It never ceases to amaze me that Lionel is running 6:12 pace. His running form/ body language looks so much slower.
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such a great race - watched it all morning while on the bike and treadmill
Blu is a beast - Norwegian hype train is real
too bad Iden wasn’t ready to go
Lionel raced fantastically - the way he grinds to the finish is amazing
Great job to Currie - I thought he was toast at that last climb - he hung on much longer - great heart
so many from that lead group on the bike in the top 10
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Somehow Kat is holding off Anne 
Yeah, he looks like he’s just hemorrhaging energy with that running form. Curious what his economy is at that pace.
My buddy is out there battling for a podium…4 miles to go. Now, it is an older AG, but still a podium spot.
Shows how freakin’ fast the pros are…they have been done for hours and there are still AG’ers out ther battling for podiums.
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Update…he took the Silver medal!!! 
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Currie deserves a lot of credit, I think. Found himself way off the front in a way he didn’t expect, he knew with more than a half marathon to go he couldn’t win, and absolutely gave his all trying to hold on for second. It would have been so easy to submit.
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The weirdest part is he comes from a running background! R
Biggest takeaway is that I was right about Ryf and am much smarter than all of Slowtwitch.
Fantastic efforts by Lionel and Kat Matthews too, they’ve both improved a ton over the last year. I’m
Stoked to see Currie holding on as well… he’s had a great season and I think he’ll be one to watch out for. Going to be some surprises when the Aus/NZ folk get back into the mix.
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Four Brits in the top ten women even without LCB shows the depth of talent we have at the moment, McNamee ran into the mens top ten which was no mean feat - with AB and Skipper I’m hoping they can take a podium spot too in Kona later in the year. If either can take a win it will be a real shot in the arm for the sport nationally as we’ve lost Olympic gold to Norway.
And for those who didn’t watch:
I’m wondering what the TR crew made of it all.
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Agreed. Fun race.
Two things I’ve been mulling over:
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Good race and amazing splits. Terrible coverage and commentators.
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Honestly, is this position that bad?
Now the bike is hideous imo, but not sure about the uproar over his position.
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For pro who just won the IMWC? Absolutely.
The results speak for themselves, obviously, and you can’t really argue with them, but he is just bludgeoning the air into submission in that position.
And I wouldn’t call it an “uproar”…just an observation.
I think the results show he’s nit really bludgeoning the air as you say, he’s not some crazy uber biker with such a massive engine to make up for a completely ineffecient bike, then run one of the fastest marathons. No power numbers, or hr on strava but the commentary does not match the results.
Without numbers, it is obviously impossible to know for sure…and I also noted that the results speak for themselves and can’t really be argued with…but based on the some of the basic principles of bike fitting that tend to be universally true, that it is not an efficient bike fit.
And Lionel proves almost everyday that you can bludgeon the air into submission if you try hard enough and still run well.
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You’d think they would all have their aero positions totally dialed given how long they are on the bike and how limited or non-existent the draft is. I’m not huge into tri (just follow Lionel on YT) so I don’t totally get it. Maybe some of the athletes do spend time in a windtunnel? What they do for training in general blows me away; the volume is insane. They are truly some of the greatest athletes around.
An overly brief mention of the complexity that lies in fitting. A bike fit consists of three main components:
- Aerodynamics
- Power Production
- Rider Comfort
- Bike Handling Issues (added per great mention from Power13)
There are necessary compromises in one or more of those categories because it’s not often possible to maximize all three at the same time. With simple remote viewing of pics and videos, we are left to guess at the split of those components. It’s entirely possible that a rider (and their advisors if present) choose to give on one area while aiming to improve in one or more others. It’s an engineering like exercise to try and find the right balance of those to best suit any rider and their related event.
That said, what we might see as a sacrifice may well be done to the benefit of another area we can’t clearly see. It’s all guessing since we have little info other than generalities or comparison to like riders.
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Yeah, after many years of dismissing triathletes, once I started doing races, I gained a whole new level of respect for them. Sure, for some you can do the usual critiques about bike handling, whatever, but they are some of the fittest athletes around.
Taking the volume that I used to do for tri and switching back to being just a cyclist has done wonders for my bike fitness. I am arguably stronger now in my late-50’s than I ever have been.
Also worth noting that Blum said they lowered his hand position due to the windy conditions…so that factored into his fit as well.
But still…I’d love to see his numbers. Not to mention he has such a huge upper body, that his drag is always gonna be higher than most.
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