Penalties

DH did his first Du-Athalon today and broke a rule. He mounted his bike in the transition area, I know why would anyone do that but no one else was in with him so he didn't know. Anyway, is the a punishable penlaty? The results don't indicate what it was and the USAT rules don't specifically have it (that I can find). He plans on doing more Du's and at least he knows now. Stinks he was top 20 over all (out of 142!) but got a two minute penalty. :o

You're not supposed to mount your bike until you've exited the transition area. In addition, you're not supposed to enter the transition area until you've dismounted.

This is why people like me & the other Tech Officials stand @ the transition area and yell out "dismount here" ;)

ONe more thing, do not remove your helmet until your bike is fixed on the bike mount area. That is one thing you can be dinged for!

CrazyC-sitting trying to remember the things you can be dinged for..Yellow card..etc..

It also depends on the distance of the Tri or Du as well.

Good to read the rules :)

I figured, I thought it wasn't the brightest (safest) thing when he told me. ;) The bad thing is he was just trying it out, so he bought a one day license and a rule book is not provided. Oh well, he had fun and he was just trying to beat his goal, which he smashed even with the penalty!

Weird thing is I think he is the only person out of 300 (Sprint and Short Competitors) to get a penalty. I just can't believe that, there were a lot of beginners. He wouldn't have gotten an award without the penalty, so now he knows and next time we will get a book. He comes from Mountain and Road racing, not nearly as many rules in those disciplines.

Congrats to your DH for his first Du!!!! Sorry he got the penalty- but that's not bad for his first race. I raced with someone a couple years ago that was awarded 3 penalties for doing 3 different things wrong (we learn from our mistakes, or so I always tell myself).
I was so scared of breaking rules I didn't know about when I did my first multisport event two years ago. I found someone before the race that looked friendly and not super-stressed and asked them to give me a run-down of the biggest do's and don'ts. There's a lot to know, but it boils down to a few major things:
*don't draft
*if someone passes you, it's your responsibility to get out of their draft zone- not the other way around
*you have only 15 seconds to pass someone, and once you start you must pass them- you can't fall back behind
*mount your bike after the line coming out of transition, and dismount before the line coming back in
*buckle your helmet before you touch your bike, and rack it before you unbuckle it

I also learned that it's OK to run with your helmet and gloves on, but you can't throw it down or it's abandonment of equipment. :p