Racer Ex 

Yep.

myclem

related thread regarding concerns with sprinting with mtb cleats.

ericm979

It's poaching.

The organizer have permits for X number of riders, for which they have to pay for police, road closure, insurance, etc. If more show up the permitting organization may notice and get the organizer in trouble. Its hard enough getting people to put on rides without that hassle too. Sign up or do something else that day.

jwible

I thought my max HR was 184 until I was trying to hold onto some faster wheels and it hit 190. Everyone is different.

mazdaspeed

nice!

umd

I honestly have no idea, or have long since forgotten, what I did do get his panties in a wad. There are plenty of posters that I find annoying but I wouldn't go so far as to say I hate anyone here.

The bars were aluminumnot carbon this time. They were actually the "temporary" bars I used to replace the broken carbon ones. I figured I would wait until I had to retape them to change them out. Since my bar tape was a little shredded up and I needed to replace the RD and recable anyway, I figured this would be a good opportunity to swap in the new 3T Ergosum Pro bars that I had bought as the permanant replacement for my Ergosum Team bars.

caloso

My personal opinion: not cricket.

Pedaleur

Got it.

OK, what I really want to ask is in reference to your video. I will state right away that I'm a bit leery, because I don't want to open up the can o' worms that messed up the other thread. But it really isn't in reference to the actual crash (about which I'll keep my opinion private -- see aforementioned can o' worms).

What I want to hear about is "sketchy" riding, a pejorative that gets thrown around a lot on these boards. I look at that video, and (up to the crash) it looks like a fairly standard town-line sprint. People picking up the pace and making some moves (hard to call any of them "attacks"). Obviously, in a race you wouldn't leave a gap in front of you like that, but the guy in green decided to take it since it was there. Fine. Some people going up the side. But nothing that strikes ME as extraordinary (no sudden line changes, real bar hooking, etc.).

You could easily put me in that video and I might do many of the same things. So, the obvious question is: if I don't see "sketchy" riding, then am I guilty myself?. In which case, can someone explain what people did that was noticeable wrong (not related to the crash per se)? Umd or anyone else is welcome to point things out, particularly noting the time in the video.

Again, NOT trying to bring up the crash debate. Or even the underlayer debate. ;-)

shovelhd

Honest question. I am not racing this year, although I have raced extensively in the past, and am seriously thinking about it for next year. Meanwhile I am working hard at getting back into shape via solo and group rides. Is it OK to post in the Training Status thread or is it frowned upon?

Flatballer

you're an ex Cat2. You can pretty much post wherever you please in here.

Velo Vol 

gregf83 

I think the sketchiness referred to sprinting for 20th place. You wouldn't know that, however, from viewing the video unless you were told. That and going over the yellow line.

umd

Basically, yes.

In other words, I wouldn't say that anyone's bike handling in the video was sketchy from what I recall.

Edit: Also it was "sketchy" because nobody took control and really led it out properly. It's much safer when it's single file rather than all over the road.

Greg180

Ditto...Where in West Mass are you located?

echappist

very nice. well, except for the part in union county. do you have a route map?

shovelhd

Belchertown, about a mile from the Quabbin and on the race course. I rode last night with the NRM guys. I've also ridden with a group out of Performance Bike in Granby and with a small NCC group, although it was the day of the TotH so it wasn't representative.

BasicJim

This is a complete Noob question, but I haven't been able to find a good answer. This is in regard to the tactic of covering a break.

If your riding for someone else and you cover a break, what does that do for the rider your riding for? If the break stays away, your not really helping the rider your riding for, right? I mean, you probably won't work for the break, but how does that help the one your riding for?

Another question out of curiosity, is there smack talk DURING any of the Cat races?

Thanks,

Jim

shovelhd

a) You're doing the work instead of him.
b) If you're not working in the break, then you are contributing to its failure, and bringing it back where you can work for him again.
c) If the break stays away, they should work for you, if it is truly about the team. That is, if you were really covering.
d) If the other guy manages to bridge, he has a teammate in the break. Much better odds that way.

Greg180

Great. Know some of the NRM boys and I'm always at Bob's shop in Greenfield. If you were at the TOTHT this year I was running it with Peter Crowley.

Did you race masters?

timster

I believe the idea is to cover the break in such a way that you either drag the whole pack with you and bring everything back together, or drag the guy you are working for up to the break with you.

If you happen to get in a break and you're supposed to be working for another guy, I can think of at least two options. One is for you to try and slow the break down so they get caught. The other is for roles to reverse, and the guy you were working for to try and slow the pack down so you can get a W in the break. Probably best to discuss before the race what your strategy would be in this situation

shovelhd

That's where I bought my Felt. Not racing this year. I raced Cat2 as a Senior (MBRC, Bicycle Exchange). Next year would be M50+ and/or Catwhateverleveltheydecidetoreinstateme.

MDcatV

you're.

in addition to what shovelhd and timster said, by being in the break, you relieve your team mate and team from an obligation to chase/contribute to a chase. so if i'm on team B, in a break with a guy from team A and team C, teams D through whatever are not represented and SOL. they either need to chase while A,B, and C sit in, or launch bridge attempts for teams A, B, and C to follow wheels and get a "free ride" up to the breakaway.

Pedaleur

OK, speaking of breaks...

In a recent race, a group got away with two of my teammates and two others. I hung out near the front of the peloton and tried to "cover." At one point, about 8 guys put in a big surge, and I sat on. Soon, this dwindled to three: me and two others from different teams. I sat on while they bridged up to the breakaway. That makes three from my team and four others.

Now, races here are pancake flat, and the break _always_ gets caught. We worked hard for a while (I put in a lot of work because one of my teammates is a strong finisher, unlike me), but we were caught a couple km later. One of my teammates chastised me (note: he didn't yell at me ;-), saying that three is too many and the field will chase the break down in that situation.

I tried to explain that I was sitting on a group of eight and then just continued, but he didn't really want to hear my explanation. So I ask the 33-collective: on a scale of 1 to 10, how bad were my tactics? And, what should I have done?

umd

If you just sat on the group of 8 and didn't do any of the work to bridge up, then I don't think you really did anything wrong. But on the other hand, you could have actively disrupted the chase by screwing with their rotation. Slow to come around, weak pulls, etc.

KiddSisko

That's a great explanation.