Someone that I know well, is a friend, and is one of the best racers I know (i.e. in terms of honor, skills, and tactics) said something like this to me. "Look, you paid your own entry. You bought your bike, your wheels, your tires, you paid for your gas. You shouldn't work for me unless you want to. And I don't think anyone on our team should be obligated to work for me just because. It's okay if the rider wants to work for me but it shouldn't be a requirement".

This really goes against the whole 'intramural team' concept, i.e. where a team of Cat 3s (in my case) work together. Or 4s or even 5s. I think it's fun to work together but that's me. I'll spend my entry fee knowing that I won't see the finish in optimal shape but it'll be worth it if I can set up a teammate for a good chance at a podium/win.

Ironically when that guy started winning prize money (sometimes due to our help) he came to me and asked how he should split the money. I told him that, look, we all helped you because we wanted to. There was no talk of splitting the money. I told him to talk to our Cat 3 captain since I couldn't talk for him, but in my opinion the prize money was his. (The Cat 3 captain, who was one of the guys working for him, concurred.)

Team coaches only help if the team is good with the coach. This means a lot of different levels. First the coach has to have the riders' respect. Second the riders have to believe that the coach knows more than they do. Third the coach actually has to know something and give good advice.

I met a rider in MI who was putting together an end of season gift for the guy that ran the team. Everyone pitched in $20 (nowadays maybe $40) and the club bought him a really nice big TV. I suppose now it'd be like buying a 50-60" TV, but back then it was "just" a 32" or 36". He worked with the riders as well as doing stuff like running the club etc. Riders joined up partially because of the guy running the team. I could see that working but I've rarely seen the commitment from more than a few racers required to build and hold together such a team.

If my current team had a coach that everyone had to use, I probably wouldn't have joined it. I've heard a lot of bad advice coming from coaches that don't know much but think they do (of course I may be in that same boat, i.e. dispensing non-pertinent advice).

I joined my current team because of one main reason - my friend (who raced for another team at the time) joined up. It was politically safe for me to join this team since it wouldn't offend anyone back where I used to live. I also wanted to go on team rides, group rides. Ends up that I've managed to make just ONE group ride in three years (and I hit the deck on that one, my fault). So although I'm on this team, although I see teammates at races, we're separate when we're not at races. We give one another ideas and encouragement (that one teammate has been racing 25 or so years, the attitude/honor one), we learn from one another.

We're also done with the "winning is most important" selfish bs attitude. We work for whoever is the best for the course, fitness, and the conditions. I found myself getting greedy at one race this year and totally regretted it (my teammate said that it was within my right, but after seeing him win, I realized that no, it wasn't in my right, not that day). After that race I've selflessly put down for my teammates when it made sense.