They start with a 10k swim from Kailua Pier to Keauhou Bay, then ride 90 miles to Volcanoes National Park. The next day they ride 171.4 miles from Volcanoes to Hawi. Then they run 52.4 miles on the Queen K to Kailua.

Ex pro duathlete, and Kuota sales guru, Paul Thomas apprised me of a very interesting experiment he undertook at the most recent Hawaiian Ironman.

“I sat on the Queen K Highway as the riders were about 5 miles from the end of the bike leg,” he related. “This was about 7 hours into the race. I counted 72 riders, all of whom [of course] had aero bars on their bikes. Of these, 42 were riding with their hands on their pursuit bars.”

If you allow about 1:20 for the swim, and these folks were riding about a 6 hour bike split, they were destined to finish, on average, with a final time between 11:00 and 11:40. Most were representative of the median Kona finisher.

Let’s leave the topic of these 72 riders, and we’ll return to them in a few moments.

Last year former Kona Champ Chris McCormack was in a fit workshop here on the property. I asked, “Chris, let’s say I made a DVD of your Kona bike ride, and I edited out the part where you were in the aero position, as well as the time spent braking and cornering. How long would my DVD be?”

“I don’t know,” he pondered. “Thirty seconds?”

What makes McCormack, and the other pros like him, able to ride in the aero position during the entire bike leg, while these 11 hour Ironman contestants as often as not can’t?

On a recent thread in our reader form, this was written by a user:

“I’ve observed that triathletes fall into two camps in terms of position: those who want to get forward and low to be most aerodynamic and who are willing to take the time, effort and pain to get adapted to the position; and the majority, who decide to be more upright for the sake of comfort.”

But if McCormack and the other pros are adapting through “pain” to achieve their positions, and the “majority” choose “upright” positions for the sake of “comfort” (certainly a view held by many more than this singular forum reader), why are the pros sitting in their aero position the whole way, while it’s the “comfortable” age groupers who’re sitting up?

In another fit workshop, we had Mark Allen in attendance. I asked him, “Mark, once and for all, did you win Kona 7 times and the Nice triathlon 9 times because you have the taint of steel?

“No!” he replied, and went on to explain he needed comfort on the bike as much as anyone.

And why should we think an age group triathlete, who might ride 100 miles a week on average, is more needful of a comfortable bike position than a pro who might ride three or four times that mileage?

Indeed, I think it’s the opposite: how could we ever expect a pro to ride in the uncomfortable positions chosen by age groupers?

Indeed, I have positioned many pro triathletes and time trialers, and I have yet to find my first subject willing to undergo a period of “pain” and “adaptation.” Unless a pro triathlete is comfortable and powerful on the fit bike, from the get-go, he won’t ride the position. The process of fitting a pro, and his response to the position, is never any different than that of an age-grouper.

Let’s take a look at the positions of some of the pros, and see if we can find some commonalities that accrue to power, comfort and aerodynamics. While we’re at it, I’ll point out some pro positions that I think don’t make the grade, and describe why that is and what ought to change.

Click on the first thumbnail pic above and we’ll start.

Andreas Raelert (GER) the runner-up at the recent 70.3 Worlds in Clearwater, won the Fall edition of the 2008 Ironman Arizona and with it his first Ironman title. Heleen Bij De Vaate (NED) grabbed her first Ironman title after two recent second place finishes.

At the recent 70.3 Worlds in Clearwater, Florida, Brooke Davison was the top female age grouper and finished 5th among a stellar field of professional women. Lars Finanger sat down with the rising star from Boulder.

28 year old Thomas Lurz from Germany won the bronze medal in the 10k open water swim in Beijing and is the current 5k open water swim World Champion. We may see him before too long at an Ironman triathlon.

Fall is the season for trail running and racing. After a long and exciting summer of Triathlon training and racing it is easy to feel “burned out.” Try signing up for a trail running race and see if you can get the spark back.

It’s late November. Don’t you love the change of seasons? Depending where you are, the greens are turning to yellow, and the yellows red. But that is not the change to which I refer.

Although it may appear as a response to the current economic times, the new slowtwitch jobs sub forum is actually a case of the slowtwitch readership shaping the site.

blueseventy adds pool swimming world records to its triathlon and open water laurels, as South Africa’s Cameron van den Burgh sets three world marks in the short course pool swimming in blueseventy nero comp suit.

The third parachutist during the 2008 Ironman Hawaii was Captain Duncan Smith. Lars Finanger talked with Captain Smith about the jump, what a successful SEAL candidate might look like, and more.

Commander Keith Davids was one of three Navy Seals who parachuted out of a C-130 plane into Kailua-Kona Bay before competing in the 2008 Ironman Hawaii. Lars Finanger picked the brain of Commander Davids the day before the 30th anniversary event.

Things we learned at the blazing fast 70.3 worlds – Transitions count. You probably can’t win Clearwater after racing Kona. Amateur Brooke Davison rocks. Drafting is unavoidable in the amateur waves.

There exists a method for fitting bikes for mail order purchases; and for retailers to present floored bikes; should such enterprising retailers avail themselves of it. Part I of II.

Our new series “the slowtwitch list” will introduce you to unique multi sport events from around the world. We start this series with a closer look at the Inferno Triathlon in Switzerland.

A tough sprint at the World Championships in Vancouver gave Kiwi Sam Warriner the final podium spot, but she ended up as the overall champion of the ITU World Cup series this year. She talked to Slowtwitch.

Part 2 of Timothy Carlson’s race day images of the 70.3 Clearwater event. Timothy captured determination and power hard at work at these final triathlon World Championships of 2008.

Part 1 of Timothy Carlson’s Clearwater gallery is right here

Related 2008 Clearwater race day gallery by Ramon Serrano

Images taken the day before the event by Ramon Serrano

Our senior editor and hot shot photographer Timothy Carlson captured lots of stunning images during the 70.3 Clearwater event and we encourage you to look at them closer.

Part 2 of Timothy Carlson’s Clearwater race day gallery is right here.

Related 2008 Clearwater race day gallery by Ramon Serrano

Images from the day before the event by Ramon Serrano

Race day images of the 2008 Ironman 70.3 World Championships as seen through the lens of Ramon Serrano.

Part 1 of Timothy Carlson’s Clearwater gallery is right here.

Part 2 of Tim Carlson’s race day images can be found right here.

A gallery of images taken the day before the race by Ramon Serrano.

The youthful Terenzo Bozzone, 23, and the veteran Joanna Zeiger, 38, controlled the 2008 Clearwater 70.3 World Championships and smashed course records along the way.

Victor Plata and Sarah Groff were victorious at the 2008 San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island, the final race in the USA Triathlon Haul to the Great Wall Elite Series. But the series titles belong to Matty Reed and Julie Ertel.

A day before the 2008 Ironman 70.3 Word Championships, Ramon Serrano sent us a nice selection of images of the activities surrounding the big event.

With 2006 champion Sam McGlone sidelined by Achilles tendinitis and 2-time Ironman winner Chrissie Wellington resting on her laurels, can anyone beat defending champion Mirinda Carfrae?

As Crowie, the new King of Kona, takes a rest, and defending champ Andy Potts is presumably still recovering from his Kona debut, the men’s field at the 70.3 World Championships is wide open.

Joanna Zeiger has won races ranging from the Olympic distance to the Ironman, but really seems to have found her calling at the 70.3 distance. She is one of the favorites going into the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater.