When a winner isn't a winner

[Pikey]

I don't think I'm ever going to find myself on the horns of this particular dilemma.

When I say I'm racing it means I'm lined up with lots of other people on bikes and we're all going in the same direction.

whahahaha best post of this thread.... me to ????????

[Pikey]

I won a bike race once, only once & far few moons ago. Was the best feeling ever,crossing that line ahead of the chasing pack, then I got bumped up another class and always finished mid pack,was awesome fun though.

 

Can’t beat that winning feeling. But never would of gone back there even if I was allowed.

 

 

Oh the bike did have a motor,but same principle.

[The Crazy German]

Smash the children in the short race!

 

No don't. That is a jerk move.

 

A hard faught second place against your peers beats and easy win against beginners hands down.

 

When I was riding seriously as a 20something year old I was away in a 2 "man" break with a youngster at some or other church race in the middle of nowhere. That youngster rode his heart out and attacked me on the last climb. I could have easily chased him down (he was 16ish) but I didn't. The look on his and his folks faces at the end proved I made the right decision.

Depends I had this the day before K2C all the big boys resting was on a comeback to competition after 4 years off. So this 14 year old kid rides th moer out of me on the climb. I take a hectic downhill and some valley suffering to get back onto his wheel. I was thinking for at least ten k's I am gonna let this kid win. But then one one of the last small hills I downshift and drop the chain. No hesitation by kiddo he attacks pronto and goes all out. So I dug deep to get him and sprinted him into bits. His dad came to thank me afterwards. He said the boitjie gets too easy rides and doesn't challenge himself at least he got to sweat propperely today and knows to work harder or attack even harder on the climb. I retired from competitive cycling weeks after that did'nt do the kid any harm as he became SA champion and earns his living from riding his bike. Almost ten years on when I visit my mates in the karoo I still get *** about my last win beiing the kids race in the strawberry festival.

[Eldron]

Depends I had this the day before K2C all the big boys resting was on a comeback to competition after 4 years off. So this 14 year old kid rides th moer out of me on the climb. I take a hectic downhill and some valley suffering to get back onto his wheel. I was thinking for at least ten k's I am gonna let this kid win. But then one one of the last small hills I downshift and drop the chain. No hesitation by kiddo he attacks pronto and goes all out. So I dug deep to get him and sprinted him into bits. His dad came to thank me afterwards. He said the boitjie gets too easy rides and doesn't challenge himself at least he got to sweat propperely today and knows to work harder or attack even harder on the climb. I retired from competitive cycling weeks after that did'nt do the kid any harm as he became SA champion and earns his living from riding his bike. Almost ten years on when I visit my mates in the karoo I still get *** about my last win beiing the kids race in the strawberry festival.

 

Yup. There is no universal rule - take each race as it comes and do what you think is the right thing...

[PhilipV]

I won't mind being called a sandbagger for a 5k price.

That's some serious price ZARS and I'm pretty sure I won't be the only sandbagger.

But having coached local 16yo's, I have no delusions of grandeur about short courses and young guns.

[Chingy182]

So I'm a bit of a fan of Matt Beers and I see how he dominates most of the local races and takes the prize money on offer, but struggles to make any sort of impact in an international field. 

Unfortunately, the guy hardly features in the Epic.

 

On a personal note, I'm very competitive by nature and hate losing. I've been riding the longer distances over the last 2 years and probably end in the final 3rd of the field, much to my annoyance. Now, you can't be competitive if you only cycle on weekends. So I've started riding the middle distances where I try to push myself harder, because I'm aiming to break into the top 20 which feels like a podium position to me and gives me a bit of confidence and drive to keep cycling and pushing myself harder again.

 

However, I think if you win the middle distance 2-3 years in a row, there should be an automatic ruling that you have to move to a longer distance.

[PhilipV]

I won't mind being called a sandbagger for a 5k price.

That's some serious price ZARS and I'm pretty sure I won't be the only sandbagger.

But having coached local 16yo's, I have no delusions of grandeur about short courses and young guns.

[Eldron]

I won't mind being called a sandbagger for a 5k price.

That's some serious price ZARS and I'm pretty sure I won't be the only sandbagger.

But having coached local 16yo's, I have no delusions of grandeur about short courses and young guns.

Oooh its slippery slope when morals have a price...

[BaGearA]

change title to " When A winner is A wiener "

[PhilipV]

Oooh its slippery slope when morals have a price...

Ja as I typed that I realised that apparently I am way cheaper than I thought I was.

[Grubscrew]

Yeah it's an outrage, but the situation is even worse in athletics. Take Usain Bolt for example, always just entered the 100 or 200m event and then just destroyed the field. Not once did he compete in the marathon or even the 10,000m, not even after years of winning. Can't believe they never just banned the guy, nobody wants to see a 30-year-old toppie relegating a strapping young 20-year-old to 3rd place like at the 2016 Olympics.

[Vetplant]

Yeah it's an outrage, but the situation is even worse in athletics. Take Usain Bolt for example, always just entered the 100 or 200m event and then just destroyed the field. Not once did he compete in the marathon or even the 10,000m, not even after years of winning. Can't believe they never just banned the guy, nobody wants to see a 30-year-old toppie relegating a strapping young 20-year-old to 3rd place like at the 2016 Olympics.

Nicely put hyperbole of the argument for me.

 

If I want to enter a shorter distance and push myself hard then that is a challenge in itself. Think Parkrun, go run it in sub-20min and tell me it wasn't hard work.

 

If you want to leave something for the youth, then make a category for them. If you just let them win outright then reality will just hit them harder when they become adults.

 

We're not talking kiddies races here, these are Open Batches. They need to earn the win.

[Dicky DQ]

Tricky one that... 

 

I think no matter how you spin it is really a bit of a d%ck move to win the short event when you really should be competing in the longer distance. (5K is a lot though...)

 

That said, no rule against it and I myself might have attempted something like that in the past 

Why should he move to the long event? Things in that person's life may dictate that they cannot train for the long events, but can for the shorter event,

 

Also what is stopping anyone from racing the shorter events in stead of the longer events? Ego much....

 

Look at how many people use the shorter events to improve their seeding. Having guys like this keeping things real in the shorter events is good.

[Patchelicious]

Yeah it's an outrage, but the situation is even worse in athletics. Take Usain Bolt for example, always just entered the 100 or 200m event and then just destroyed the field. Not once did he compete in the marathon or even the 10,000m, not even after years of winning. Can't believe they never just banned the guy, nobody wants to see a 30-year-old toppie relegating a strapping young 20-year-old to 3rd place like at the 2016 Olympics.

Micdrop ????

[Jaws677]

Yeah it's an outrage, but the situation is even worse in athletics. Take Usain Bolt for example, always just entered the 100 or 200m event and then just destroyed the field. Not once did he compete in the marathon or even the 10,000m, not even after years of winning. Can't believe they never just banned the guy, nobody wants to see a 30-year-old toppie relegating a strapping young 20-year-old to 3rd place like at the 2016 Olympics.

Brilliant post.

 

But what the hell are you doing on a cycling forum ?

[CharlesZ]

To be honest, if there is a price money of 5k for the winner of a 25km race and I know I will win it, it will be appealing for me to enter the shorter race. Why did they make the price money so high for a 25km in the 1st place. I also desire new upgrades to my bike and 5k can help with it

 

The same question can be asked for a elite rider entering a local kerk bazaar race, normally also with a high winnings. That rider will also demolish in most cases the competition. Is that also fair then? Most small races they don't advertise except in the local news paper and on shops windows.