Road Bike Racing - waterbottle rolling through the pack

Today's race in Gainesville, a watebottle comes loose early in the race and is rolling thorugh the group at a 45% angle.

So what do you do if its coming dead in front of your wheel? Options would appear to be 1) roll over and try to crush it, 2) try to avoid left or right, 3) jump it.

To complicate matters, it was on a cobbled section in a turn. Turns out that trying to roll over it wasn't the A answer. The guy who hit went down with his front wheel washing out, falling right in my line. (Fortunately I saw it developing soon enough to avoid running over him.)

Probably the best answer would have been to straighten his line, and either roll over it perpendicular or jump it. Of course he din't have much time to ponder the question.


The whole incident also points out that the first job of a waterbottle cage is to hold the waterbottle in. I have no idea how it got loose, but some of the uber light CF cages look rather questionable as bottle retaining devices.

Today's race in Gainesville, a watebottle comes loose early in the race and is rolling thorugh the group at a 45% angle.

So what do you do if its coming dead in front of your wheel? Options would appear to be 1) roll over and try to crush it, 2) try to avoid left or right, 3) jump it.

To complicate matters, it was on a cobbled section in a turn. Turns out that trying to roll over it wasn't the A answer. The guy who hit went down with his front wheel washing out, falling right in my line. (Fortunately I saw it developing soon enough to avoid running over him.)

Probably the best answer would have been to straighten his line, and either roll over it perpendicular or jump it. Of course he din't have much time to ponder the question.


The whole incident also points out that the first job of a waterbottle cage is to hold the waterbottle in. I have no idea how it got loose, but some of the uber light CF cages look rather questionable as bottle retaining devices.

Lower category racers can be nervious when putting a water bottle back in the cage in the pack and fumble it.

If it's moving left to right, I would move left if I had room. Otherwise I guess hopping it is the way to go. Not sure I'd want to run it over... I'll be waiting to see what the voices of experience have to say.

in my experience if you can run over it straight, usually not a problem (being bigger helps) It was coming left to right. If there wasn't room to move left (I couldn't really tell whether he had someoine on his right shoulder), I would have hopped it though.

avoid at all costs, but don't forget the fellow racers let them know its comming, they will apreciate it

The fact that someone called it out helped me not run over the guys head. As the bottle was coming across I could see he waslikely to fall in front of me.

jump it would be my first instinct, also a little shout of 'bottle' would be nice...

Today's race in Gainesville, a watebottle comes loose early in the race and is rolling thorugh the group at a 45% angle.

So what do you do if its coming dead in front of your wheel? Options would appear to be 1) roll over and try to crush it, 2) try to avoid left or right, 3) jump it.

To complicate matters, it was on a cobbled section in a turn. Turns out that trying to roll over it wasn't the A answer. The guy who hit went down with his front wheel washing out, falling right in my line. (Fortunately I saw it developing soon enough to avoid running over him.)

Probably the best answer would have been to straighten his line, and either roll over it perpendicular or jump it. Of course he din't have much time to ponder the question.


The whole incident also points out that the first job of a waterbottle cage is to hold the waterbottle in. I have no idea how it got loose, but some of the uber light CF cages look rather questionable as bottle retaining devices.

cobbles in florida? where was this race, at disney world?

I would like to think I would just go around it but I think my first response would be to jump it

cobbles in florida? where was this race, at disney world?

Downtown Gainesville. I think they may be original. There are new pavers in the cross walks that are obviously for effect. But there's about a 200 meter section, where it looks like asphalt has been removed for the purpose of exposing the original bricks.

Certainly not Paris Roubaix, but enogh to bounce things around a bit.

I run mountain bike cages on all my bikes. They look a bit beefy for a road bike, but I don't care.

also a little shout of 'bottle' would be nice...

Where's velocity when you need him? ;)

Yikes! I've seen a few bottls fly out of bikes/hands before but have never been close to them. I've also seen a lot of expensive looking carbon cages with the bottles bouncing around inside them... not a functional cage.

Actually my arundel is the best water cage I've used ever. It comes out easy and goes back in with a satisfying snap, I don't think this thing will come out even if I went off on a single trail with my road bike.

