Physically pushing your way through Cat. 5 riders is almost certainly
dangerous (especially in early season races), and it is unsafe,
irresponsible and unsporting for a team to try this. If you have a
large enough team to block in this way, and you can't lead a rider out
to win a sprint, then perhaps you should rethink your training, etc. I
think Jeff's comments are spot-on; I didn't race yesterday (and would
not have been in this category, anyway), but a friend who finished
top-10 in this race related how this went down in yesterday's sprint
finish. Seems like PV riders could stand to learn some real team
tactics rather than employ the ones that seem to have been used the
last two years (!) at PoC.

Just another reason to get out of the Cat. 4/5 ASAP, IMO.

Matthew

On Mar 31, 2008, at 1:52 PM, Jerald M Powell wrote:

> Jeff... "unsafe" might be over cooking it a bit. "Unwise", or
> "Ineffective" is probably a fair criticism. "Blocking" by plugging up
> the road, firstly, doesn't work very well because any physical rider
> accustomed to a bit of shoulder to hip contact is capable of riding
> through it (even if it risks criticism for dangerous riding).
> secondly, it gains no particular tactical advantage and in fact
> requires just as much energy from the "blocker" as it does from the
> "blockee".
>
> Jerry
>
> On Mar 31, 2008, at 10:52 AM, Jeff wrote:
>> I raced in the Cat 5 race and would say that the problem with antsy
>> riders and unsafe riding started as soon as Portland Velo riders
>> began boxing the group on the second lap. It made the race unsafe
>> and not fun. The first lap was good, riders taking turns pulling and
>> a safe peleton.
>>
>> Kudo's to all Cat 5 riders for keeping the rubber side down despite
>> the unsafe tactics of others.
>
>
>
>
> Jerry Powell
> USAC Level 1 Coach
> 1926 SW Madison St
> Portland, OR 97205
>
> 503 222 7173
> 503 799 7823 (cellular)
>
> jpowell@spiritone.com
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> OBRA mailing list
> obra@list.obra.org
> http://list.obra.org/mailman/listinfo/obra
> Unsubscribe: obra-unsubscribe@list.obra.org