport - to do it, compete at it, you spend a lot of personal time. In a race, it's all you. There's no inherent social element. Each participant toes the line with their own story. So how can it be cool or not? Can you compare one person with another? I have no idea if each person there is 'cool' or not, but to me, they're no more or less 'cool' just because they toed the line that day. And if you're not racing, you're just swimming, biking, and running. If you do that with others, it's social. If not, it's not. But training doesn't make you cool, and it doesn't make you cool to others. If you're a quality person who lives their life the best they can, works hard, loves their family, and tries to make amends for the mistakes they make, then you've got a good shot at being cool to others. My kids asked me what 'cool' meant, and I told them it's when other people think you're nice, it's a quick way to say 'I like you'. That seemed to work for them, and it works for me.

Edited by fisherman76 2014-10-16 7:26 AM


2015-07-22 7:48 AM
in reply to: Kido


1

Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
Google trends says, that triathlon is loosing its "coolness" and Ironmen has stable trend:

https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=triathlon%2C%20ironman&cmpt=...
2015-07-22 9:16 PM
in reply to: Kido


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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
Originally posted by Kido

Of course, some will say it was NEVER cool.  Many people on here will ALWAYS say it's cool (just like people with handlebar mustaches probably still think they are the hippest thing ever - or using words like "hip"!).

But based on nothing more than a gut feeling, I feel triathlon is out of it's prime or in a lull.  I have ZERO data to back me up so curious if anyone knows more or would agree/disagree.

  • I based it on the loss of IM races or IM races not filling up as fast or not filling up completely at all.  Less mystique/conversation about them here and in general public.
  • FAR less televised programs.  I seem to remember they had quit a bit on TV a couple years ago.  Many 1 hour shows for the IM's and a lot of ITU races.
  • HUGELY decreased  conversation/participation in BT.  I haven't been to my ST account in a long time to get a feel for over there.  It seems before the complaint was people were asking the same questions over and over again.  At lease there was enough new people TO ask the same question - not I rarely see any questions at all - much less repeat questions.
  • Canceling/removing local races from the schedule.

Maybe since I have less interest, I don't seek out our surround myself by others that have it as an interest so "less interest" is more self fulfilling than reality. 




Dan over at Slow Twitch has written a lot on this subject in the past year. He suggests that participation is cyclical and triathlon is in a downswing right now while running and mountain biking seem to be enjoying a nice upswing at the same time. Dan also pointed out that this is mostly an American phenomena and that growth in triathlon oversees is still quite robust.

2015-07-22 10:22 PM
in reply to: #5059785

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
From the perspective of a cross country skier triathlons seems huge and still very popular:-)
Maybe the races sell out slower because there are more races added. I also spoke to a friend of mine who is a very accomplished triathlete and she said that the cost of signing up for a race, especially the ironman races has increased a lot, preventing many people from being able to join.
2015-07-23 12:18 AM
in reply to: 3mar

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
https://youtu.be/g1awwAgU_t8

Make fun of Highlanders kilt and see what happens :-)
2015-07-23 12:28 AM
in reply to: simpsonbo


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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
It's not a cool sport, it never has been and it never will be.


2015-07-23 10:20 AM
in reply to: TriCDA

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?

My observation is that interest in triathlon has been replaced in part by interest in CrossFit, Tough Mudders, and so on.  There's still a lot going on, but all the new races I hear about are not plain-old triathlons but some obstacle course thing, some trail run aspect etc.

CrossFit in particular has taken away a certain obsessive "must exercise every day" crowd.  My unverified opinion.

Participation in BT open forums is down; there was a big thread on that a while back after a major redesign altered the "friends" and "inspires" feature.  And supposedly the mentor groups get traffic but I don't participate there and never have.  The "official IMAZ" type threads are much quieter, but if you check out the IM specific pages on Facebook like the IM Boulder 2015 group, you'll find the same sort of posts that used be dozens of pages on BT.

2015-07-23 11:18 AM
in reply to: TriCDA

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?

We're all doing Ultra's now.  they're where the cool is.

2015-07-23 11:20 AM
in reply to: jhaack39

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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
Originally posted by jhaack39

Oh, and I've never shaved my legs.

For either hobby.


I'm a "When in Rome" kind of guy and feel obligated to:

*Shave my legs for 70.3's
*Sprint up the beach after the swim
*Run through transition with my bike, holding it by the seat, like I am 10 seconds off the lead.

None of them have any effect on my crappy times.
2015-07-24 10:32 AM
in reply to: TriCDA


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Subject: RE: Has triathlon lost it's "cool"?
As a long time observer I did not make the decision to train and eventually compete because it was cool. Like anything that has surges in popularity new people will flock to something, some stay, some go, and eventually things return to normal levels of activity depending on the sport/activity.

Triathlon can be a hobby for some but if you take it seriously at all it has to become a lifestyle IMO.

You want to know the real reason I want to compete in the sport of triathlon? Because there are still people who ask and when I explain what it is and what I am doing they look at me and say "Are you freaking CRAZY?!?!" That is why I want to cross that finish line of a tri of any distance. The average person cannot comprehend the amount of effort mental and physical required to complete a triathlon. So everyday I ask myself "why be average?"
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