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/4552/arundelzy0.jpg

I've ran one over in a race. I was lucky the cap was open or I'm sure I would have gone down. I was in the middle of the pack and it was spinning in all sorts of awkward ways, so there wasn't really any way to avoid it.

Where's velocity when you need him? ;)

:D

probably working on his reading skills:

http://www.rare-posters.com/2865a.jpg

The guy who went down was one of my buddies. It's hard to see a bottle while cornering at 20+ mph, and he said it was the guy in front of him whose cage it fell from. The let him roll back in to the pack when they came back around unpenalized, but he was only able to race for about 5 laps because his hip was all bashed up from the crash.

this is off topic...

BUT DID THEY EVER POST THE RESULTS FROM SAT's ITT AND TTT?

i can't believe they couldnt post ANY results for SIX FRIKIN HOURS!

we had a 5 hour ride in front of us- so we all left after 6 oclock without knowing how we did!


that's crap that they couldnt post ANYTHING since NOON!

cobbles in florida? where was this race, at disney world?

- there are also cobbles in Homeless City, USA (AKA St. Pete)... i use 'em to test ride different framesets...

Hopping while turning is crashing. Far better odds to dodge the bottle.

They posted the ITT results at the Crit this morning.

Why isn't panicking and locking up your rear brakes an option????? :eek: :D

locking up your brakes in a pack of 100 guys would be way worse than at least trying to avoid it

If on a straight section of the course, try to jump it. In a corner, steer the opposite way it's moving, bracing your elbow for a brush with a competitor. My neighbor will tell you trying to run over it can cause some serious damage. Her husband dropped his bottle in front of her and when her wheel hit it, full of water and therefore not about to crush easily, it threw her bike sideways so fast she hit the ground and blacked out before she knew what happened.

Hopping while turning is crashing. Far better odds to dodge the bottle.

Dodging, you're going to have to modify your line. Jumping in a corner, you have to modify your line and sit up for a second. It all depends on how steep, and how fast the corner is. If you're doing 50kph hanging it all out in a crit I agree with you. If you're cruising along at 30kph in a relaxed RR corner then you can get upright and over the bottle easily.

Why isn't panicking and locking up your rear brakes an option????? :eek: :D

Hilarity!

cobbles in florida? where was this race, at disney world?

Race season started here 3 weeks ago. Have had cobbles in each weekend's crits so far. Since crits usually are held downtown, the chances of encountering cobbles are pretty good actually.

Bob

To the OP.... So are you not going to actually post a race report?!?!

--Steve

Why isn't panicking and locking up your rear brakes an option????? :eek: :D

Or just hitting that which you intend to avoid.

"Aiyahh... Oh, no...."

:D

Or just hitting that which you intend to avoid.

"Aiyahh... Oh, no...."


:D
Better to say, "Aiyahh...Oh, no" in a race than on the way to get Wifey Poos Tampons ya think.:o

Last year I was racing a course with terrible stretches of road, ruts, bumps, potholes, etc. We were heading down a fairly steep, twisty descent, and someone's bottle popped out to my left. It skittered across my path as I was doing about 75km/h. No way to react, I was just lucky it missed my wheel, by about a foot.

If on a straight section of the course, try to jump it. In a corner, steer the opposite way it's moving, bracing your elbow for a brush with a competitor. My neighbor will tell you trying to run over it can cause some serious damage. Her husband dropped his bottle in front of her and when her wheel hit it, full of water and therefore not about to crush easily, it threw her bike sideways so fast she hit the ground and blacked out before she knew what happened.

I would have thought whilst going straight, running over it would be safer than hopping-particularly if in a pack.
Sounds like majority opinnion is going toward hopping.
Anyone have personal experience with both options to give us some insight which way is the lesser of two evils?

And Merlin has hinted that rider size might modify the tradeoffs-anyone specifically know if us Clydesdales have a differing approach from the small guys?

Better to say, "Aiyahh...Oh, no" in a race than on the way to get Wifey Poos Tampons ya think.:o

Touche'. :beer: :D

I was standing at the starbucks when that happened. The dude who went down seemed OK but I think quite rightly pissed.

