Re: Congrats to Super Triathletes

[Benjamin Weiner]

Terry Morse > wrote:
> Eric Murray wrote:

> > But drafting would still work if they included
> > actual climbs on the bike leg. They just need something
> > to allow the stronger riders to gain some time... if
> > they know they are just dragging their competitors
> > along they won't work, and the result is that
> > they all come back together.

> Is breaking away on the bike portion of a triathlon illegal or
> somehow impossible? If I'm not mistaken, those guys in France last
> month staged several breakaways--even on flat stages.

It isn't illegal, just tactically foolish. TdF riders don't have
to save themselves for a run after the stage finish. And in a
triathlon, the entire pack has incentive to chase a breakaway.
While draft-illegal triathlons have some strategy inherent in
the pacing, AFAICT draft-legal triathlons are about getting to
the end of the bike leg in the main pack, whereupon the
fastest/freshest runner wins.

[Mark Hickey]

Terry Morse > wrote:

>Eric Murray wrote:
>
>> But drafting would still work if they included
>> actual climbs on the bike leg. They just need something
>> to allow the stronger riders to gain some time... if
>> they know they are just dragging their competitors
>> along they won't work, and the result is that
>> they all come back together.
>
>Is breaking away on the bike portion of a triathlon illegal or
>somehow impossible? If I'm not mistaken, those guys in France last
>month staged several breakaways--even on flat stages.

As Benjamin said, a triathlon is a VERY different animal than a road
race. IF there's a steep hill near the second trasition area, it
might make tactical sense to try to drop the pack.

If not, you're not going to win by breaking away from a functioning
pack. You'll be expending about 25-30% more energy just to go as fast
as the pack - more to go just a bit faster.

Of course, if you can do that for half the bike leg and STILL outrun
the competition, you were going to win anyway. Thing is, most races
aren't won by someone who's much, much stronger than everyone else.

That said, after the second TT in the TdF last year, the question came
up about how Lance would have fared in an Olympic distance tri.
Obviously, he knows how to swim and run (having been the US Jr. Tri
champion at 16, and was starting to beat up on the pros), so he could
come out of the water at least somewhat close to the "pack". Assuming
the pack was really working at near capacity in the race we compared,
and that Lance could get away cleanly and hold the pace he did in the
2nd TT - he would have needed only to run something "pedestrian" like
7 minute miles to win. Obviously, that wouldn't have been a problem.

But of course, we'll never know - was the pack really working at 100%
(why would they)? Still, it would be fun to watch. Draft legal tris
are BORING (I was at both of the 2000 Olympic tris - yawn... big pack
exits the water together, rides some laps together, then they start
the real event - a 10km foot race.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame