| Subject: | Re: Sprint |
| Date: | 03/31/2008 06:11 PM |
| From: | r r <bikex..@hotmail.com> |
|
Dont forget every crit as well. We get the full road for the entire race and sprint there and things flow perfectly fine as well. Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:09:27 -0700
Good point. I don't think I have enough experience to answer it. This is my first full season racing and I've only done PIR three times in tiny fields (11-16 riders) late last summer. On 3/31/08, r r wrote:
Thank you Brian for at least getting back on topic. Somehow the topic turned into the telephone game, and turned into a finger pointing contest. The main point of the original email was, why not open up the road earlier, if it does not violate any sort of county permit code that must be followed in order to have the race put on. But, in with the road opened earlier, does not mean everyone will have the ability to move around. Take PIR for example. See how nicely the sprints work there with the nice wide open road. Sprints work there how they are suppose to work. And in the end, the true sprinters and stronger riders still emerge and the peleton is still strung out despite optimal space for everyoen and their grandmother to move around in. I guess thats what i am getting at. Everyone likes a course thats nice and wide open, so why purposely have it tighter during the most chaotic time, that is if it does not violate permit code for hosting the race. Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:46:38 -0700
CC: jeff.nelson@yakima.com; obra@list.obra.org Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Sprint Just to clear up some misunderstandings starting to form, for the sake of the peanut gallery here... Nobody from any team was riding four abreast "blocking" the pack, so I've been told. Portland Velo had 4 guys in the race, and towards the end of the race, they were, all four, near the front of the peloton, working to try to lead out a sprinter to the finish. There was no Portland Velo breakaway, so I understand, that they would be blocking for. I believe that Mr. Nelson merely found himself in the back half of a slow moving peloton, unable to move up, and saw a couple Portland Velo jerseys of guys who were smart enough to make the move up the front of the pack early so they could contest the finish. I believe they put one man in the top 10 - not terrible for a Cat5 team still learning team tactics. It is well known that it is difficult to move around in the pack on the Piece of Cake course. Myself, racing in the 4's, I had to start making my move about 10 miles from the finish in order to complete it by the two miles to go mark. Then I sat near the front, sucking wind, for the last couple miles so I could have a shot at a good finish. It's just racing is all. So, to summarize: No breakaway. No blocking. Just a frustrated racer who didn't make the move to the front of the peloton early enough to contest the finish. To move this thread back on the original topic; I have sometimes wondered myself why the road didn't open up sooner than 200m. Particularly at Banana Belt, by the time 200m came up, the sprinters had already picked their lines and opening up the other lane had no real affect. On the other hand, I can see that perhaps the opening of both lanes at 200m is meant as a pure safety matter, and opening the lane up sooner would eliminate the safety of having extra room to maneuver in a sprint. Say the lane opened at 500m, what would happen with a 50+ person peloton? Why, everyone and their Grandma would move up around the side of the peloton to get to the front and fill the road just the same and their would be no safety benefit at all. The way it is now, nobody seriously contesting the sprint uses the newly opened lane (takes too long to move across the road after the sprint has started), so the open lane acts as a safety buffer in case someone doesn't hold their line. If there is a crash at the finish, it provides an escape route to get around. On 3/31/08, STEVEN R HOLLAND wrote:
Ty Lambert wrote:
Stop sucking wheels and start taking your turn at the front. Ty Lambert
-----Original Message-----
Behalf Of Matthew Klahn
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Sprint Physically pushing your way through Cat. 5 riders is almost certainly
large enough team to block in this way, and you can't lead a rider out
not have been in this category, anyway), but a friend who finished
last two years (!) at PoC. Just another reason to get out of the Cat. 4/5 ASAP, IMO. Matthew On Mar 31, 2008, at 1:52 PM, Jerald M Powell wrote: > Jeff... "unsafe" might be over cooking it a bit. "Unwise", or > "Ineffective" is probably a fair criticism. "Blocking" by plugging up
> through it (even if it risks criticism for dangerous riding).
> "blockee".
>> began boxing the group on the second lap. It made the race unsafe
>> the unsafe tactics of others.
>
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