Stand up If You're a Triathlete

Originally posted by aquageek I've seen gull80 in his performance enhancing fastskin. I'm fairly certain hard work is the key to his success. Yes, but you still beat me in the 50 wearing jammers. In my defense, I'm older and don't have a single fast twitch fiber in my body.

Originally posted by gjy "it just seems that there are far more in the "tri world". Posers luuuv equipment so combining bikes and suits is killer! OK, there seems to be quite a bit of uneasyness when it comes to triathlon equipment. Let me help out a bit. 1. Helmet. required equipment, much more protective than a swim cap during 30 mph mishaps. I try not to get the "budget buy" on this one. 2. Sunglasses. More versatile than goggles. 3. Wet Suit. Its the norm, its in the rules, and it helps distinguish us from the pure swimmers who are only there as a relay member (posers). 4. Aqua Sphere goggles. Needed to spot relay swimmers to draft off of them. 5. Tri Top. Better UV protection than skin and highlights muscle definition better. 5a. Tri shorts. Shorter than bike shorts, and never ever be seen in those speedos that swimmers wear. 6. Bike. Required equipment for the 2nd leg. 7. Clip-on aero bars. Make you look fast. 8. Disk areo wheels. Sound really cool. 9. Tri/Timetrial Bike. Optional, but makes you look fast like Lance. 10. H2O bottles. Better than cups. 11. Towel. Good for wiping sweat and Gatorade off your bike. 12. Running Shoes. Fins are absolutly illegal in tris. 13 Running Hat. Supports someone elses sponsor. 14. H2O belt. No thanks. 15. Heart Rate Monitor. Makes a cool gift. Hope this helps out.

No, I dont have one but I sure wish I did, because making it to the IronMan Kona Championships is quite difficult where only the top guys in there national age groups make it in by qualifying in other IronMan races. This is much different than The USMS National Championships where there are qualifying times, but, well, you dont really have to be that fast, you only have to write it in.

When did we start offering reciprocal memberships to Canadians? Someone check Cruise's status and get back to me.

Originally posted by Ken Classen By the way as Tall Paul can attest, there have been many of us who would prefer provable qual times at nationals not the honor system. Somewhere there's a thread on that. That topic has been debated ad-nauseum. It's not so much that the QT's are honor system, it's that USMS does not have the man power and the times database to do the verifications. If we had the droves of people volunteering to help with verifications like there are droves of people complaining about it being based on honor system (by default), times would be verified. Of course, we could also raise your dues, let's say double, and implement a snazzy computerized national database and hire people to maintain it. Or we could charge two or three hundred bucks as the entry fee for the nationals, so we could pay for the manpower to verify the times. I would like to invite those who don't like the system to come to their local LMSC meetings and start contributing where it counts and where they can make changes. Intelectualizing about things on this forum doesn't get much accomplished.

Wow, the geek and damage agreeing? Peace in our time! Damage, there's this arch-adversary of Geek's (a late bloomin' kind of swimmer) you should meet...

I do not see a problem with the current honor system for the Nationals. People that put in false times in order to swim the full complement of events at nationals are on their own. I don't think cheating of that nature is that prevalent; and even so - if you put in a time well below of what you are capable and finish way off - the embarrasment alone should be punishment enough. Usually only your teammates and a few others would know, but that should be enough to deter most individuals from such a deceitful ploy. It's not that big of a deal.

Geek, I'm a roving kibitzer with contrarian leanings. I certainly don't think there is any problem with the USMS honor system (no don't get me started on sandbaggers, Michael Heather would start pounding his keyboard). I did notice (to my eye) that here seemed a lot of no-shows at this Nats, or was it not positive check-in?

Originally posted by Conniekat8 Or we could charge two or three hundred bucks as the entry fee for the nationals, so we could pay for the manpower to verify the times. Intelectualizing about things on this forum doesn't get much accomplished. I don't believe it would take a herculean effort to do this. If all USMS sanctioned meets were required to submit results via the web to USMS, it wouldn't take a great deal of time, money or brain power to dump these into a table that entries for nationals could be verified against. I'm personally in favor of the honor system and don't think anyone is getting away with cheating on a grand order with the current system.

Wow, I actually agree with you on something Geek. I also see no major problem with the USMS honor system.