Ethics in racing

Last week, the Athlete's Guide for Clearwater was posted. As I've mentioned, I've gone over quite a few times now. I think it's helping to make things more real for me, like I'm actually involved in this race. (On the flip side, riding to work when it's a shade over freezing makes the idea of racing in Florida seem a little far-fetched.) Most the details of the race are pretty standard, but there are a few that have caught my eye.

This will be the first time I'll be using "transition bags". The athletes are not allowed to have anything on the ground by their bikes in transition, so all your bike gear is in one bag, and all your run gear is in another. I can imagine I'll be taking a fair bit of time on Thursday night to lay out all my stuff and figure out what goes where, then try to rehearse how each transition will play out.

I'll be in the 7:30am wave, 45 minutes after the pros start, and part of the second wave of men 35-39. I find it amazing that two of the age-groups have been split like this. It makes racing your AG that much tougher, when who never know if the person who just passed you is now seconds ahead, or still five minutes behind, or essentially five minutes up the road. I guess that's why they'll be waiting until the awards banquet at night to hand out trophies.

I can't say I'm happy about starting so far back, as well. Clearwater is essentially a flat course, and you'll have 1500 of the best athletes in the world on the course at the same time. With this many evenly-matched people, drafting is inevitable. At Muskoka, I didn't have to worry about crowds or drafting, since I was well out in front. That won't be the case this time.

Clearwater's reputation for drafting is well-known. And that puts me in a very difficult position. Although I mostly have a "happy to be there" attitude to Worlds, I would still like to perform well. I'm not in the running for a podium spot, but maybe the top 100. I know I'll be one of the last in my AG out of the water, so I won't be involved in any draft packs that form there (putting me at a disadvantage). However, shortly after exiting the water, hot on my heels will be the superstars of the M40-44 age group. Any draft pack of theirs will be moving faster than the mid-pack M35-39 groups, so if I latched on, I could get pulled right back into the race. If you go through any of the forums, there doesn't seem to be any way to avoid the drafting, especially further back, short of pulling over and waiting for the race to go by.

So I'm left with three choices: 1) Actively seek out the drafts, disregarding the rules and using whoever I can to move up, knowing that a number of my competitors are doing the same; 2) Actively avoid any drafting, even if this means slowing down to unreasonable speeds, having the worst bike split on the day, but safe in the knowledge I raced clean; 3) Be passive and if I get sucked into one of the groups, then that's what happens. I may get some benefit, but there wasn't anything I could do.

Option 1 will get me my highest placing, and fits into the "everyone is doing it" paradigm. Option 2 gets me my worst pacing, but I'll be able to say "I raced clean" although that will hardly be a great explanation why I'm 200th in the race. And honestly, Option 3 is pretty much Option 1 but trying to pass off some of the guilt.

So I don't know what's going to happen. I'd like to think I'll stick with Option 2, and be secure about it, but once the competitive juices get flowing, it's tough to say. If I keep getting passed by groups, the frustration could drive me to saying, "Screw it, I'm doing it too." I think this whole dilemma is part of what's tempering my enthusiasm for the race. But I'm worrying about things that haven't even happened yet, and that's not worth the effort.

I guess this whole post is a way of admitting I see the issue, and putting pressure on myself to face up to situation, and setting in myself my plan beforehand. Everyone who reads this (admittedly not a large number) will have reason to question my ethics after the race if I turn in some otherworldly bike split. So now it's on me to do the right thing, whatever that is.