Quick question on my last HIM a water bottle bounced out of my holder when I hit a bump in the road, I had put an on course bottle in there that I had picked up at an aid station and it was a little smaller than my usual bottle.
Could You get a littering penalty for this?
Technically yes you can get a penalty. Whether an official sees you drop the bottle or they track it to you is another story.
11. Abandonment: All personal equipment and belongings taken out onto the course must stay on the athlete the entire time. No garbage, clothing, etc. shall be thrown on the course.
**Penalty: **Variable time penalty
Why wouldn’t you get a littering penalty for that?
I’ve never really understood why some triathletes think that throwing or dropping stuff on the course if perfectly fine.
Ever watch TDF? those water bottles, feed bags, wrappers etc are getting tossed constantly
Yeah, cause the podunkman tri is just like the Tour de France, I can see the similarity.
Why wouldn’t you get a littering penalty for that?
I’ve never really understood why some triathletes think that throwing or dropping stuff on the course if perfectly fine.
Must be nice to have a perfect race everytime
Must be nice to have a perfect race everytime
Never had a perfect race, and that’s the point, it’s going to happen, but if you drop something, pick it up. It isn’t that wild of a concept really.
Our race plans should be robust enough to accommodate the need to pick up something we dropped so it doesn’t become someone else’s problem.
Not that I disagree, but wouldn’t turning around in the middle of a bike race to find an ejected bottle be dangerous?
but if you drop something, pick it up. It isn’t that wild of a concept really.
Its probably much more unsafe to have a guy running against traffic in bike shoes on the bike course looking for an ejected bottle than the ejected bottle sitting there. What if you are going downhill? You supposed to climb back up and get your bottle? I think not.
I’ve only ejected a bottle during one race (it was actually 4, but all during the same race, hooray for super bumpy roads) and I wasn’t the only one. there were bottles EVERYWHERE. If you would’ve had every guy going back for his bottle, there would’ve bound to have been a rider/bottle-collector collision at some point.
but if you drop something, pick it up. It isn’t that wild of a concept really.
Its probably much more unsafe to have a guy running against traffic in bike shoes on the bike course looking for an ejected bottle than the ejected bottle sitting there. What if you are going downhill? You supposed to climb back up and get your bottle? I think not.
I’ve only ejected a bottle during one race (it was actually 4, but all during the same race, hooray for super bumpy roads) and I wasn’t the only one. there were bottles EVERYWHERE. If you would’ve had every guy going back for his bottle, there would’ve bound to have been a rider/bottle-collector collision at some point.
If you drop it and don’t pick it up, you’re accepting the fact that you might get a time penalty for it. It really is that simple.
I’d probably just take the penalty.
Yes, you can. I definitely understand the frustration, when races give out smaller bottles that won’t stay in a std cage; but the rule makes a lot of sense, it’s hard to get a community to ok a race if 40k of their roads get strewn with gel packets, powerbar wrappers, plastic bottles, and those brillow pads thingies from hydration setups.
Never did I say I should be exempt from a penalty, merely that going back to pick something up is probably not the safest approach. I’ll gladly take a penalty over endangering myself and others.
Never did I say I should be exempt from a penalty, merely that going back to pick something up is probably not the safest approach. I’ll gladly take a penalty over endangering myself and others.
Leaving things for others to potentially run over presents a far greater risk to safety than does picking up what you dropped. So, yes, it probably IS the safest approach.
… and those brillow pads thingies from hydration setups.
Sponges. They’re sponges.
Ever watch TDF? those water bottles, feed bags, wrappers etc are getting tossed constantly
People actually follow the caravans and pick up the bottles and feedbags as souvenirs and like any race they have drop zones for riders to drop garbage. ASO also provides garbage collection along the route.
… and those brillow pads thingies from hydration setups.
Sponges. They’re sponges.
Can we settle on bath puff?
Why wouldn’t you get a littering penalty for that?
I’ve never really understood why some triathletes think that throwing or dropping stuff on the course if perfectly fine.
Me neither, but there is a small number of them on this forum that thinks an entry fee allows them to throw their crap everywhere, or that wrappers magically jump out of pockets and on to the course.
Spot
brillow thingies… ‘triathlon tumbleweeds’
Technically yes you can get a penalty. Whether an official sees you drop the bottle or they track it to you is another story.
11. Abandonment: All personal equipment and belongings taken out onto the course must stay on the athlete the entire time. No garbage, clothing, etc. shall be thrown on the course.
**Penalty: **Variable time penalty
Well since it was a course bottle, meaning one he picked up from an aid station he technically didn’t take it out on the course with him. Or am I interpreting that incorrectly?
If you treat the two sentences as separate they cover dropping something you picked up at an aid station. The first sentence also covers handing off something (ex. a jacket) to someone during the race.
Good clarification. Abandonment and littering are not the same thing. Abandonment refers to equipment. Littering refers to garbage.