Road Bike Racing - Loyalties

Spawning from a previous thread, here's a question to spark some discussion:

In a race, would you engage in a chase effort to bring back a non-teammate friend up the road? Why or why not? Is the loyalty of friendship greater, or lesser, than that to the team?

Probably about 99% of the time, yes, but it really depends on the situation. If he didn't want chased down, he should be on my team. :D
And his team should be doing their job to make sure I don't get up there to bring it back.

It's racing, we'll all get over it, or get paid back at some point.

In a bike race, loyalty to your team should supersede your loyalty to your friends. Otherwise you're not really racing for your team, are you? That being said, having friends on other teams is great, being able to form small alliances in a break, etc, is a good thing.

I think it depends a lot on the situation. If I was on a full squad working together with a game plan, then yes I would probably chase. If I was solo or only had 1-2 teammates then probably not.

very good point

very good point

That was my point earlier... I didn't put it in at first but edited my post (too late). I've seen more than once where a guy without any teammates in a race, helped to disturb the chace of a friend. I have been in races with no teammates where I have worked together with friends, sort of an ad-hoc team :D

depends on the friend.

I would chase and I would expect the same from my friend. The only exception would be in a larger stage race where I wanted to help a local racer and/or friend beat out of town competition. An example would be in the Mt. Hood Classic when Racer X was in a break. Even if I'd had the legs (which I didn't) I wouldn't have chased him down. Taking it a step further, if I had a team mate high in the GC that was threatened by Racer X's move, I would have chased. Its all part of a heirarchy of loyalties.

depends on the friend.

+1 I have collegiate teammates/friends who race on other teams for usac. I won't chase them down, but I might try to bridge and work together in the break. If its an acquaintance that I know from group rides and racing I would have no qualms chasing them down.

Did Phil Esposito NOT try to score on Tony Esposito?

Bob

If its Botto then yes... Anybody else no.

depends on the friend.

Let's say it's me. ;)

depends on the friend and situation. Sadly, I am in no shape to even worry about this sorta thing yet.

I would at least do everything I could to get in any chase group but I probably wouldnt work.

depends.

Most of the last two years I had very few (if any) people riding the same races as me wearing the same kit. There are 3-4 guys who I train and race with regularly, all from different teams, and in smaller races we'd race against each other, but in bigger races we rode much more like teammates than a lot of guys I know who wear the same kit.

I would rather see my team win then my friend win. If I'm without a team then I'll try to get to them and work together but I'm not going to hand anyone a race if I think I have a shot at it.

Team loyalty first. If you are flying solo, then you can have friend loyalty. I believe there was some of that in Krabbe's "The Rider."

Is the loyalty of friendship greater, or lesser, than that to the team?


It's just bike racing - there's no friendship loyalties if you're playing a game of basketball against him.

If he's a good friend, he'll know that I've got responsibilites to help my team. If this question was posed last year, when I had a [practically non-existant] team, I'd have helped the friend, but now I'm on a pretty sizeable team.

It's like going on a vacation with your family, and you meet your friend down there. Who do you hangout with? You've got a responsibility to [race] with the [team], but your friend unexpectedly wants [help].

If your buddy is up the road, doesn't that mean s/he is actively trying to beat you? If you're there with a team, then you're letting them down. If you're not, bridge up there and conspire with your pal to work together against the others in the break, if you can.

depends on the friend.

I have no friends. :( :rolleyes:

I have no friends. :( :rolleyes:

Then you have no loyalty problems. ;)

Then you have no loyalty problems. ;)

:lol:

Way to put a positive spin on things :D

yes, if I could bridge, I would but only if I thought it increased my chances of winning said race.

On a separate note:I hope to be in a position this year where I have team mates in the break and I get the sweet job of "controlling the pace" of the peloton as I rule at going slowly... this seems like it'd be fun. Anyone have any experience here??

yes, if I could bridge, I would but only if I thought it increased my chances of winning said race.

On a separate note:I hope to be in a position this year where I have team mates in the break and I get the sweet job of "controlling the pace" of the peloton as I rule at going slowly... this seems like it'd be fun. Anyone have any experience here??

As discussed in the thread that spawned this one, you control the pace by riding just a hair slower than your guys in the break - you want to make it seem like you're working, but not work hard enough to catch up to the break. You'll get in the rotation up front and pull through, but just a bit slower than you could. It shouldn't be blatantly obvious that you're trying to slow the field down.

As discussed in the thread that spawned this one, you control the pace by riding just a hair slower than your guys in the break - you want to make it seem like you're working, but not work hard enough to catch up to the break. You'll get in the rotation up front and pull through, but just a bit slower than you could. It shouldn't be blatantly obvious that you're trying to slow the field down.

+1

If you are obvious theres a chance the guys chasing will box you out so they can chase.

Hi,

A bit more serious now that I have a bit of time.

A guy with whom I've been racing since the mid-1980s and I generally do not have any teammates in the 50+ races. We are on different teams but we end up working together because we generally don't have any teammates in that age group. (I never have teammates in that age group.)

When we race in the 40+ or 45+ races we often have teammates so our interclub alliance dissolves in those races. However, I generally won't chase anything that he's in regardless of my teammate situation unless the break that he's in is large.

Also, there are some SoCal BF guys who I like to work with in breakaways. Unfortunately, none of the breaks have worked yet.

In general, I TRY to work with teammates or friends in forming a break and I TRY not to chase down friends unless team tactics dictate it because the team comes first.

It depends on the circumstance. Usually, though, probably not unless I really felt the situation dictated chasing them. I value my friends very highly, and have a lot on other teams. I know their teams will help me if I ever needed it, so I'm willing to help them.

By choice, I'm on a small team comprised mostly of employees of the shop that sponsors the team. We have ~20 members total spread between cats 2-4. Most of the races I did last year were solo-efforts, ie no team members. Rarely was I in a race with more than 4 teammates.

That said, if a friend (not on my team) was in a break and I thought I had a chance of chasing him down without towing the peloton with me you better believe I'm gonna do that. That increases both our chances (my friend and myself) of finishing in the points because we'll form an "alliance" and work together. In fact, I basically did just that during the majority of Tuesday Night World's (training crits) last year.

Spawning from a previous thread, here's a question to spark some discussion:

In a race, would you engage in a chase effort to bring back a non-teammate friend up the road? Why or why not? Is the loyalty of friendship greater, or lesser, than that to the team?

I don't know - when you play tennis with a friend do you try to beat him or are you too loyal?

It's a competition, so compete.