Compared to most sports, triathlon has fairly shallow roots. This is a good thing, because deep footing often means players take themselves and their sport too seriously.
Road cycling is a classic example.
Here is a sport so old, so steeped in tradition that the fun has been sucked right out of it. Road cyclists have forgotten how to laugh at themselves. Essentially, roadies have created an old boy's club in which change happens slowly, if at all. Triathlon, on the other hand, is still defining itself. It is still pliable enough to grow in new directions.