Dale
Posts:1767
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| 07/25/2020 03:58 PM |
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I wasn't there... been skipping most of the group rides that have more than eight or ten riders. Thursday night ride is flat, usually brisk without being a total hammer fest but something that will get you dropped if you're not paying attention. Occasionally a guy on a full blown TT rig shows up, goes to the front and drills it.
I've spoken to him about that, that this is a training ride where people can learn pace lines, echelons, drafting, group dynamics and with him on the front killing it none of those skills get learned. Doesn't seem to care, plus a few of the guys like to practice motorpacing and besides, what does an old codger like me know anyway... I mean other that decades of riding and racing.
So last Thursday it hit a new low. A guy with an ebike showed up. Not just an electric race bike but a big 'ol clunky hybrid ebike where the guy sits bolt upright!
Reports were that he was very unstable... weaving, accelerating, abruptly slowing down as he rode up to the guy ahead, not to mention the dynamic of being behind his monster draft then having him pull off. I guess it was a total cluster, eventually enough people barked at him that he peeled off and went on his way elsewhere.
The funny part of it was the 50+ comment Facebook post, now deleted, where this rude behavior was discussed and someone from outside the area, not knowing how the usual TNR goes down (I suppose), posted "That's as egregious as someone showing up for a group ride on a TT bike." I couldn't help myself and posted that a TT bike in the middle of a group ride is standard fare around these parts.
I'm all for inclusion but at the start someone should have taken him aside to explain the rules. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2886
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| 07/26/2020 08:23 PM |
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Complex post in the Covid era. Even trigeeks are less annoying than many or most cases of Covid. I wish you all the best.
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/26/2020 10:29 PM |
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Not particularly difficult. The TT guy just let him rip off into distance and continue ride at set pace instead of trying to follow him. He’ll get message soon enough.
The e bike dude though. His sheer presence seems tone deaf. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 07/27/2020 10:52 AM |
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Not particularly difficult. The TT guy just let him rip off into distance and continue ride at set pace instead of trying to follow him. He’ll get message soon enough.
The e bike dude though. His sheer presence seems tone deaf.
All this.....100%. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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eurochien
Posts:163
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| 07/27/2020 02:00 PM |
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| Group rides and sound decision making don't mix well. When I was doing the infamous bus stop ride in Boulder I can't count the number of times when the pack (100+) would echelon across the entire road, past the double yellow line, with incoming traffic having no choice but to stop into the ditch - or keep going and slam into a bunch of cyclists scofflaws. After a few of those I decided to just ride with a smaller group or by myself. Then the cops started cracking down because it was getting really insane. |
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 07/27/2020 03:30 PM |
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eurochien, at least you guys can form an eschelon. In these parts we can't even get a reasonable semblance of a pace line going. Couple years ago we did a 200k out and back. I got everyone in an echelon for about two rotations before everyone was stuck in the gutter due to a hard wind out of the south. One of the guys looked over at me, winked, and said, "You're going to make yourself crazy. Quit trying."
As to letting the tt guy roll off the front... that would work except a decent number of guys like to stay stuck to his wheel and pretend they are behind a derney though not a single one of them would know what one is.
Word--> Group rides and sound decision making don't mix well. |
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eurochien
Posts:163
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eurochien
Posts:163
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| 07/29/2020 03:23 PM |
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Let's hope this works. You'd think dragging an image into a field in 2020 would be more intuitive.
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 07/29/2020 04:44 PM |
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| What race is that? Garmin's at the back but it looks lkie they won it the year before. |
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eurochien
Posts:163
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| 07/29/2020 06:04 PM |
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| @79pmooney It looks like Tour of Alberta 2013. The Vuelta also has some good echelon pictures, where you can see 3, 4 or 5 groups working together. Bottom line compared to amateurs who drill it in the gutter at the back and finish completely knackered 10 or 15 minutes behind, those pros that get caught napping and end up in an echelon at the back lose 20 or 30 seconds. It's a specialty of Colorado amateur group rides to be single file in the gutter even though the leaders are long gone. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2886
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| 07/29/2020 07:22 PM |
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| EC, great post of pain and despair. If the moto cameraman was in the right gutter it would hurt even more. Man o man crosswinds can be cruel. |
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