If there's, let's say, a four man break (with no teammates) and I put the hammer down and bridge the gap, is it required to immediately start rotating? I'm already redlining from the effort and some guys seem to get mad if you don't do a pull right off the bat. Seems like a tactic to get me to blow up and fall off, and if I'm out there to win, why should I?

You did not sign a contract with the other people in the break, you're under no obligation to work with them at any time. You work when it's in your interests to do so. After bridging a gap to a break, it is not in your interests to keep working right away. Anyone that gets pissed at you for not rotating through immediately is an idiot.

Yep. The only etiquette you should adhere to is that you don't tell them you're not going to sprint, then turn around and sprint. Not saying anything, sitting on, and then sprinting is fine. If you lie about it, they won't forget, and you're going to have a tough time with those guys in the future...

When I bridge, what I do next depends on how I'm feeling. Last Thu, I barely made it, so I just rode up to the tail and sat on. A previous break a couple weeks ago, they were just barely organized, so I rode right past them and kept going, and only two of them got on, but it was the right two.

I can rarely pull after bridging so I wait. I've bridged and come off within 30-40 seconds too. The racers around here know this so either drill it when I bridge or let me sit on for a bit, depending on their friend or foe status.

Brice Jones reported in the 2002 Elite Nationals that someone (#56) bridged to his 4 man group towards the end of the race. As the four had been working, Jones told #56 to pull them to the line. #56 had just bridged about a minute gap solo in 3 miles, so he was pretty redlined. Nonetheless #56 drilled it to the line, pulling the 5 miles to the finish and holding off the field by himself. He also led out the sprint since he has zero sprint. Of the five man group, he got third. The report was in Cyclingnews's website but I can't find it anymore. I talked to #56 about this later - he's one of the (now-former) leg-breakers at the local Tues Night Worlds.

And anybody else they tell. Cycling's a small community.

That pretty much covers it.



/End Thread.

Great! Thanks a lot for the advice.

If you need a minute, but plan on cooperating to help keep it away, just tell em "gimme a minute".

This is very true. I was just discussing with a friend about how a well-known masters racer lied and jumped.

Noted.

Yep. There's a girl who did that to us here, also noted.

Yup. There are a few guys around here that I would sacrifice for to make sure they don't place.

Agree. It doesn't take much to make a bad name for yourself. There are certain people I've only raced with a couple times, but I remember them very well. People who play dirty won't likely get my co-operation when they need it most.