Tokyo Olympics 2020 - Cycling

[Slowbee]

"Dale, what are your thoughts on these demons that have suddenly popped up in pro sport?

*will take this to the other Olympic thread*

[Mountain Bru]

1 hour ago, 'Dale said:

Kudos to Tom Dumoulin who had to battle some demons and return to top flight racing. 

???? Getty Images

Flip that Cervelo is pretty ????

[Mountain Bru]

8 hours ago, CraigT48 said:

Totally agree with this sentiment.

When you are controlling a vehicle you are focussed on what's going on in front of you not behind you ... particularly when negotiating an obstacle (jump, drop, log) etc. It was Pauline's perrogative to ride that jump in the safest way possible according to how she felt at that moment and it was JN's responsibilty to make allowances for the rider ahead of her.

IMHO JN came in too hot, realized that she had made a cock up and took evasive action at the last moment and she can be very lucky that she didn't OTB!

If she had OTB'd it probably would have been game over for her.

So it appears to me JN is trying to deflect her stuff up.

I 100% agree with the principle that the person in front gets to determine the entry speeds to obstacles. Firstly just because they're in front, but also from a practical perspective, they have the best view of whatever is coming. 

But at the same time, there is a lot of assuming happening when riding on someone's tail in any kind of competitive racing. It's not a safe following distance, it's inherently an unsafe following distance that only works because you assume you can correctly predict what the person in front of you is gonna do. That's how racing works. Like even if F1, cruising at full throttle centimeters behind someone down the straight is only "safe" because you've assumed the guy in front of you won't do something unpredictable like brake. Leaving a few bike lengths just to account for unpredictable behavior from the person in front of you basically guarantee's you'll just slide back through the field and never win anything (and also get less benefit from the draft). But as soon as your assumptions are wrong about what the person in front of you is gonna do, there's gonna be problems, and probably either big saves, or big crashes. 

That's kind of why I think Jolanda has some "justification" to be annoyed with PFP. Like in principle, PFP did nothing wrong, and was well within her rights to brake as much as she wanted to. I mean flip if she wanted to, she's in her rights to get off the bike and push it down the ramp. She's entitled to carry her bike over every obstacle if she wants to. That's a legal option. (I would have carried my bike many many times on that course)

But if you're Jolanda, and this is the top level of the sport, and the person in front of you is one of the best riders in the world, and you're coming up to a drop where you need to carry speed if you want to clear it, and you're in the front of the race building an advantage over the field, and it's lap 1, I think the natural assumption is that PFP isn't gonna brake hard and roll down the ramp. Like she 100% can, but that's not what I'd consider the most likely option. So when she did, Jolanda's assumptions were wrong and she almost OTB'd and possibly crashed out of the race, So I think she's entitled to be a bit annoyed, even though PFP did nothing wrong. Both can be true. 

Different story though if Jolanda was behind a random girl that was a wildcard entry in the race. Or if this was the local weekend warrior mountain bike race and you're seeded deep in the noobs and you have no clue who the guy is in front of you and if he's gonna get off and push as soon as there's a few pebbles on the track. 

[Patchelicious]

6 minutes ago, Mountain Bru said:

I 100% agree with the principle that the person in front gets to determine the entry speeds to obstacles. Firstly just because they're in front, but also from a practical perspective, they have the best view of whatever is coming. 

But at the same time, there is a lot of assuming happening when riding on someone's tail in any kind of competitive racing. It's not a safe following distance, it's inherently an unsafe following distance that only works because you assume you can correctly predict what the person in front of you is gonna do. That's how racing works. Like even if F1, cruising at full throttle centimeters behind someone down the straight is only "safe" because you've assumed the guy in front of you won't do something unpredictable like brake. Leaving a few bike lengths just to account for unpredictable behavior from the person in front of you basically guarantee's you'll just slide back through the field and never win anything (and also get less benefit from the draft). But as soon as your assumptions are wrong about what the person in front of you is gonna do, there's gonna be problems, and probably either big saves, or big crashes. 

That's kind of why I think Jolanda has some "justification" to be annoyed with PFP. Like in principle, PFP did nothing wrong, and was well within her rights to brake as much as she wanted to. I mean flip if she wanted to, she's in her rights to get off the bike and push it down the ramp. She's entitled to carry her bike over every obstacle if she wants to. That's a legal option. (I would have carried my bike many many times on that course)

But if you're Jolanda, and this is the top level of the sport, and the person in front of you is one of the best riders in the world, and you're coming up to a drop where you need to carry speed if you want to clear it, and you're in the front of the race building an advantage over the field, and it's lap 1, I think the natural assumption is that PFP isn't gonna brake hard and roll down the ramp. Like she 100% can, but that's not what I'd consider the most likely option. So when she did, Jolanda's assumptions were wrong and she almost OTB'd and possibly crashed out of the race, So I think she's entitled to be a bit annoyed, even though PFP did nothing wrong. Both can be true. 

