Race Report: Giro di Coppi
After a few very critty weeks (not to mention a number of crashes), we’re back to what we love best: road races. And whether or not this was done on purpose, it’s great that three of area’s best road races — Giro di Coppi, Lost River Classic, and Page Valley — all take place within the same 30 day timespan.
For Giro di Coppi, District Velocity Racing p/b The Bike Rack had a huge group heading to the 3/4 race, while Brian was left to fend off the 1/2/3 onslaught alone and Lisette faced much the same fate in the women’s 3/4. And thankfully, Jonathan and Michelle were nice enough to volunteer an early wake-up call to man the feed zone, which, on a day as hot as Saturday was, proved to be a godsend.
In the 3/4 race, Grant animated things with a break from the gun. And when I mean from the gun, I mean it. As soon as we hit the course, off he went. A few of us patrolled the front as he dangled about 20 yards in front of the field, content to let a few guys join him. They survived a full lap — which, in weather as hot as what we raced in, was quite the accomplishment. When he re-joined, we asked him what had prompted the early aggression. “I just needed a warm-up,” he politely said. Grant’s warm-up would have been my blow-up.
The rest of the race was rather sedate, though by the last lap we had wittled the field down to a much smaller pack. Dennis seemed strongest, so we kept him near the front and out of the wind. Coming into the last stretch, Matt R. and I chased down a solo Haymarket break, leaving what was left of the field to sprint to the finish. Dennis placed a strong second, while Tony took eighth and Matt R. rounded out the Top 10 with a tenth place finish.
Brian survived the 1/2/3, though like much of the field, ended up riding in by himself after a particularly aggressive peloton attacked itself to death. Lisette succumbed to the heat, pulling the plug after a viciously fast start to the race.
In closing, a short note on feed zone etiquette. Like I mentioned, Jonathan and Michelle helped feed all of us during the races. And, it seems, helped feed another team. No, we didn’t volunteer to feed them — they just stole our bottles. During the 1/2/3 race, a team that will remain unnamed stole not one, but two bottles that were destined for Brian. It’s not like Michelle and Jonathan were anonymous either — they were sporting DVR jerseys, which alone should have been a hint as to who they were feeding. Yes, it was brutally hot, and yes, everyone was thirsty — but this wasn’t a neutral feed. It wasn’t first come, first served. Next time, when you realize you’ve picked up a bottle belonging to someone else, find them and hand it over to its rightful owner. They’ll likely appreciate the gesture enough to give you half the bottle.
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Comments
The bottle debate. Like the Contador debate. It is not against the rules. Actually the water bottle grabbing is more common. Fairly common actually. It is allowed. Have your partner in the feed zone not hold the bottle out until you are about to pass. Or hold it up and drop down as you come by so no one can reach out and grab it. If you miss grab someone elses
Couldn’t disagree with you more, Steve.
I never said it was against the rules, but like much in cycling, it’s simply something you shouldn’t do.
Like sitting on a break and sprinting for a win. Sure, there’s no rule against it, but you quickly become “that guy.” And in a sport like ours, social capital goes a long ways. Being “that guy,” whether that means you don’t do work in breaks or take other peoples bottles, will come back and bite you in the ass eventually.
Disagree with what Tony? Everything Steve says makes since. Feeders should stay out of the way until there guy gets there to avoid it happening, to keep the feedzone safer, and/or be prepared that anything can happen.
Martin…taking a bottle doesn’t make you “that guy”. If so almost everyone in the peloton would be one of those “guys”. This happens all the time and when put in a situation of remaining dehyrdated or surviving, I’d rather be “that guy” any day.
Just so you know I got my information from Chris Carmichael. A book he wrote. In one section he teaches how to correctly give bottles so no one takes them. Then he tells you how to be sneaky and wait until the last minute and reach out and grab someone elses if you dont have a feeder. So I am going to listen to Chris as he has more credibility. As far as sitting on goes that was off topic. But there are many tactics to deal with that. Whining, attacking, push the pace, go back to the group and attack again to get in a break without the squatter.
Clearly there is no consensus on these unwritten rules and everybody has there opinions so instead of whining about it come up with a solution to deal with it.
Rugg – Sure, by being that guy you might be “surviving,” but someone else who expected a bottle isn’t. Sure, feeders should be careful about how they hold out their bottles, but riders should know where their feeder is and go only for those bottles. If they didn’t bring any, why should they benefit of those who did?
Steve – Just because Chris Carmichael wrote that doesn’t make it any more acceptable, in my opinion. And I brought up the sitting in analogy because it’s in roughly the same camp — something that’s not formally against the rules, but not seen too kindly.
The main point was that a guy on our team who prepared ahead of time got screwed by two guys from another team. If they didn’t have anyone feeding them, they should have carried bottles in their jerseys or begged another team to help them. But taking someone else’s bottle is a dick move, plain and simple.
Bottom line, if the feeders knew how to properly feed it wouldnt have happened. Obviously didnt prepare quite enough. Lets say it is a dick move. Complaining wont stop the guy from doing it again next time. Correct feeding will prevent. My point was complaining isnt a solution. If someone disagrees with you they will keep doing it whatever the unwritten rule cause in their mind their playing fair. Just the reality of it. So at the end of day the person complaining about an unwritten rule being broken comes across as sore. It is better to say nothing and come up with a solution to stop them from doing it again. I guarentte if you feeder tries to give the bottle the same way it will get taken again. Take the advice and keep your bottles or dont and complain and have them taken again.
Wait, so it’s the feeders fault? BS. That’s like saying that if I’m crashed out by someone else’s dangerous riding, I should be held to blame because I chose to race at all.
When I originally posted this, I didn’t complain because I assumed it would be a solution. I simply thought it would be a useful reminder to everyone out there.
We’re a relatively small racing community, and we all somewhat know each other. When hard and fast rules don’t exist to govern our actions, we have to act like respectful adults and not do things that we wouldn’t want done to us. If I’m dying of thirst during a race, I’m not going to take someone else’s bottle. Period. It’s my responsibility to either have enough with me or have someone to hand me a bottle, and I’d expect everyone else to both follow the same rule and respect it.
By the way, turn this around for a second. Imagine you don’t have someone feeding you, and you’re really hurting for a drink. You come through the feed zone and plead for a bottle from a random feeder. In your zero-sum world, why should they give you one? In my world, someone would take pity and help you out.
Fine buddy keep having your feeder do it like they did and keep getting it taken
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