(electronic dance music)
- draft-legal triathlon racing used
to be almost exclusive to the elite athletes,
but now they're open to the age group competitors, too.
As of 2016, the International Triathlon Union
have made their age group sprint world champs, draft-legal.
So, what is draft-legal triathlon?
Well, it's basically what I'm doing here.
I'm drafting off of our GTN test dummy, Jon Cannings.
Whereas some races regulate how far
you can be behind another athlete,
in draft-legal racing, you can get as close as you like.
And by sitting in this slip-stream
and benefiting from the draught,
you can save yourself a massive 30% in workload,
which is quite a lot, really.
Put up the pace a bit, Jon.
Right, there are a couple of main differences
when it comes to equipment, and you're going
to have to leave your beloved TT bike at home for this one.
You have to ride a road bike, like this one,
in draft-legal racing, and that's because
when you're riding in a group or close to others,
you need to be able to react quickly
and manoeuvre the bike easily.
Road bikes are much better for handling,
and getting to the brakes from the handlebars
is much quicker than from some long aero bars.
However, that doesn't mean you can't get yourself
into a fast and aerodynamic position.
Now, the elites can use some short, clip-on aero bars,
like the ones on my bike right now,
but the ITU rules currently state
that you can't use them for age group draft-legal races,
but, that said, they may well be introduced in time.
It is relatively new to age group racing.
So, for now, you can still get yourself into a fast position
by getting onto the drops, and tucking down.
Lastly, a small rule, but it could put a stop
to your racing, make sure your bar ends are plugged.
They do fall out from time-to-time,
so check prior to the race.
The exciting element to draft-legal racing,
is that it is unpredictable.
You can't simply go to your ideal pace
as you would in non drafting,
you have to go with the pace of others, to an extent.
So that means making bike packs out of the swim,
so it's no hanging around in T1.
Once your on the bike, the aim is
to form a group with others, to share the workload.
And the idea is that you travel faster
than you would on your own by each taking a turn
on the front, and then recovering as you pull off.
And if you're at the head of the race,
you'll be wanting to maintain, or even increase your lead,
but if you're in a chasing group,
you'll want to work together to close that gap.
This sharing of the workload is called through and off,
or better known as, chain-gang.
Now, one rider should work their way through the group,
and then pull off at the front.
But it's important that that rider
eases off when they get to the front,
so that they drop themselves back and through the group.
Now, if you're riding in a bigger group,
when you get to the back of the group,
you should then begin to accelerate to re-join
that line that works it's way back up to the front.
If you don't accelerate, you'll find it hard
to close that gap again.
Now, getting people to take a turn and
do some work is easier said than done.
And just sitting in and then surging through
is only going to deter people from doing some work,
or even splinter the group.
You gonna do some work then, Jon?
This is getting a little technical now,
but keeping an eye on the direction of the wind,
can make a big difference to the pace of the group.
Essentially, the idea is that you protect
the line that is coming through
and driving the pace of the group.
For example, if the wind is coming from the right,
you pull off at the front into the wind side
in a clockwise motion, and if it's coming from the left,
you'd rotate anti-clockwise.
Although you're all racing one another,
you're working as a team in the pack,
so communication is key.
Try to encourage one another, call out if any gaps are
opening, or if you need to change the direction
you're rotating in due to the wind.
And if you simply cannot take a turn,
it's okay to momentarily sit a turn out
and recover at the back, but do let
the other riders know what you're doing.
Hopefully that's got you up to speed
with how draft-legal triathlon works.
To see more videos like this, you can subscribe
to GTN by clicking on the globe.
And to see our TT vs. road bike descending video,
just click down here, and to see
an essential bike skills video,
just click down here.
Alright Jon, do you want to do a turn now?
Let's go.