Hah! I was due to ride this race, luckily we didn't do it in the end!
Now the situation as I understand it was that 96 riders were disqualified due to a protest. The protest was due to the fact that there were thunderstorms yesterday and since the morning stage was canceled (stage 6a, a time trial) that the afternoon stage in the same weather conditions should also be canceled.
I've never been involved in a rider protest. People pay 60 000€-100 000€ for your average international race (per stage). It's worth trying to ride through. If you can't, just stop. The last time I found myself in this situation I was suffering from vagal hypothermia somewhere in the mountains of the Algarve. We were at stage 3, the race was 230km long and passed several mountains. It was raining heavily and the average temperature was 4ºC, add in some thunder, and a strong wind.
Fans often think riders should harden the fuck up. They probably think it's like toughing out a 100km training ride in the rain, when it's nothing of the sort. The truth is, cycling is such a sport that you either can, or you can't deal with a situation. And 99% of people can not even imagine keeping up, yet alone dealing with adverse conditions like hail or a thunderstorm.
Riders should make the effort to race, whatever the conditions. Give up if they must.
A blog by Tomás Metcalfe about professional cycling (what's left of it!) in Portugal.
Showing posts with label Rider Safety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rider Safety. Show all posts
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Race Radios
Race Radios are being phased out. These are little two way radios racing cyclists use to speak with each other and the team boss in the car behind. They've been used since the early nineties when the American Motorola team used a system provided by their sponsor, which I believe were actually early GSM handsets and not radios per se.
When racing with a radio, you are generally warned slightly ahead of time of exceptionally dangerous circumstances. Except cyclists do this for themselves. We just avoid a danger without thinking about it. However if your focus is draw to the danger, you can become "fixated" on an obstacle you would have simply cycled past before.
Race Radios kill tactics. There is nothing brilliant about putting a strong team drilling it at the front, just so the team leader can jump of the wheel with 3k's to go. For apologists of this school of racing I suggest an equally intellectually challenging sport: http://www.nhra.com/. Unfortunately that is what race radios lead to. Another thing that becomes evident with he lack of radios is the cohesiveness of a team. Most teams find the situation of not being led from the car unbearable, because each is out for themselves.
Often ignored in cycling coverage is the first hour of a race. It's usually in the first hour that a race is "designed" if you will to take a particular out come. This is where the big teams in a race will try and out fox each other, trying to get the other to expend more energy in protecting it's position. For example this can be done by incessant attacking, or a strict marking. With radios a team will just assume control and let a break go or retrieve it depending on who is in it and how much time they have -as seen from a list in the team car. Without radios riders will generally save energy and and use their own position to manipulate circumstances. They will mark one another or mark a break. An intelligent team will know to always be in a dominant position in a break. This team will be covered against most eventualities. and have more cards to play. The drag racers on the other hand have only one card.
When racing with a radio, you are generally warned slightly ahead of time of exceptionally dangerous circumstances. Except cyclists do this for themselves. We just avoid a danger without thinking about it. However if your focus is draw to the danger, you can become "fixated" on an obstacle you would have simply cycled past before.
Race Radios kill tactics. There is nothing brilliant about putting a strong team drilling it at the front, just so the team leader can jump of the wheel with 3k's to go. For apologists of this school of racing I suggest an equally intellectually challenging sport: http://www.nhra.com/. Unfortunately that is what race radios lead to. Another thing that becomes evident with he lack of radios is the cohesiveness of a team. Most teams find the situation of not being led from the car unbearable, because each is out for themselves.
Often ignored in cycling coverage is the first hour of a race. It's usually in the first hour that a race is "designed" if you will to take a particular out come. This is where the big teams in a race will try and out fox each other, trying to get the other to expend more energy in protecting it's position. For example this can be done by incessant attacking, or a strict marking. With radios a team will just assume control and let a break go or retrieve it depending on who is in it and how much time they have -as seen from a list in the team car. Without radios riders will generally save energy and and use their own position to manipulate circumstances. They will mark one another or mark a break. An intelligent team will know to always be in a dominant position in a break. This team will be covered against most eventualities. and have more cards to play. The drag racers on the other hand have only one card.
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