Friday, June 26, 2009

"Under-Cat" Racing

Shouldn't we "pay respect" to racing etiquette the same way we pay respect to general cycling?

We shave our legs, we wear matching team kits, we're loyal to our sponsors, and we tip the soignors (or if we had them we'd tip them). So shouldn't we also follow the "rules" when it comes to racing as well? I don't know all of them, but the one that seems to be sticking with me this week is: "if you're team missed the break, do everything in your power to bring it back when the time is right".

Now I know there are situations where you wouldn't (stage races, rolling solo, weak as f*ck, etc), but outside those cases, doesn't it feel better afterwards if you know you "did the right thing" as a team? I guess that's one of the rules of racing, right? I think it is a beautiful thing when, mid race, a team has the organization and the discipline to put their horses up front and reel back a break when they want to. Now sometimes it doesn't work, but I'd respect a group of guys that put in their best effort to get the win as a group a whole lot more than those that did nothing and were content sprinting for leftovers.

Maybe it isn't something that happens very often outside of the Pro/1 races, but I think it should. Not only out of respect for your sprinter, but to respect the "rules" set forth by all those who toed the line before you. Hopefully we don't miss the breaks this weekend at Poolsville and Reston, but if we do, I'm putting the R1V/Arrow Bikes train on the front to bring it back. :)

Cheers and good luck this weekend!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

3 comments:

qualia said...

hear, hear! nothing more frustrating than watching a break pull away when you're surrounded by a big team who are all just sitting in. what's the point of having a team?

thankfully, this seems to be less common of late.

Unknown said...

I basically only race to chase breaks

fabsroman said...

I basically only race to be in the break or the sprint. LOL

Yes, it would be nice if the teams with a number of riders in the race raced to pull in breaks that didn't contain their teammates in them. What is tough is when you are on the team with only a couple of riders in the race and nobody from the team is in the break. However, guys from the teams with 10+ riders are in the break and you and a couple other guys are trying to chase down the break with 20 other break teammates jacking everything up. At that point, you either have to bridge it yourself or settle for leftovers. I much prefer racing with 8 to 10 teammates in every race, but that doesn't always happen.