"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Your most bone headed race tactic you've pulled??

So what's the dumbest thing you've tried to pull off in a race?

Me? Let's see ... maybe it was the time I attacked in a points race (crit.) but a little too early because 5 laps later was a double points sprint and I got caught _just_ before the line ... and promptly spit out the back. :mad: I did that once in a 3 lap sprint on the track ... went from the gun GO!! ... nobody could believe their eyes that someone would try that in a _sprint_ race ... well, I won that quarter final race, but was a marked man in the semi's ! :) Attacking up the inside of the course seemed like a good idea at the time ... except that I didn't account for making the turn at the end of the straight ... I went from the inside to the outer gutter, rubbing my sidewalls on the curb trying to keep my balance ... _JUST_ missing the bus stop shelter with my shoulder (dumb dumb dumb! :o ).

Anyone else want to confess?

jw

I went for a Prime with 2 laps to go, becuase when I heard the bell, I thought it was the last lap, I got pipped at the line for the Prime (thought I got 2nd place in the race so sat up) total bonehead.

I pulled the whole group for a lap for absolutely no reason, blew up, got spit out the back, got lapped, came in third to last. That was dumb.

Chased a decoy attacker in the first 10 miles of a 40 mile race. Caught him at the bottom of a 2 mile long 7% grade hill. Hung onto the pack for a while but was promptly destroyed soon after.

When I was a Cat 4, I attacked on mile 3 of a 40 mile road race and nobody came with me. Peleton never organized a chase (I wondered if they forgot about me), but just from my sheer exhaustion caught me at mile 39 and I finished behind them.

Sprinted (and won) at the wrong line in a circut race, ended up coasting across the real line to 5th. Changed my warmup to always include a recon from at least 1K when possible.

Any other race where I intentionally got involved in an early break, dont have the juce or temperament to pull this off.

I was always getting caught in the wrong place at the wrong time in Miss 'N Outs (velodrome) so I thought I would avoid the hassle by going off the front at the whistle. It took the pack only 2 laps to catch and devour me, which was right before they called the first rider out... me.

That cone near the top of the hill? Not the finish line. Finish line is another 40 yards up. Blew up and went from a nice lead and a win to 7th.

Grand Valley State University.
Forgot how deep the prizelist was. Thought it they only paid 5 deep.
When the final sprint came, I sat up when I realized I was going to get 6th place. Got passed by 5 guys in no time. Finished 11th.

They paid to ten.

Never again.

Grand Valley State University.
Forgot how deep the prizelist was. Thought it they only paid 5 deep.
When the final sprint came, I sat up when I realized I was going to get 6th place. Got passed by 5 guys in no time. Finished 11th.

They paid to ten.

Never again.

Everybody finished 11th.

Tour of New Braunfels TX 2005. My teammate was in the winning break on the last lap with about a 40s lead with another rider in no mans land about 15s behind them. I was in the next group behind with about 8 riders. When I realized we wouldn't catch the lead group I attacked out of sharp left turn leading to a 2 mile 4% climb. I jumped the group and only one guy could bridge. I told him if we worked together we could catch the guy in no mans land and that would guarentee one of us 5th place. He wouldn't take a pull and so I sat up and the other 6 caught us. That wasn't the bonehead part that came next. When the group caught back on no one would take a pull. They would just follow my wheel. I got pissed so I put my head down and drilled it. For next 4 miles I pulled the group until we caught no mans land guy and then he took some time on the front. We hit the finishing straight and when the sprint started my legs were cooked. Finished 12th when I was easily the strongest. Like the man said it's not always the legs it's the brain that wins the race. That was last time I ever got mad during a race.

Starting.

Not scouting out the finish line and sprinted like mad...from about 600 meters out! I finished just outside of money though... :)

Half hearted attacks. Of any variety.

If I attack balls to the wall, I'm winning or at least placing. If I go about 80-90 percent, I'm rolling in with the pack :rolleyes:

Half hearted attacks. Of any variety.

If I attack balls to the wall, I'm winning or at least placing. If I go about 80-90 percent, I'm rolling in with the pack :rolleyes:
So true. Later, I masked that decision by saying I was playing with their minds.

I did have a teammate who was boneheaded by leading a chase group to catch his own teammate who had gone off the front at nationals (I wasn't in the picture, was in a lower age category). Of course, the off-the-front guy should have communicated his intentions to the teammate in the first place.