Different story though if Jolanda was behind a random girl that was a wildcard entry in the race. Or if this was the local weekend warrior mountain bike race and you're seeded deep in the noobs and you have no clue who the guy is in front of you and if he's gonna get off and push as soon as there's a few pebbles on the track. 

So basically Jolanda is justified in being annoyed at her own assumptions?

[babse]

JN almost messed up and it almost costed her gold... But it didn't. 

 

Move on ladies 

[babse]

2 hours ago, Sid the Sloth said:

Did you miss the Stelvio stage of the Giro last year?

Yeah okay maybe a bit harsh... I'm just not a fan. 

[Mountain Bru]

50 minutes ago, Patchelicious said:

So basically Jolanda is justified in being annoyed at her own assumptions?

I would phrase it "Jolanda is justified in being annoyed because PFP did something 90% of the field wouldn't have expected her to do and that almost made her crash"? 

Like imagine on the main straight on an F1 track, there's 1 guy riding right behind another guy in his draft, both at full throttle. Suddenly the dude in front decides to slam on brakes because he's entitled to do whatever speed he wants on the straight. The dude behind would 100% crash into the back of him, and I reckon would be justified in being pissed at the dude that decided to brake even though there's no rules saying you can't brake on the straight or need to do a certain speed. It's technically the guy behind's responsibility to make sure he doesn't rear end the car in front of him, but I reckon he has some grounds for being annoyed. 

[Patchelicious]

6 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

The dude behind would 100% crash into the back of him, and I reckon would be justified in being pissed

But Jolanda didn’t crash

[100Tours]

16 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

argh you know its the same pooh every time we have a major tournament. Athletes deflecting from failure to deliver. Now we have a situation where the awol mchanic will be blamed for us not bringing home a medal. I'm so over excuses. 

We're just not good enough so participation itself is a blessing and a privilege. I don;t who falls for the following:

• my skinsuit was too short
• my mechanic wasn't here to tell me I can ride my bike
• my tyre lost 2psi so I couldn't ride faster
• my skinsuit only has 27 panels and I normally ride with a 27,5 panel skinsuit
• my helmet was twisted slightly to the left so it made turning right really hard
• my team manager doesn't like me so he gave me 0,5gr too much protein

At the end of the day winning and losing requires a team of aligned people and by posting pooh about your team and federation on social media but you cant go tell them face to face makes that oke a coward and therefore doesn't deserve the tax payers money that sent him there. They sound like they're at a Tryathlete convention

Why don't they just take up the issues internally and get aligned? Instead its like a bunch of school lighties bickering across Whatsapp without the people they should be bickering about, knowing. Stupid!

PS: Thanks Ashleigh and Nic for representing SA with exceptional grace and humility. <Huge Applause>

I can't buy into the idea that our athletes should make the most of whatever they're given and be happy with it - this isn't school sport. Professional sport is about preparation in so many ways, and part of being prepared is having the right kit, and if your national organisation isn't up to the task you're not going to perform at the same level as better prepared nations.

I also believe that frustration and dissatisfaction are often the route to making things better.

I don't think this is a cost issue - I mean we have flown(?) a couple of horses to Japan for the equestrian events, and it's not like we're coming home with those medals. What does a plant ticket cost for a horse. De Bod should have better equipment - he's beaten a lot of really big names without a level playing field, and he only has a few opportunities to do so in his life. Either that or perhaps he should also be packing his bags for a country that will better support him.

[100Tours]

34 minutes ago, Patchelicious said:

But Jolanda didn’t crash

There's a thing called a 'near miss'. In the safety industry we use them to make sure there are less real accidents.

[TNT1]

I can't believe you lot are still thrashing this non-event.

[TheoG]

8 hours ago, babse said:

JN almost messed up and it almost costed her gold... But it didn't. 

 

Move on ladies 

My sentiment exactly, she got the gold and pretty Pauline came nowhere, just let it go ffs ....

Edited July 29, 2021 by TheoG

[lechatnoir]

57 minutes ago, TNT1 said:

I can't believe you lot are still thrashing this non-event.

This is the bikehub. You must be new here. Welcome!

[NotSoBigBen]

35 minutes ago, TheoG said:

My sentiment exactly, she got the gold and pretty Pauline came nowhere, just let it go ffs ....

I'm sure the 2 of them have by now ????

[Pure Savage]

1 hour ago, TNT1 said:

I can't believe you lot are still thrashing this non-event.

Listen its only ever 4 years we have to put up with Olympics...

 

I know its a nice distraction before the Vuelta and WC though...

[Matt]

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