Didn’t know that. Kona was the first time I saw a lot of discussion around it. Then it was a lot of speculation as to what and why they were putting down their shirts.
It’s probably that there was someone before Ditlev as well. Probably like 20 years ago. Triathletes love to tinker.
Sam Laidlow put a filled camel bag in his suit for IM Lanzarote. He thought to drink from it but eventually didn’t. Said it was really awkward. He talks about it in his YouTube video about the race
Watching him in T1 run to his bike with the camelback was painful to watch.
Were I to do it, I’d do an empty bottle and either in stuff it in T1 or have it taped to my top tube and stuff it early in the ride.
Have you been racing on a road bike or are you just getting into tri? You don’t necessarily have to buy a complete bike if you have something you can port over some components from.
A nice thing about short course is that it lets you go basic on the bike. You don’t need much storage for nutrition and whatnot. I just have a bottle between the arms and a flat kit in a behind the saddle bottle.
I’d absolutely be looking at rim brakes.
I think there was but with aero fairings, which was banned.
Ditlev got around this by using hydration stored down the front i.e not a aero fairing but hydration storage. He has been credited with this latest trend, that Joe Skipper, Sam LaidLow and Gustav Iden (others as well) copied or had a version of later last year in Kona.
When Ditlev was asked about it in Roth this year and the ban, he said he didn’t care as now if everyone was doing it, it was no longer an advantage.
BTW he has something else in the pipeline, keep your eyes peeled.
I currently race with my road bike - an endurance bike with some upgrades. I ride my road bike enough that I would like to keep it as is. I am just at the point where it seems like most of the people beating me in races are on TT/ tri bikes. I also know that I have a 70.3 in me, and I would like to start getting more comfortable in the TT position.
You had me curious. Looks like Frank Schleck did the camelback under the skinsuit thing back as early as 2011. The UCI promptly banned it. Again, there was probably someone before him as well.
Now they are using radios (not as small as they could be, tiny radio oversized case)… current speculation.
Xterra Portland (August 5, 2023) Race Report
I thought I would post a quick report on my experience with Xterra Portland earlier this month in case anyone was on the fence about doing an Xterra race.
I signed up for the race fairly late because I have been recovering from shoulder surgery. The surgery was more extensive than expected based on the MRI, so the extended recovery time meant my prior plans for the year got derailed, but I felt like I had recovered enough to do Xterra Portland if I took it easy and just focused on having fun.
Xterra Portland did not disappoint! I had an absolute blast and hope to do more Xterra races in the future.
Hagg Lake was 71 degrees so I opted not to wear my wetsuit. I took it super easy and swam around the edge to avoid any potential rough housing. We did two 500m laps around the buoys and jogged up to the transition area. My watch had frozen up during the swim, so I did a forced power down and restarted it on my way towards my bike.
The bike course a small loop and a big loop. Both loops included a creek crossing that you could either ride across or walk carefully across some rocks if you wanted to avoid having wet feet.
The start of the bike course was on pavement for a ways before turning off onto the trails. The pavement section was actually a pretty nice way to warm up and shake off the slight disorientation remaining from the swim.
The course was well within my comfort zone, but I did hear a couple other people after the race saying that they wished they had spent more time on a mountain bike prior to the race. I think I walked parts of 3 steep hills because the effort level to try to ride all the way up would not have been worth the time savings to me. I had the bike course recorded at 16.8 miles with 1,702 ft of climbing.
The run course was an out and back with some slight variations in trails on the way back. It was mostly on trails but also included some pavement. There were a couple pretty steep sections, but overall it wasn’t super challenging. I had it at 4.33 miles with 461 feet of climbing. I wore my trail running shoes, but it’s a toss up whether or not that was a better choice than road shoes.
You finish the race by running through the finish archway and diving onto the giant slip n’ slide.
It was a very fun race at a beautiful location! They have super sprint version in addition to the full length, and a very, very short version for little kids too. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in doing an off-road triathlon.