Hopping in a corner is tricky. But it may be just as well to lift your front tire over it and crush it with your rear. Even if the rear slides out you will be able to better control the bike and bring it back on your line.

And yes those cheap carbon cages suck I saw one bounce out last Saturday. I prefer the cheap AL ones that you can bend to adjust the fit for any particular bottle.

To the OP.... So are you not going to actually post a race report?!?!

--Steve

Ok, my race report. Finished with the second group in a pretty uninspired performance. This course totally does not favor me, with 2 climbs each lap (and a pretty brutal head wind up the bigger climb) Admittedly only one of the climb on the front mounts to anything, and it's not big, but enough to make me pay for my excess weight.

10 minutes into the race, couple of guys in front of me sit up, on the uphill into the wind section. Rather than chasing immediately to get back on I tried to let someone else pull through rather than working into the wind. Only to realize there was no one left behind me with enough left to pull through. By the time I realized I had to bridge myself it was too late. Chased solo in futility for 3-4 laps. Then sat up, and waited for the second group. Only one or two guys in that group had anything left so ended up pulling a lot.

My race harkens back to the Power thread of a week ago. Felt good. Produced really good power numbers for me. (I was working pretty hard chasing solo, and pulling the second group.) But my poor tactical decision ended my race.

I would have thought whilst going straight, running over it would be safer than hopping-particularly if in a pack.
Sounds like majority opinnion is going toward hopping.


A big enough hop to clear a water bottle is not a big deal at all, if you're going straight. It's definitely a skill everyone should have.

And one of the prime times you need it is when you're in a pack and don't have the option of going right or left.

Ok, my race report. Finished with the second group in a pretty uninspired performance. This course totally does not favor me, with 2 climbs each lap (and a pretty brutal head wind up the bigger climb) Admittedly only one of the climb on the front mounts to anything, and it's not big, but enough to make me pay for my excess weight.

10 minutes into the race, couple of guys in front of me sit up, on the uphill into the wind section. Rather than chasing immediately to get back on I tried to let someone else pull through rather than working into the wind. Only to realize there was no one left behind me with enough left to pull through. By the time I realized I had to bridge myself it was too late. Chased solo in futility for 3-4 laps. Then sat up, and waited for the second group. Only one or two guys in that group had anything left so ended up pulling a lot.

My race harkens back to the Power thread of a week ago. Felt good. Produced really good power numbers for me. (I was working pretty hard chasing solo, and pulling the second group.) But my poor tactical decision ended my race.

Were you the dude in the blue jersey in the second group that was trying to get the rest of the group to work together and get back onto the first group? You guys were way behind (1:20) and nearly got lapped..

Were you the dude in the blue jersey in the second group that was trying to get the rest of the group to work together and get back onto the first group? You guys were way behind (1:20) and nearly got lapped..

Yeah, Velobrew jersey, which is mostly blue, realized it was futile, but didn't have any other options at that point.

Yeah, realized it was futile, but didn't have any other options at that point.

Yeah, you were the only one in that pack who seemed to really give a damn. I kept hearing you shout words of encouragement to everyone else, but to no avail.

I regularly drop one of the guys that was in the lead pack on our club rides. Maybe I should take up racing. :)

Actually my arundel is the best water cage I've used ever.

+1

I use the Dave-O. Looks like you have the Trident. Their hold is as tight as a crab's @ss! I'm gonna get another pair of Arundels for my back-up (which is also my race) bike since the Elite Ciussis have launched a few bottles. Fortunately never in a pack. Bending the cages tighter works for a while, but then they usually work their way looser again.

9 times out of 10 its ok just to hit it. I see more riders go down for avoiding bottles than acually hitting them.

Hi All-

As long as the front wheel doesn't hit the bottle at a shallow angle and washout, the rider should be fine. Just getting the front wheel over and crushing with the rear is prudent and doesn't require changing lines through a corner. If it's a lightning-quick criterium, the choices might not be so plentiful.

~ Blue Jays ~