Total NOOB question
#1
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Total NOOB question
So I am coming back to riding after many years of mostly sitting on my butt and gaining weight. Got a road bike a little over a month ago and have become totally addicted. I have also even thought I might try racing, although definitely not this year.
I watched the entire TOC, which honestly is the first stage race that I have ever watched so closely. I have caught parts of the TOF in the past but never really watched that closely.
I was kind of curious, as I don't understand the intricacies of bike racing. When watching some of the breakaways, I saw that the breakaway group seemed to help each other out quite a bit, even though they were on different teams. Is it customary for everyone to help in the paceline like that? It seems that if you were in that group you would want to hang back and let everyone else do the work. But that also seems rude.
I can also see in a way that helping each other can be advantageous. If the breakaway can stay ahead, then those guys have fewer people to fight against in the final sprint.
So are those guys actually volunarily helping each other? Or does it kind of just happen, as the guy in the lead drops back the second guy ends up doing a pull whether he likes it or not?
Also, any good books to read that will help me undestand this stuff? For now I am interested so that I can enjoy watching the races more. Maybe if I can lose this donut around my gut I will actually try it out.
-D
I watched the entire TOC, which honestly is the first stage race that I have ever watched so closely. I have caught parts of the TOF in the past but never really watched that closely.
I was kind of curious, as I don't understand the intricacies of bike racing. When watching some of the breakaways, I saw that the breakaway group seemed to help each other out quite a bit, even though they were on different teams. Is it customary for everyone to help in the paceline like that? It seems that if you were in that group you would want to hang back and let everyone else do the work. But that also seems rude.
I can also see in a way that helping each other can be advantageous. If the breakaway can stay ahead, then those guys have fewer people to fight against in the final sprint.
So are those guys actually volunarily helping each other? Or does it kind of just happen, as the guy in the lead drops back the second guy ends up doing a pull whether he likes it or not?
Also, any good books to read that will help me undestand this stuff? For now I am interested so that I can enjoy watching the races more. Maybe if I can lose this donut around my gut I will actually try it out.
-D
#2
Announcer
With a little luck, my book will be coming out soon.
Here's an excerpt:
The Breakaway riders will quickly form their own cooperative group. By working together as opponents, they will break all the conventional rules of sport. I can’t stress this bizarre occurrence enough. The idea of working with your enemy is absurd.
Edward Albert Ph.D, a professor in the Sociology Department at Hofstra University, verified this crazy idea in a study conducted in 1991. In his report entitled, “Riding a Paceline: Competition and Cooperation in the Sport of Bicycle Racing” published in The Sociology of Sport Journal, Albert concluded that these “informal normative structures were in conflict with more conventional and widely held sport doctrines that exclude cooperative associations between opponents and emphasize the zero-sum character of competitive interactions.”
Yet without this cooperation, they will lack the synergy necessary to succeed.
That's all you get for now.
Here's an excerpt:
The Breakaway riders will quickly form their own cooperative group. By working together as opponents, they will break all the conventional rules of sport. I can’t stress this bizarre occurrence enough. The idea of working with your enemy is absurd.
Edward Albert Ph.D, a professor in the Sociology Department at Hofstra University, verified this crazy idea in a study conducted in 1991. In his report entitled, “Riding a Paceline: Competition and Cooperation in the Sport of Bicycle Racing” published in The Sociology of Sport Journal, Albert concluded that these “informal normative structures were in conflict with more conventional and widely held sport doctrines that exclude cooperative associations between opponents and emphasize the zero-sum character of competitive interactions.”
Yet without this cooperation, they will lack the synergy necessary to succeed.
That's all you get for now.
#4
Senior Member
Bike racing is the only sport I know of where you work with your opponents... bizarre, eh?
Part of it is due to the physics involved, it's the fastest human-powered sport where aerodynamic-drag becomes a major factor. The draft becomes a big tactical advantage.
Part of it is due to the physics involved, it's the fastest human-powered sport where aerodynamic-drag becomes a major factor. The draft becomes a big tactical advantage.
Last edited by DannoXYZ; 03-05-06 at 12:37 PM.
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I was kind of curious, as I don't understand the intricacies of bike racing. When watching some of the breakaways, I saw that the breakaway group seemed to help each other out quite a bit, even though they were on different teams. Is it customary for everyone to help in the paceline like that?
It seems that if you were in that group you would want to hang back and let everyone else do the work. But that also seems rude.
I can also see in a way that helping each other can be advantageous. If the breakaway can stay ahead, then those guys have fewer people to fight against in the final sprint.
So are those guys actually volunarily helping each other? Or does it kind of just happen, as the guy in the lead drops back the second guy ends up doing a pull whether he likes it or not?
Also, any good books to read that will help me undestand this stuff? For now I am interested so that I can enjoy watching the races more. Maybe if I can lose this donut around my gut I will actually try it out.
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Originally Posted by derath
So I am coming back to riding after many years of mostly sitting on my butt and gaining weight. Got a road bike a little over a month ago and have become totally addicted. I have also even thought I might try racing, although definitely not this year.
Also, any good books to read that will help me undestand this stuff? For now I am interested so that I can enjoy watching the races more. Maybe if I can lose this donut around my gut I will actually try it out.
-D
Also, any good books to read that will help me undestand this stuff? For now I am interested so that I can enjoy watching the races more. Maybe if I can lose this donut around my gut I will actually try it out.
-D
......and, before you do what I did....(go hog wild and start riding your arse off to get in shape) do what I'm now doing (better late than never ) and read Joe Friel's book "The Cyclist's Training Bible" if you're interested in racing, fitness, and losing weight.
Much of it is contridictory to what common sense and popular belief is in regards to the subject.
Steve
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Originally Posted by SteveAZ
......and, before you do what I did....(go hog wild and start riding your arse off to get in shape) do what I'm now doing (better late than never ) and read Joe Friel's book "The Cyclist's Training Bible" if you're interested in racing, fitness, and losing weight.
Much of it is contridictory to what common sense and popular belief is in regards to the subject.
Steve
Much of it is contridictory to what common sense and popular belief is in regards to the subject.
Steve