Team Politics: this happened to a friend of mine...

[curby]

local 3-club race and he wants to earn some cred, right? he's a strong masters crit racer and its a short circuit followed by a hillclimb with some 10%+ 1km+ sections in it. early break would be good for him if he can get in without the other masters who can easily outclimb him.

strongest all around rider goes for the holeshot and only one rider woes with, my friend. they jam thru the first 5km without getting caught then he is able to keep the guys wheel thru some twisting sections until the turnaround. the chasers are 1min back and its only 10 strong and no one wants to do all the work so the 2 are staying away on the last 10km and looking good until this happened:

the pulls have been split 3:1, no surprise there, but then the other guy catches the wheel of the @#!$ lead vehicle. he ups the pace beyond what my friend can muster, simply by drafting the motorcycle. my friend stayed on for a minute or so but isnt going to take advantage by drafting any longer even if he could manage it, its @#$! wrong.

some spectators in a car heckled the race official on the motorbike to stop it about 5mins later. the race leader is my friends teammate! what a piece of work... the guy admits his wrongdoing after crossing the finish line first and takes a time penalty and keeps a meaningless 1st place. my friend suffers along solo ahead of the hungry pack hoping to salvage something for the climb. got caught at the base of the 5km climb and couldnt outdo any of his rivals after the solo work... he realizes he could have shut it down as soon as he gave up that wheel but again any master who was in the chase group could easily outclimb him.

Question: would you resign from this team? join one of the other teams in town? their reputation is certainly sullied with this other guy as their unofficial leader, he brings home most of their tops finishes. how ****** are you if this happened to you? with a 1 minute lead at the base of the climb I think they have 1st overall and a top 3 in masters. am I missing something? feel free to note any omissions that would clarify the situation for any readers.

thanks

 

[cyclissimo]

Hmmm,

The 'slighted' rider was only off the front as long as he could suck wheel and do 30% of the work. By his own admission he couldn't save some juice and join the relatively small chase group because he knew he'd be outclimbed by the stronger riders back there chasing. The guy doing all the work blew it and paid the price for his actions but didn't deliver a podium spot on a silver platter to the weak guy.

Sounds to me like the guy you're so worried about came very close to getting very lucky team mate or no. He had no business being off the front in a race where he couldn't sustain the effort and couldn't make a minute lead stick in the closing kilometers.

Tell him to keep training and learn to time trial and pace off the front if he wants to earn podium spots in long breaks. Blaming the other guy for not towing him to the line seems pretty ridiculous to me.

Chasing down a team mate with the peloton in tow or leading out your opponents is one thing. Dragging a rider who wouldn't otherwise be in the hunt all the way to the line is another, teams don't typically rally resources for the weaker riders.

You asked for opinions...

 

[swampy1970]

As many people say, 'sh1t happens'...

In local races you get the fast guys who are well known. Sometimes they take liberties, like the guy who won that race did, buy drafting behind out of the motorcycle outriders probably because they know them...

If I were him I wouldn't dwell on it too much. I'd have given him my 2 cents worth after the race and that'd be it. If it's a situation that happens often then I'd change clubs.

 

[sisbatcap]

[lang=hr]vuče su podijeljeni 3:1, no tamo iznenađenje, ali onda drugog ulova upravljačem @ #! $ dovesti vozilo. on UPS tempo izvan onoga što je moj prijatelj može sabrati, jednostavno izrade motocikla. moj prijatelj je ostao na za minutu ili tako, ali isn't idući u iskoristiti izradom bilo više, čak i ako je on mogao upravljati, njegov @ # $! pogrešno.


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Simulation rachat credit personnel reduit | Demande rachat credit personnel en ligne | Comparatif meilleur taux rachat credit pret personnel[/lang]

 

[curby]

wow, was hoping for more ideas but... my buddy and I went riding today, he's really broken up about it. feels betrayed, we rode the race course, he worked his butt off in the first 15km of that race, no one carried him to the front, it was a sprint from the get go, slight ascent, twisting, fast after that with some descending and his old skills really paid off keeping him in the front, leading the weaker bike handler teammate from km-3 to km7. his teammate doesnt appreciate a 30 sec rest every min or so? not much to ask from a teammate/friend... we measured the cheating, a good 4km! hehe that cheater doesnt drop him without the aid of the motorbike. wtf? then on top of it his team is now the 'cheating' club in town. I told him to join one of the other clubs that he can feel good about working for/with. this guy even implicated him in the illicit affair! hah!