monty wrote:
I have heard from multiple people at many races that she has a tendency to get people a little close behind her when refs are around to give some penalties. // It is basically like when driving a car, the one behind has all the responsibility for distance, and none on the driver(or rider) in front. Of course during the course of the bike portion of a race there are going to be speed changes, up and down. When you are the leading rider you get the luxury of making those changes on your own needs. It really is one of the only perks to leading a group or just being in front of others. So to blame that person for what really is just inattention to the trailing riders response, well grasping at straws really..
Of course Kat was the strongest rider on the day, but doesnt mean she didnt get caught up in stuff. And as she apparently explained, it was somewhere else where there was natural compression of the group. One thing that could be at issue, is the PTO where she races is much more flexible when someone barley enters the zone, and doesnt force them to make a pass every single time. And to some extent Ironman does the same, but every once in awhile a ref decides to enforce the letter of the rule and if that red light goes off and you dont pass, well that's your penalty right there. I wasn't there so cannot judge intent, but seems like her explanation seems reasonable and it was sort of a ticky tack call, although within the letter of the law..
While I agree with you about the front person being in control. Even in your analogy a car cannot slam on the breaks in the middle of the road for no reason and blame the car behind them for rear ending them. Yes the person behind needs to be paying attention but the person in front is not supposed to make strange speed changes for no reason. The rules don’t say you are not allowed to but I believe the spirit of racing dictates you shouldn’t.
All I’m saying is she is somewhat known for this sort of tactic around her peers when she is tired and hurting. Most of them are shaken off as “ticky tack” but maybe she is good at making them look like that. Ticky tack or not it’s still 5 minutes and can end someone’s day in big races.