The Official Thread for Runners

[Bo Diddley]

Whose lesson did he learn?

Whosever it was, he ran right past it.

[bluegoose]

2:05:41 at Boston for Clayton Young this morning. Crazy fast.

[BigPiney]

I am not a morning person, but with summer coming I am starting to run in the mornings before work. If two days in a row is a habit, I am back in it. Of course it was cold this morning and looked like the snow level was about 7000 ft and was actively snowing. But it will be 88 this weekend, so I guess I should enjoy the 40 degree mornings while they last.

Also I am totally using AI to train for my run. It has good suggestions and I somewhat like its advice.

[bluegoose]

I'm not sure where to talk triathlons. Seems like this is as good a place as any. Volunteered this weekend for our inaugural Ironman 70.3. First year in Redding. 1,700 participants, including athletes from all 50 states and 20 foreign countries. 35 pro men and 35 pro women in the field, including several top 5 North American guys. Over half of the participants were doing their first triathlon.

I did bike registration on Saturday for 5 hours. It was really cool to talk to hundreds of people from all over the world. I would guess that we had upwards of $20 million dollars of bikes in that parking lot.

Sunday morning I got up at 3:45am to head to the lake to do kayak water safety. Spent about 3 hours on the water. Also very fun. I was at about the 1,000 meter mark, so just over halfway. Had to help pull two people off the water to the safety boats as they were really struggling. One of the ladies was sobbing when she got in the boat, heartbroken that she wasn't going to be able to finish.

Overall, an amazing event. Weather was excellent, for this time of year. So well organized. We had close to 2,000 community volunteers helping along the way. Tons of energy everywhere, both in town leading up to the event, as well along the bike and run courses.

We have a 3 year contract, so two more years. Next year I might put on a competitors jersey instead of a volunteers shirt.

[BigFatMeanie]

$20M for 1700 bikes is an average of 11,700 per bike

[Joe Public]

I'm not sure where to talk triathlons. Seems like this is as good a place as any. Volunteered this weekend for our inaugural Ironman 70.3. First year in Redding. 1,700 participants, including athletes from all 50 states and 20 foreign countries. 35 pro men and 35 pro women in the field, including several top 5 North American guys. Over half of the participants were doing their first triathlon.

I did bike registration on Saturday for 5 hours. It was really cool to talk to hundreds of people from all over the world. I would guess that we had upwards of $20 million dollars of bikes in that parking lot.

Sunday morning I got up at 3:45am to head to the lake to do kayak water safety. Spent about 3 hours on the water. Also very fun. I was at about the 1,000 meter mark, so just over halfway. Had to help pull two people off the water to the safety boats as they were really struggling. One of the ladies was sobbing when she got in the boat, heartbroken that she wasn't going to be able to finish.

Overall, an amazing event. Weather was excellent, for this time of year. So well organized. We had close to 2,000 community volunteers helping along the way. Tons of energy everywhere, both in town leading up to the event, as well along the bike and run courses.

We have a 3 year contract, so two more years. Next year I might put on a competitors jersey instead of a volunteers shirt.

Nice! That sounds like a fun time and a successful event.

I thought we had a triathlon thread around here, but maybe not.

[bluegoose]

$20M for 1700 bikes is an average of 11,700 per bike

That's on the high end of estimates. There were definitely some beater bikes, but not many. Tons of these two makes and models:

Quintana Roo

Canyon

My training buddies rode their regular road bikes, one a specialized and one a trek, and their bikes were both close to $12k with all of the upgrades.

[Bo Diddley]

That sounds like a fun time.

[Moliere]

That's on the high end of estimates. There were definitely some beater bikes, but not many. Tons of these two makes and models:

Quintana Roo

Canyon

My training buddies rode their regular road bikes, one a specialized and one a trek, and their bikes were both close to $12k with all of the upgrades.

I remember a discussion I had with my brother where we were discussing road bikes. He had just purchased a fairly nice Specialized and he told me that we kept going back and forth on whether or not to go with Ultegras and upgrade to the DI2. The difference in performance between those is pretty minimal as the main difference is weight. One of them weighs about 260 less grams than the other. As he was mulling over his decision on whether to pay to have 260 less grams on his bike, he realized how silly the decision was since he's probably had a good 40 lbs or more of weight from his belly that he could easily lose if he dieted correctly.

Most people buying these bikes don't need them. The pros need them, but I'd venture a guess that 95% of age groupers won't use the bikes properly anyway.

The volunteering does sound like fun. I'd like to do that with the Houston Ironman that is held in April up in the Woodlands. Maybe this next year I'll volunteer. I just always worry I'll catch the bug again and sign up for something.

[Joe Public]

I thought we had a triathlon thread around here, but maybe not.

Found it:

https://www.cougarstadium.com/forum/sports/the-bike-shop/9671-the-official-triathlon-thread

[bluegoose]

I remember a discussion I had with my brother where we were discussing road bikes. He had just purchased a fairly nice Specialized and he told me that we kept going back and forth on whether or not to go with Ultegras and upgrade to the DI2. The difference in performance between those is pretty minimal as the main difference is weight. One of them weighs about 260 less grams than the other. As he was mulling over his decision on whether to pay to have 260 less grams on his bike, he realized how silly the decision was since he's probably had a good 40 lbs or more of weight from his belly that he could easily lose if he dieted correctly.

Most people buying these bikes don't need them. The pros need them, but I'd venture a guess that 95% of age groupers won't use the bikes properly anyway.

The volunteering does sound like fun. I'd like to do that with the Houston Ironman that is held in April up in the Woodlands. Maybe this next year I'll volunteer. I just always worry I'll catch the bug again and sign up for something.

Agreed about the bike components. I ride a fair amount, and I probably couldn't tell the difference between the high end stuff and the mid stuff.

Was just talking to a friend the other day who is looking to buy a new bike. He's ridden more miles in the last 40 years than nearly all of those competitors. Not going to bother getting DI2 or even dura ace. Will likely go with Ultegra, or possibly even 105. Any upgrade would be on a good wheel set.

[Joe Public]

Agreed about the bike components. I ride a fair amount, and I probably couldn't tell the difference between the high end stuff and the mid stuff.

Was just talking to a friend the other day who is looking to buy a new bike. He's ridden more miles in the last 40 years than nearly all of those competitors. Not going to bother getting DI2 or even dura ace. Will likely go with Ultegra, or possibly even 105. Any upgrade would be on a good wheel set.

As far as how the equipment performs, there isn’t much - if any - of a difference to notice. I’m not looking to save a few grams at the cost of hundreds or thousands of dollars, so I do the same as your friend.

[chrisrenrut]

As far as how the equipment performs, there isn’t much - if any - of a difference to notice. I’m not looking to save a few grams at the cost of hundreds or thousands of dollars, so I do the same as your friend.

The upgrade to a certain point is more about performance, reliability, and longevity than weight savings. I bought a mountain bike in 2017 on clearance that had XTR components. I would have been fine with XT. But the drivetrain still performs flawlessly 9 years and a few thousands of miles later (other than wear items like chain, cassette, and brake pad replacements)

I am not a fan of electronics shifting. My gravel bike has it, and keeping them charged is not an issue. But sometimes they become unsynced and I can’t shift for a few minutes. Cables are so much more reliable and weigh almost nothing.