See here's what pisses me off about triathlon...
If i spend 2000$ on race wheels, i would have shaved off ~8 minutes, right off the bat
linkIf i spend 250$ on a stupid looking helmet i'll only ever use for races, thats ~2 minutes
link 10 minutes is the difference between 7th in agegroup and 2nd (and qualify for world champs). Not to mention other gains from a better bike, more profile water cage, shoes, tubular tires etc...
What if everyone just agreed to use stock gear, then nobody would have to pay for this shit and we'd have a level playing field?