What Are Triathletes Such Tightwads About Drafting?

You are wrong about the draft in the swim leg having a negligible effect on the race, so totally wrong. An average swimmer will save 16 minutes or more in the Ironman swim because of the drafting. The drafting in the swim nearly nullifies the swim leg, like you said about drafting for the bike. I call you a hypocrite.

And of course you can put lanes in the ocean. Triathlons already use floats to mark the swim course. You just put floating ropes between the lanes like in swimming pools. Easy.

And I've won as many triathlons as I've won racewalks. Same level of hypocrisy and idiocy in both sports.

1. Quit saying "drafting" when you are referring to "pack swimming". 2 people can draft while swimming quite safely. 2 competitors cannot safely draft while cycling.

2. The drafting wouldn't have caused his death. Insufficient spotters would have. A time trial start probably doesn't help in this regard, as the swimmers would be spread out over a larger area.

3. "Wobbly" cyclists on a TT/Tri bike in the back of the pack doesn't help matters. If they cannot reach their brakes, the slam into the rest of the group up front.

4. You think nobody dies in bike wrecks? Urine idiot.

Penced my Pants wrote:

1. Quit saying "drafting" when you are referring to "pack swimming". 2 people can draft while swimming quite safely. 2 competitors cannot safely draft while cycling.

2. The drafting wouldn't have caused his death. Insufficient spotters would have. A time trial start probably doesn't help in this regard, as the swimmers would be spread out over a larger area.

3. "Wobbly" cyclists on a TT/Tri bike in the back of the pack doesn't help matters. If they cannot reach their brakes, the slam into the rest of the group up front.

4. You think nobody dies in bike wrecks? Urine idiot.

1. Drafting. Drafting. Drafting. DRAFTING. Pack swimmers are DRAFTING. Your continued denial of this FACT astounds me and shows the lunacy of the tryathlete mind.

2. The drafting is the cause of his death. He drowned because he couldn't surface from all the other swimmers drafting. No amount of spotters will do any good where all the tryathletes are drafting and you can't even tell who is where out how many there are. Fact.

3. It has now become clear to me that you have never ridden a bike before.

4. 95% of deaths in the triathlon have come in the swim leg, and they are preventable deaths. Deaths occurring on the bike leg? Less than 5% and they are from a tryathlete plowing into a car.

1. Oh yeah, have you ever gotten kicked in the face it head while DRAFTING another swimmer in a pack? Good way to drown.

1. That is fine. The drafting isn't what is dangerous in swimming, though. It IS what is dangerous in cycling (on TT bikes).

2. He would have gone under, regardless of whether someone else was near him. Fact.

3. lol ok

4. What do you think would happen to that number of deaths on the bike leg if drafting on TT bikes was allowed? That is like saying only 5% of deaths are due to shooting people, therefore shooting people must not be dangerous. More people don't die from being shot because IT IS ILLEGAL... and it is illegal because it is unsafe. Urine Idiot.

Penced my Pants wrote:

1. That is fine. The drafting isn't what is dangerous in swimming, though. It IS what is dangerous in cycling (on TT bikes).

2. He would have gone under, regardless of whether someone else was near him. Fact.

3. lol ok

4. What do you think would happen to that number of deaths on the bike leg if drafting on TT bikes was allowed? That is like saying only 5% of deaths are due to shooting people, therefore shooting people must not be dangerous. More people don't die from being shot because IT IS ILLEGAL... and it is illegal because it is unsafe. Urine Idiot.

1. Drafting in swimming is the leading cause of death in triathlons. Drafting on TT bikes is not as dangerous as evidenced by cyclists doing team time trials and the fact that we use the virtual aero bar position on road bikes in mass start races. That's right, us cyclists can ride in the TT position without even needing aerobars and we don't take out the whole pack. We don't even kill each other riding the virtual aero bar position and we do this with competitors around us. The only notable cause of deaths is when a car plows into us.

2. He would not have gone under if the tryathletes were not drafting in the swim. He got plowed under the water by the other tryathletes like he was a rotten potatoe in a farmer's field. There was no medical condition indicated in the article. He either got tired and was trying to float or he got kicked in the face from the drafting and went unconcious. The DRAFTING is the primary cause of his death. It was entirely preventable if he was swimming alone so he could be tracked and not get kicked in the face.

3. and 4. - See answer 1. My conclusion that you have never ridden a bike or is a very poor bike rider still stands.

Most of you guys keep rambling on and on and on.... but basically you dont have a clue

The main reason there is no drafting in the cycling leg of a triathlon is purely to avoid the inevitable number of road accidents from a huge number of amateur guys in flashy licra riding too close to one another and whose handling skills are doubtful at best.

Proof of this is that in the ITU circuit (where only professional athletes are allowed) BIKE DRAFTING IS ALLOWED....

Yawn....

PS: calling them try-athletes is asinine as the top guys in the business are amazing endurance machines and the rest of them is on par of what some of you guys call "hobby-j". Btw you are in for a shock when you are past your prime, if there ever was one.... then you would look at those "try" guys in envy....

