dsellinger

A good Friday thread. I read your book this week event services a good read, but you may have talked me out of trying a race...

aham23

i yelled at myself while on trainer tonight. just trying to get back into the swing of things. later.

botto 

as is the person who banned me.

roadwarrior

What did you do this time?

botto 

linked to the website of one of LA's fans.

roadwarrior

That's a bannable offence?

Goodness...

Must have been a really good site.

gsteinb

Why do you keep coming back B? My banning (incorrectly I might add) left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. If I were to be banned again I'm pretty sure (much to the delight of the masses) I'd slink off to some other time waster.

roadwarrior

It's like a train wreck...you can't look away....

botto 

that's an excellent question.

my simple answer is: i'll leave when i'm ready, not when an insignificant doormat tells me to.

Chucklehead

Is this still the yelling thread? Ok, good.

I do this ride on Wednesday mornings which is frequented by Pro tour riders, world and state champs of different disciplines, an olympic gold medalist, and a world speed record holder.
On this ride, there is a massively fast sprint at the halfway point, but not everyone goes for it all the time. One day, I pass on the sprint and just roll through. As I'm doing this, I roll by a guy who has slowed about 100 yards past the line and looking over his shoulder. I assume he's looking/waiting for someone. Whatever, we're going pretty slow anyway. Just about the time I go by, I hear someone yell "HOLD YOUR LINE, @$$HOLE! YOU FKING IDIOT!!!"
Well, I turn around to see what's coming, and it's gold medal man, who has initiated his own mini pack sprint behind the main group. I can't imagine what made him react this way, but pretty-much everyone on the ride knows him to be kind of a childish d-bag. As far as I know, the guy who had slowed wasn't trying to cut across the road or anything. There's a median, so there's no point in crossing the road right there. Now that rider despises gold medal man, and I have also lost some repsect for the medalist.
I asked someone what the gold medal's problem was, and they said he had someone turn in front of him a long time ago and collided with that rider, ending up with him breaking some bones. OK, I can understand that, but here's my question...
While I totally agree with him yelling and saying "hold your line," just to warn the guy, was it really necessary to verbally assault him? Or how about this...Should the medalist have done something to smooth things over after thinking it over and realizing the guy wasn't doing what he thought he was doing?

Or can the medalist just say whatever the fk he wants, whenever he wants, to whoever the fk he wants because by god he's a gold medalist?

botto 

we all say things we wouldn't necessarily say if we weren't on a bike, with elevated adrenaline and heart rates.

as for smoothing things over, do it immediately, or don't bother. you missed your window.

as for his having a gold medal - it's irrelevant to the situation, as well as the question.

Chucklehead

You're probably right. The fact that he's a prick to people has nothing to do with his medal. But it has everything to do with his status among the group and the fact that no one else said anything to him regarding his poor judgement.

Vireo

I believe I know EXACTLY who you are talking about. He is very vocal and sometimes not the best representative of Gold medal winners. I also think if you are doing something like initiating your own sprint where 1) no one expects you to 2) it's understood the winner already recognized then you're the "idiot".

Bob Ross

Now that's a very well-reasoned & respectably mature post.

WHO ARE YOU & WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE REAL BOTTO?!?!?

ROJA

What is the etiquette if the pace line isn't going fast enough for you (for example, in a club or group ride)? Is it rude to just pass the whole group?

Also, why are you not allowed to accelerate when you take your place at the front of the pace line? Why is it the fast guy's problem if the slow guys can't keep up?

botto 

Apus^2

and he misses the point of a paceline...

garysol1 

Not rude at all.....Just pass the group and keep on going solo.

chrisemt

So, where is good place learn the basics before turning up for a group ride? I don't want to be yelled at and i feel sorry for anyone who lays a hand on me to pull me out of a line maliciously.

botto 

there's usually a group ride for beginners, organized by local bike shops or clubs, that help beginners to learn the ropes.

Ratfish

L3VI teaches a clinic on how to ride in a tight group without clipping wheels etc.

San Rensho 

The whole idea behind a pace line is that you are maximizing the GROUP's speed which is done by minimizing the effort of everyone. If you accelerate, that affects the whole group, who then have to accelerate to bridge small gaps, etc., which uses up energy that could be used to make the group as a whole go faster (or maintain a high average speed). In a group that is working well together, everyone is in synch, which means that accelerations should be smooth and gradual.

So the typical newbie move is to sit in, getting your beauty rest while the succession of guys at the front have been towing your butt, and then blast off the front to show then how fast you are. This is the most counterproductive thing you can do, and is in fact what you do if you are blocking and trying to get the group disorganized and slowed down.

Yes, you will get yelled at for blasting off the front and rightly so.

San Rensho 

If you are as clueless as your post makes you out to be, your bike handling skills are going to be so poor there is no way you will be able to retaliate against someone that pushes you out of the paceline.

rankin116

Ha!

ROJA

That's what I figured, thanks. If you can go faster solo than in the paceline for a sustained distance, then you aren't really getting much benefit from it!