Because they thought they could get these “newcomers” to fall in line with their “unwritten rules”. Usually those guys are the strongest riders in any given field, so it works. If World Tour pros show up, then that is no longer the case, and they probably care less about being in “the club”.
This all works until it doesn’t. So you write an op-ed trying to guilt people into doing the same aka “gatekeeping”.
Funny thing is Adam said he wouldn’t have finished if Dylan johnson didn’t give him a bottle
But there’s zero difference here to someone (let’s just say LtD), who carried supplies for the entire race under suggestion, continuing on through an aid station. He could have just kept tempo, or even slightly less, and that could have been the difference for someone.
LtD would have felt no pressure to continue as he knew he was the strongest rider and could dictate how the race played out, but what about a rider who can’t drop the group but has the endurance…
This makes zero sense. As mentioned he’s an ambassador to the DIY gravel racing scene and has every right to write an op-ed. Just as you have a right to disagree with it.
Jeff “No Aerobars” Kabush has been outspoken for years. In a far more brazen and brash way. This isn’t new, and really, Colin’s article seemed pretty chill.
If there was no cease fire agreed upon then I 100% agree that Roberge had every right to attack while other’s stopped. It’s not a complete advantage pressing on solo–if you have King, LTD, DJ, Stetina, and Strickland working together pressing on solo as Roberge did would be suicidal. Which it was.
I asked above how many have to agree to said “cease fire” for it to enforced (for lack of a better term)…what if 2 guys don’t want to stop?
So why does everyone have their knickers in a twist about it? He gambled on tactics and it didn’t work for him….so no harm done.
Equally, did he up his pace? If I can avoid it I won’t stop pedaling during a race, always sucks to get going again. Even if I didn’t plan to use it as a tactical advantage I’d still carry on rolling and use the time until I was caught to recover a bit.
He was likely to be dropped by those guys regardless.
Regardless of written or unwritten rules, gatekeeping or whatever… the lead pack basically said they would be a team in the feed zone, one dude decided to try to ride away from a full team and so of course the team behind him chased him successfully. Just seems like a poor choice to me, haha. Not that many folks are making good decisions that deep into an effort like that though, huh?
The funny thing about all this sturm und drang is that—unless I misunderstood the couple of Gravel Locos race recaps, Roberge’s feed zone attack was widely considered bad tactics whatever your take on the sportsmanship.
For all this talk about “everyone agreed” it sure doesn’t sound that way:
Nothing more scurrilous than one of those skinny climber types attacking me on a steep hill.
(Update: Damnit, I’m 2 for 2 making points others have already made.)
I don’t want to post any spoilers, but if you want to search for it, one of the top male favorites has crashed out.
Do you have a link to a live tracker?
Unfortunately, no. I’ve resorted to Twitter.
Tommy D’s women’s team looking strong at the front!
Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/unboundgravel
I never want to see anyone crash out of a race…but…
Ted’s in there!
Was it a solo crash with bike damage?
Cory Lockwood had a major blowout early on, I thought he would he up in the mix for the first 60 miles or so.
On the women’s side, Flavia is beast.
Timing split results: Athlinks
Don’t know the details, but he had a pretty ugly gash under his right knee with a fair amount of blood running down his leg.
For anyone with FOMO and w/o a FLO subscription…you aren’t missing anything.
Coverage is essentially Frankie and Janel Spilker talking at the finish line. It is pretty bad.