That sounds amazing!
It definitely put an extra smile on my face! 
Well, it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions this week… Olympic Tri tomorrow. But it’s been over 40°C where I live this week, there are possibly thunderstorms forecast for tomorrow during the race, I’m now driving up on my own as the other person who was coming has covid and … swimming in the lake was banned due to cyanobacteria presence on Monday, opened up again after tests were OK yesterday, and now the swim is definitively cancelled by the Prefecture after further tests today…
So, Duathlons… any tips for a first one?
Socks or barefoot? (was planning on barefoot for the tri)
Pacing for the first run?
Any idea what the “normal” change is when swims are cancelled? Are they likely to just stick in a 5km run instead of the swim, or go full Duathlon and make it the original final 10km followed by the 40km bike and then a shorter 5km run? There’s an S planned the same day, so they do have a 5km loop ready.
Personal choice on the socks. I always do duathlons in socks but they can get a bit ruined in transition when running out/in with the bike if you do flying mounts/dismounts.
Generally my pacing would be what I can sustain for the combined run total. So if they have a 10km and a 5km then it would be about 15km pace. Bike pacing stays the same as would be in a triathlon.
No idea what a “normal” change would be, they might choose a shorter run and then in to the bike as that would split up the competitors in a similar way to the swim but you are sadly just going to have to roll with it.
I’d probably go with socks- I don’t think there’s any advantage to going without for a duathlon unless you prefer it, and IME the shoe changes are a bit easier with socks vs. sweaty feet anyway.
Hard to say on the run pacing without knowing the distance, but i’d definitely start out on the conservative side- the second one will hurt more than you expect, and pretty easy to cook yourself in those temperatures when you’re running on fresh legs too. (Also for some reason even experienced triathletes seem to have a tendency to go out way too hard on the first run and then pay for it later, so don’t get too caught up in chasing the rest of the field for the first couple of km 
)
Thanks both - I’ll start off with socks (I can always pull them off if they get too gritty).
Looks like the first run will be 5km. The FFTRI rules have a table:
If they use the 5km run course from the S it’s going to be interesting with 300 people… right at the start it goes across a dam on a rather narrow path
Depends on the length. Personally, I would go a touch faster than the typical “2x the open pace” as you can recover a bit on the bike.
I don’t think there is one, at least in the US. I’ve been part of races that moved to a TT bike start as part of a bike-run race, a shortened swim (1.2 mi to 500 yd) and a 5k run/40k bike/10k run Olympic distance.
If the race offers a Du option, I would expect you would follow whatever they’re planning for it.
After a TT fit, I ended up going with the Argon 18 E-117. Thanks to all on this thread for the feedback. Getting a quality fit definitely helped. The fitter quickly diagnosed some hip mobility issues, and I am running 160 cranks.
Seems like this thread may continue into 2024?
I am doing my first olympic distance triathlon in March this year at Mooloolaba in Queensland, Australia. Started my training back in August (maybe a little eager?) and about to get into my specialised set.
I remain excited as it will be my second Triathlon (first was a sprint in May last year). That first one reminded me that a lot of the challenge is the psychology of getting to the next marker (in the swim) and the run.
Only worries at this point - over training (with such a long lead up), the heat in the race (20-27C or 68-81F).
Best wishes to all completing their triathlons this year!
How did the March race go? Resurrecting this thread. I’m racing an Olympic Distance Tri in Chongqing China this weekend, forecast is highs of 26°C and heavy rain, which I’m not thrilled about. Currently nursing a cold and have barely done any running since February so it could be a disaster!
Great thanks @CyclingAndrew . Finished in under 2h 50min.
A good race. Two things i am going to work on for next time are - pushing a little harder on the bike (30kph) and get a better T1 (5min).
I recommend writing out your target splits. It is really nice to review after the race. Remember there are things you can control (preparation, training) and things outside your control and hope you have a good race!
