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cruising not racing..
sporteve
Posts: 141
in General Chat
any of you doing the london tri saturday afternoon will be pleased to know i am a - newbie obviously - rather inexperienced cyclist with a fear for speed and not much cycling confidence therefore i suspect my bike leg will be more cruising rather than racing..
my questions are these:
1.how much will people hate me?
2.how much will i be sworn at?
3.how many attempts to kick me off the road shall there be?
4.where would be the best place to position myself to not be in the way of others?
5.does anyone know from past experience if there are spectators crossing the track?
6.how many are my chances of getting disqualified my mistake rather than intention of drafting etc?
many thanks!
my questions are these:
1.how much will people hate me?
2.how much will i be sworn at?
3.how many attempts to kick me off the road shall there be?
4.where would be the best place to position myself to not be in the way of others?
5.does anyone know from past experience if there are spectators crossing the track?
6.how many are my chances of getting disqualified my mistake rather than intention of drafting etc?
many thanks!
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PS ring me 01974 298183 to organise lift
I did my first Tri a couple of weeks ago and it turned out to be much simpler than I had been imagining.
Good luck and remember to have fun!
1 More than you can possibly imagine.
2 Swearing is the only thing you will hear
3 They will be continuous, as soon as you remount, you will be off again
4 Position your self away from anyone else, Car Parks a good place
5 Spectators won;t be too much of an issue, other than they will be swearing at you and trying to kick you off your bike
6 If you make it out f the water without being disquailified it'll be a loody miracle
No, seriously:
1 No one will hate you, the moment you pitch up at registration you'l find that 99% of Triathletes are decent people, friendly, and will offer any assitance or advide you require, just don't be scared to ask.
2 It's very unlikely that you'll get swarn at. Remeber, there's over 10,000 competitors, and about 4,000 of those have never done a Tri before, so they are all in the sam eposition as you. The difference you have is that you are on this Forum and asking questions ahead of the race. Forwarned is forearmed.
3 No one will kcik you off. Just remeber the rules of the road. Stick to the left hand side, look before you move out to pass someone, and yes, there will be someone slower than you and you will pass them. Keep and eye out and your ears open for those who are going pass you, they'll either shout "on your right" etc or you'll hear the drum of a disc wheel
4 See 3 above
5 Never done London so can;t comment, but at other races there's been dedictaed pedestrian crossing which are marshalled. I would have thought that London ebing the size it is, if there are any crossings they will be well controlled.
6 Remember, put your helmet on and do the strap up before you touch your bike, and rack your bike before you take your helmet off, this is one of the key rules, and probably the most policed. Mount your bike after the mount line, and not in transition, and likewise dismount when your told. Generally, these two issues afffect the H&S of you and others and that's why they're most policed. As to drafting, there are going to be som many competitors I can;t see how anyone is going to be able to stay within the required clear distances. As long as you're not wheel to wheel for a long time, they should leave you alone.
There's one other key question you didn't ask which clearly shows that you are a novice. Will I enjoy yourself. You can answer that on Monday.
the other common situation is that you catch a person up very gradually and just aren't able to overtake them quickly, but are traveling faster, rather than slow your race right down i just more out slightly right of them so I'm not directly in the draft .. sometimes they speed up when they see you so the overtake can last for ages but once in front it's then their duty to drop away or move out of draft.
note: i am a novice but that is my experience so far.
note 2: never panic and make any sudden moves, always take time to check it's clear of other cyclists or even vehicles, it's amazing how fast these carbon aero bikes can creep up you .
...triumphant you had me for ages...!
given that i am in the last racing group of the day and definitely not the fastest, i am pretty sure by the time i am on the bike the carbon aero wheels riders will have already packed and gone home so it'll be me and some other slow people!