KAV wrote:

Most of you guys keep rambling on and on and on.... but basically you dont have a clue

The main reason there is no drafting in the cycling leg of a triathlon is purely to avoid the inevitable number of road accidents from a huge number of amateur guys in flashy licra riding too close to one another and whose handling skills are doubtful at best.

Proof of this is that in the ITU circuit (where only professional athletes are allowed) BIKE DRAFTING IS ALLOWED....

Yawn....

PS: calling them try-athletes is asinine as the top guys in the business are amazing endurance machines and the rest of them is on par of what some of you guys call "hobby-j". Btw you are in for a shock when you are past your prime, if there ever was one.... then you would look at those "try" guys in envy....

1. Why bother even allowing TT bikes if the average tryathlete has the bike handling skills of a drunk?

2. Drafting in the swim leg is way more dangerous than drafting in the bike leg. On the bike leg at least you wear a helmet. In the swim leg, there is no emergency floatation safety equipment at all and drownings are common enough to warrant it.

3. Tryathlete is the proper term if he/she has the bike handling skills of a drunk.

LOL so you have no credibility or basis for your claims about triathlon. Got it.

Btw your point where you say to put ropes between "the lanes" in the ocean like in a swimming pool was a little much, and gave you away as a troll. Not even someone as this board will believe someone is that dumb.

Dial it up wrote:

LOL so you have no credibility or basis for your claims about triathlon. Got it.

Btw your point where you say to put ropes between "the lanes" in the ocean like in a swimming pool was a little much, and gave you away as a troll. Not even someone as this board will believe someone is that dumb.

I have credibility BECAUSE I don't do silly triathlons. I stick to real sports.

For lanes in open water swimming, have you never watched rowing races in the Olympics? What do you think separates their lanes in the open water? Can't believe you are that un-learned.

Wise One wrote:

Dial it up wrote:

LOL so you have no credibility or basis for your claims about triathlon. Got it.

Btw your point where you say to put ropes between "the lanes" in the ocean like in a swimming pool was a little much, and gave you away as a troll. Not even someone as this board will believe someone is that dumb.

I have credibility BECAUSE I don't do silly triathlons. I stick to real sports.

For lanes in open water swimming, have you never watched rowing races in the Olympics? What do you think separates their lanes in the open water? Can't believe you are that un-learned.

PLEASE enlighten us with what real sports those are. We are dying to know.

Wise One, mate you are flipping retarded.

Save 16 minutes on the swim due to drafting? What a ridiculous claim.

Most swimmers doing a triathlon are barely able to swim. It's way harder to draft swimming compared to cycling. It's easy to cycle a a metre behind someone, but it surprisingly difficult to keep on someone's toes or hips in the swim.

And even aside from that the benefits gained from drafting in the swim are much less than on the bike. You'll save around 5-10% in the swim with a decent draft, but around 25-30% on the bike.

Wise One wrote:

Dial it up wrote:

LOL so you have no credibility or basis for your claims about triathlon. Got it.

Btw your point where you say to put ropes between "the lanes" in the ocean like in a swimming pool was a little much, and gave you away as a troll. Not even someone as this board will believe someone is that dumb.

I have credibility BECAUSE I don't do silly triathlons. I stick to real sports.

For lanes in open water swimming, have you never watched rowing races in the Olympics? What do you think separates their lanes in the open water? Can't believe you are that un-learned.

Yea my credibility for being a doctor is that I've never studied medicine.

Wise One wrote:

no wrote:

No, it really doesn't.

Your command of physics is enlightening.

10/10. Physics wins.

You are all missing the point - the time to draft is in *transition*. You can easily cut 3-4 mins off your time. Why do you think *sleek* compression shorts are so valuable to triathletes? Better drafting in transition is the obvious answer.

Look people.... whether you're strictly a runner or a multi sport athlete, I'm certain that we can all agree on one thing: OP Wise One probably molests children, the elderly, and small domestic pets.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend.

The Wisest One wrote:

Wise One, mate you are flipping retarded.

Save 16 minutes on the swim due to drafting? What a ridiculous claim.

Most swimmers doing a triathlon are barely able to swim. It's way harder to draft swimming compared to cycling. It's easy to cycle a a metre behind someone, but it surprisingly difficult to keep on someone's toes or hips in the swim.

And even aside from that the benefits gained from drafting in the swim are much less than on the bike. You'll save around 5-10% in the swim with a decent draft, but around 25-30% on the bike.

I see we have another tryathlete who doesn't bother reading science:

20% drag saving in the swim with just 1 swimmer in front of you, Einstein.

Dial it up wrote:

Wise One wrote:

I have credibility BECAUSE I don't do silly triathlons. I stick to real sports.

For lanes in open water swimming, have you never watched rowing races in the Olympics? What do you think separates their lanes in the open water? Can't believe you are that un-learned.

PLEASE enlighten us with what real sports those are. We are dying to know.

Mud wrestling, off course.

I'm not a triathlete but I remember one time I ran a 5 km road race and right from the start this guy started drafting behind me and so I started zig zagging back and forth on the road and this guy kept following me running right behind me sticking to me like crazy glue. Finally after a couple minutes a twisted my body around and yelled out F_ck off! while raising my fist and then I took off running with great rage and I set a personal best placing 4th in the race.