General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Top Innovations in Triathlon 2019 Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller Reply
2019-12-31 4:11 PM


23

Subject: Top Innovations in Triathlon 2019
What trends or innovations did you guys notice in our sport from 2019?

I don't think the beam bikes have really had the staying power in 2019. I noticed some unique aerobars at Kona this year. Mostly pro athletes with custom printed bars and I think we'll notice that trend in the future for the pointy end of our sport. The other big one would be the Nike Next% shoe. Seems like a shoe that a lot of people will be wearing going forward.

Anything else that you guys noticed?


2020-01-03 9:14 AM
in reply to: mlegrand

User image


1508
1000500
Cypress, Texas
Subject: RE: Top Innovations in Triathlon 2019

Well...I only did four sprint triathlons in 2019.  None of them had more than about 300 participants.  Given the limited exposure, I had to the racing community and the fact that the much of the Sprint Filed are entry-level triathletes and not investing the money on top innovations what I saw may not be the best representation of sport as a whole but here is what I noticed in 2019.

1) Beam bikes.  No, I didn't see any of these at races, but Ventum Bikes in the new Sponsor for my Kiwami NA Race Team so I looked into the Ventum Z and Ventum One bikes.  The Ventum bikes eliminate the front fork in their design and have the integrated hydration system on the top bar. I also looked at some of the other beam bikes because some of the reviews put them together.  The beam bikes are NOT legal for most cycling races.  Triathlon as a very very small slice of the cycling market that bike manufacturers are chasing for market share so the fact that manufacturers are putting research and development dollars into bikes that only competitive Triathletes would ever buy is very encouraging for the direction of the sport.

 

2) Mid High cycling socks.  I saw some very wild mid-high cycling socks that matched the bike and race Team kit of an Age Group Athlete doing the Olympic distance race at one of the events I did.  He had two teammates that were doing the 70.3 at the same event.  I didn't notice their feet but they had the same race kits and matching bikes so I assume they had a pair of socks too.  Are socks becoming a thing in triathlon?   I thought the thing was to go sockless so that you could save 5 seconds' time in transition.  I haven't switched to the sockless yet but you ankle socks.  Should I be looking for some mid-high technical cycling socks?

 

3) The carbon sole running shoes.  I couldn't tell you if I saw anyone at a race with them because they look like any other shoe to me, but I was into a running store on my birthday in October for annual trip to the big city to go shoe shopping and the sales guy was talking about the sub-2-hour marathon project (which I knew nothing about) and the carbon shoes that he said were part of what shoe manufacturers have been working on for years to make the sub-2-hour possible.  So what is up with carbon-soled shoes?  My race flats have carbon on the soles but the first time a tired on pair of the model I currently have was 12 years ago so I don't know what the difference is with the new carbon-soled shoes.  They also talk that they shouldn't be legal to race in.  It that marketing hype?  I know that they say in a Marathon that ever 2 oz of weight that you take out of the shoes you are 1% faster.  My racing flats are 4 oz lighter than my sturdy training shoes.  When I have my race flats on I have to look down at my feet to make sure I didn't leave on a run barefoot or in flip flops.  Light shoes feel great but when I throw my race flats on for a training run my splits are about the same as they are in my training shoes so I guess it is one of those build engines before you invest in the vehicle type things.  If you are fast you are fast in any shoes and if you are slow you are slow in any shoes. 

 

Oh...another thing I noticed about shoes this year.  I looked at getting some triathlon-specific running shoes this year rather than the running-specific shoes I always have had in the past.  I didn't get the Tri shoes but noticed that lots of them have water drains in them.  What is the purpose of water drains in Triathlon shoes?  Ya, your feet might be wet when you are done with the swim, but if you wipe them off before they go in your shoes to prevent blisters, and anyone who is looking at Triathlon specific running shoes already has a pair of cycling shoes that they are going to wear before they put their feet in triathlon running shoes which means that unless in it raining their feet are going to be dry long before they go into the triathlon running shoe.  I was lost on that one (and stuck with the running-specific shoes for another year of racing).

 

4) I came across a "Wachy Triathlon" this year.  I have no idea how long it has been running but it was at the same facility as an out of state reunion with un-laws the night before our family reunion.  The swim was in a wave pool with the waves turned on.  The races started a 10 PM and finished with a 5K glow run.  I assume that lamps were required on the bike but don't remember the details on that leg.    I also gave across the "Blob Triathlon" this year.  It was a standard sprint triathlon but they had one of those huge inflatables that one person sits on and another person jumps on from a town to launch the first person 15 feet into the air landing in the water.  The blob was open to everyone at the finish line.  So...I saw lots more fun races aimed at making triathlons more enticing to the non-competitive and entry-level athletes to get them off the fence and into races.  

 

5) Ironman shook things up this year.  They started the three-year rotation on traditional 70.3 distance races where they are going to be doing a full Ironman at that venue in place of the 70.3 race once ever three years.  St George, Utah will be the first 70.3 race to go to do the one-year full race.  I also saw a ton of new Ironman races this year.  IM Tulsa, IM 70.3 Des Moines, IM 70.3 Memphis, a 70.3 in Washington State, etc.  I don't remember any time in the past that they have made that may change all at once.  Sadly a lot of the volunteer-run races are being forced to discontinue races since the volunteers can't keep up with a major corporation.  I half of the 70.3 races I have done was Ironman Branded races and half were none Ironman.  My favorite 70.3 was an Ironman race and my least favorite race was also an Ironman Race.  One of the volunteer organized races I did was outstanding (my second favorite 70.3 race).  The days of putting clip-on aero bars on a street bike and going to a triathlon with running shoes and toes clips to compete in a volunteer-run race that had no set distances or set ratios between the three disciples is being forgotten and replaced by supper bike and corporation run races with set distances (and yes if they run comes up at 26.4 miles on even one person's GPS they race organization will hear no end of it and they will be sued for the race results to be nullified.     

New Thread
General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Top Innovations in Triathlon 2019 Rss Feed  
RELATED POSTS

08.01.2019 Tops Down Thursday

Started by PigeonTri
Views: 358 Posts: 4

2019-08-01 8:57 PM Parkland

07.23.2019 Top of the Tuesday

Started by PigeonTri
Views: 310 Posts: 5

2019-07-23 9:26 PM Hot Runner

06.25.2019 Top O'The Tuesday to You

Started by PigeonTri
Views: 334 Posts: 3

2019-06-25 7:48 PM Hot Runner

Garmin 920xt for Triathlon with Pool Swim

Started by 3mar
Views: 5287 Posts: 12

2019-07-20 1:59 PM KRyder727

Is a lsd run necessary in triathlon training?

Started by b2run
Views: 2412 Posts: 14

2020-01-04 2:37 AM miklcct