Wow, do you take offense to Americans eating at Mexican restaurants, or Women reading Men's Health magazine? That's a shockingly elitist and separatist attitude.

Read the majority of the posts here - they're about bikes and biking. One might even get the impression that Slowtwitch is full of closet roadies who just haven't come out and left their triathlon ways. As such, there's tons of good discourse about biking and technology.

Oh, and some of us were triathletes before we were roadies and we still have an appreciation for the sport.

You don't often see roadies starting posts on this site with sweeping generalizations about triathletes, but you do see the opposite rather frequently. You blame "roadies" for trying to set the record straight, which I find interesting. Perhaps you just want a protected space where your club of "like me" folks can talk about "roadie mindset" and the like without anyone calling foul and offering some outside perspective on things. I'm sure if you ask them to leave, many will oblige, myself included. Or, you could just start a sewing circle and bitch about anything you want without ever having to worry about justifying your stereotypes and ill-conceived notions about the world.

Word.

Enjoy the the 'W'. I look forward to the race report! :-)

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Josef
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blog

At a recent Crit, Team Jelly Belly spent the last 10 laps massed at the front chasing down a break that had been away for at least 20 laps with their team mate in it. Since they all had ear pieces, I can't believe it was an accident. So maybe the answer is triathletes practice team tactics at the highest professional level.

My guess is that the teammate up the road just signed a contract to race the next season for a different team.

.

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Bob C.

The "science" on any matter can never be settled until every possible variable is taken into account.

do roadies spend as much time thinking about triathletes as it seems they do?

After having spent far too much time on roadie forums, I can definitely tell you the subject comes up more often than you might assume. And yes, the discussions are practically identical.

Wow, ask a simple question. You have some pent up issues?
And I've been known to do a bike race or two, used to live with a roadie and even have roadie friends.

>>club of "like me" folks<< Ha ha ha. Actually there IS no one like me.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

"Wow, ask a simple question. You have some pent up issues?"

Not at all. Perhaps I read an attitude into your rhetorical question that you didn't intend. If that's the case, then I apologize for being melodramatic.

OK, someone needs to start up a heated thread about the differences in mindset between triathletes and ultrarunners…..anyone, anyone??

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Kicking butt and writing down people's names since 2001

The Hurricane has spoken.

Well put.

Thanks, Bob!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

It was a calculated chase. They felt that the sprinters up in the break (were stronger than their man in the break) and had more faith in their sprinter back in the field. The idea is to sometimes place a teammate up the road in a break to take the heat off your own team with the expectation that another team will chase, saving your team energy. If the others don't chase...sometimes your team might have to, to win. They felt it was better to chase and potentially win the sprint than get 5th. Jelly Belly actually won that race.
There's actually quite a bit of thinking that goes on in bike races.
-HWM
www.slopesports.com

"There's actually quite a bit of thinking that goes on in bike races."

Thanks for pointing that out. You'll notice I never wrote anything to imply there was something wrong with chasing down a team mate (nor for that matter did the OP).

I have done road races and triathlons for over 20 years I never knew there was so much animosity between the two groups until I read the jackass threads here on ST.

Thanks for the heads up your Mom must be proud.

<<Thanks for pointing that out. You'll notice I never wrote anything to imply there was something wrong with chasing down a team mate (nor for that matter did the OP). >>

Sorry...my intention wasn't to agitate anyone (and I did notice). I just wanted to explain what was probably going on for those who might not know. Bike racing is sort of like a floating chess game at the higher level. I think that there's no reason the 2 groups should disrespect each other (as much as I see here)?? I don't quite get that?? Roadies can learn from Triathletes & vise versa. Maybe a triathlete chasing a teammate down serves a purpose...I wouldn't know unless I was in that situation.
-HWM
www.slopesports.com

No problem!

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com