No Water for You!

I got an email today from the organizers of the Mayflower Triathlon that I was going to do next weekend (my brother’s bachelor party has eliminated it as an option). The email was last minute information about the race. Included in this information is the odd little fact that no regular water will be offered during the bike course. Participants will have a choice of Gatorade or Glaceau “Smart Water” which has electrolytes in it.

Maybe I’m just picky, but that wouldn’t fly with me. I don’t train with “Smart Water” (which I usually refer to as “stupid water”, see the movie Idiocracy for reasons why), I train with water and get my electrolytes from other sources such as gels, shot blocks or NUUN. I train with water because I know any race out there is going to have water available and I don’t have to worry about the possibility of being stuck with something new on race day. That’s got to be rule number one of racing, whether it’s running, biking, triathlon, whatever… never, EVER do anything new on race day. I don’t want to have to think about how the addition of extra electrolytes is going to affect my nutrition plan.

I replied via email to the RD and his response was that it tastes the same (regardless of the fact that it ISN’T the same) and that if I feel like I’d need water during the race then I should put it in my special needs bag.
WATER ISN’T A SPECIAL NEED!

If this decision remains in place, there’s no way I’m doing the IDT next year. I don’t want my options on the bike to be sports drink or sports drink.