This country sends more athletes to Kona than any other save the U.S. Its manufacturers and retailers are constantly striving to see what their fickle market will be interested in purchasing next. (Actually, add the race directors to that list, too, as the venerable Roth race goes up against a new Ironman Germany for 2002.)

Americans change their minds about purchasing decisions and trends more slowly, but in Germany—at least in the realm of triathlon and cycling-related sports—they turn on a dime. While the events themselves always seem to do more or less well, Germans will rush to buy a particular clipless pedal, crank, or frameset one year, and two years later you won't be able to give away the very same product. One year it's 650c, the next it's 700c. First it's this aero wheel, then that. You just never can get your arms around this market, and those who sell into it are always scrambling.

One thing, though: Germans adopted steep riding positions early on and never really abandoned them. Probably this is because they pay a lot of attention to what the best among them do, and it's always been the trend among athletes like Jurgen Zack, Wolfgang Dittrich, Rainer Muller, Thomas Hellriegel and the like to ride more or less steep. Indeed, in Kona this year, 97 out of the 175 Germans in the race rode at 76 degrees or steeper. While this amount—55 percent—was greater than the 52 percent overall who chose steeper-angled positions, it does represent a retreat from a time when steep-angled bikes were ridden by probably closer to two-thirds or even three-quarters of the German Kona participants.

Also surprising was the decision of the very same number of Germans to ride with drop (i.e., regular road race) bars versus pursuit bars. It is generally accepted that pursuit bars and steep seat angles go together as a "set," and one would think that if the German ridership again had almost a hundred of its own opting for something, it would've been for pursuit bars, not road bars. Go figure.

Choice of tri bar fell toward Syntace by more than two to one over Profile—106 to 51. No surprise there. Syntace is perhaps Germany's flagship tri product manufacturer. There were eight Cinelli and five 3T. No other handlebar maker had more than one in the race.

Germany used to be 650c country, but times really have changed. Ninety-four of the bikes Germans rode had a pair of 700c wheels, and this 54 percent was close to the overall tally of 56 percent riding 700c-wheeled bikes.

And which bikes did they ride? Aluminum ones—a whopping four out of five German bikes, as a matter of fact, compared with only 12 percent made of carbon. Steel? Forget it. The country venerated for its steel production, with companies like Krupp and Mannesman—the latter having invented the seamless drawn tube, for crying out loud—had just 6 percent of its Kona-bound athletes on bikes made of steel. Titanium did even worse, with only four total ti bikes in Kona.

That's almost 80 percent aluminum, compared to just a touch over 50 percent for the rest of field, if you subtract out the Germans. One in three non-Germans rode carbon, compared to only one in eight from this country.

Thirty of them chose Principia, and this was the overwhelming favorite. Seventeen rode Cannnondale, and 15 rode Cube—the best showing for a German brand. Nine rode Softride, eight chose Trek and the same number were on Storck, another German company owned by former Klein importer Marcus Storck (its bikes are, interestingly, made in the U.S.). Seven Germans were on Quintana Roos, and six chose Kestrel. Five rode Zieman bikes, four brought a Look to the race, and there were a half-dozen or so bike makers with three bikes apiece in the race.