Subject: RE: Tri suit or shorts and shirt??? JWU42 - 2007-09-05 1:03 PM I sincerely hope you are not as thick as you are presenting yourself... gosh, me too! Do you think the first several Ironman competitions were all geeked out guys in one piece spandex suits and aero helmets with $8,000 bikes? Well, I wasn't there, so pretty much all I know about triathlon (and IM) history is what I have read about online and in print. In fact, USAT magazine and triathlete magazine have had some retrospective articles about the history of triathlon in the last few months. In those articles it is repeatedly emphasized that triathletes have always been early adopters of technological advances (particularly in the arena of cycling, e.g. aero bars, disc wheels, clipless pedals, shield-style sunglasses, spandex, aero helmets, etc). In fact, check out the photo below from the early to mid 1980's to see some samples of clothing and equipment. Now, if you know for a fact that "the early days of Ironman" were about folks showing up with banana-seat bikes and cutoff jeans, then please feel free to educate me. Everything I have seen indicates that triathletes in general have historically tended to be very cutting-edge in the clothing and equipment department. The guy above was called Ironman as he crossed the line just like everyone else. Agreed - I have no disrespect whatsoever for this gentleman or for retroman. I happily recognize them as Ironmen, and have never said any different. But I do not think they are representative of "the old days" of triathlon, either. (scotttinley.jpg) (superform.jpg) (normal_runners.jpg) Attachments ---------------- scotttinley.jpg (67KB - 19 downloads)superform.jpg (32KB - 21 downloads)normal_runners.jpg (21KB - 22 downloads) |