I knew Tri guys were weirdos but DAMN
Uh didn’t I say “you’re kind of on your own in a lot of respects?” That doesn’t imply wholly self sufficient. Nice call out though 
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Lots is fair play in a race IMO, but if a group literally gets POd because they think you owed it to them to stop when you didn’t have to, just because they did, maybe they need more help than refuel stations can supply. It’s a competition, if it wasn’t then you’d see riders from different teams crossing the line holding hands because they worked together to drop the field
Participation awards for all! Maybe we can get Strava to bring back PRs for the first time you ride a segment!
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It is, but is it worthy of an op-ed and other DIVA-ish behavior on social media?
Like dude, you beat him, move on.
Let’s not add to the original concept to try and prove our point. Yes in that case I can see why they’d be upset because you used the group and then tried to take advantage. But if we use a simpler scenario where someone simply doesn’t stop and people get pissy, they’re babies
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I think it’s all hypothetical but generally speaking sounds like a silly thing for people to get salty about. There’s def some situations where i could see valid displeasure but at the end of the day it’s a race and while there could be some collaboration along the way, everyone wants to win for themselves. I’d say if the group was unhappy with someone sitting in and not taking pulls they’d probably drop them earlier on.
First time I won our local practice Crit I purposely attacked into the last corner when the other 5 guys in the breakaway with me were playing chicken to see who would go first. I knew they wouldn’t all pile into a corner together to try and catch me and took the opportunity. I’d be a fool to sit there and lose the bunch sprint. Nobody thought it was a cheap move.
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Most of this came from that. I don’t think it was clarified if he agreed to stop and didn’t, or just told them he wasn’t stopping and didn’t. If the former, then that’s uncool and Adam deserves some shit, if it’s the latter, then it should be fine and people are just being whiney.
The drama came from Colin Strickland the week after, and before Unbound, writing an Op-Ed in VeloNews stating how “this is how we do it in Gravel”, “Unspoken rules”, and it’s “Grassroots”… the irony is that Colin won Unbound the year before on a breakaway and gapping the leaders, and he has special bikes, a RedBull sponsorship, and I can go to the local Rapha Clubhouse and buy his clothing line / kit, so he’s not really in position to lecture about keeping it grassroots.
A lot of people took, myself included, his Op-ed as him gatekeeping to keep what he has. The point being gravel is suppose to be this unrigid cool thing with little rules, but apparently there are all these “unwritten rules” which ironically only seem to apply when they get beat or almost beat, and because they are “unwritten” they’re not considered “real rules” so it’s still “cool”.
It’s all pretty dumb and overly dramatic.
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If 4 of 5 agree to stop, then that’s not a consensus, and that was never made clear.
If a competitor decides to lead the Indy 500 while I sit in his draft, and he runs out of fuel with 2 laps to go, then somehow that is cool, but isn’t in cycling?
It’s all just a of drama, gatekeeping, and egos.
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I get annoyed during group rides at people who don’t take pulls and then sprint for the finish of a climb or KOM, those people are like a turd on a post: they don’t belong there and you know they didn’t get there on their own.
But getting mad at people making decisions to try and win a race is just embarrassing. Maybe equally embarrassing is using your status to try and create rules to protect your status
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That makes Colin sound worse in my eyes.
I get it, there are athletes that don’t like each other, but that sort of stuff is petty as. He wants people to play the game not only to his unwritten rules, but to mirror his strategy 
.
It’s a bit like the backwards hat Dylan joke about the Cotton Tubular tyres. You wouldn’t stop every station for some Muppet to replace his wheels and tyres everyone because he rode faster, but inappropriate for the conditions, tyres. You’d call him an unprepared fool and ride on (in a race, obviously not if you like the person/social ride).
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My only input is that if the group decides to do something, it would be nice if they did that very something. Last year during LOTOJA we were down to a group of about five or six and 140 mi in. We were coming up to an aid station and everyone mutually agreed to stop and get something to drink and take a pee. I said before I need to pee and I would stop on my own, and asked if anyone else needed to because we could at the aid station. Everyone agreed that they would all take a nature break at that age station.
I slowed and sprinted into the outhouse. Nobody else stopped. That was the last I saw of the group.
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Dylan did call Colin out, essentially.
Amity too, in a way. She was grumbling about Lauren drafting off some males (who she later dropped) and for having aero bars. I think Dylan has gotten crap for the aero bars as well at other events / by other people.
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To each their own. L39ion recruited and hired Sam Boardman and Ty Williams to tow Justin / Corey Williams around until the end.
I’m 5’5". I can’t push the watts a 6’ tall TT’er can for 40 minutes, but I have an almost 1400w sprint. Is it wrong for me to sit in behind someone like that if they want to push 350w on the flats? Is it cool if I take a 30s pull to that person’s 3-5 minute pull? Someone that size isn’t going to get much draft off of me anyway. Maybe I should ride with people my own size (the JR category? 
)?
Where’s the line? That’s probably unwritten too 
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All I can think from reading this thread is that these elite bros seem like a bunch of crybabies!
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I don’ think this makes Colin sound any better. Yes, it was more than just about that water stop, but the overall criticism of Colin’s attitude remains valid. If he wasn’t taking pulls in the group they should have dropped him, and if they couldn’t do that then that’s their problem.
So much for ‘no rules’ - it’s ‘race how I think you should race’ or you are a jerk.
Translation - “Are you the rider who refuses to contribute when contributing would drop you from the group and harm rather than help your chances of winning?” That kind of rider sounds pretty tactically smart.
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Shocking, it takes selfishness to win.
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And if you don’t like their shenanigans you attack them to drop them or force them to work. Start dropping wheels and force them to chase back on. Attack after their pulls. There are tools beyond complaining to get them to contribute.
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Apparently complaining about people not following unwritten rules is now also part of gravel.
(or at least the ‘pro’ gravel scene)
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Recently there was a video on TR youtube channel and I think @Jonathan criticized for not following some unwritten rules. Are those criticisms in similar context of unwritten rules of gravel scene?
Hey, I was one of the riders in this race. The amount of purposeful “energy saving” gaps Jonathan let open was disrespectful and poor racing, it seemed almost every lap he would let multiple bike lengths open up when he was already most of the back in the pack. He even went to the lengths of pulling to the side after they opened to force others to chase or be dropped and was doing this even when their were breaks up the road. It was a cat 5 tactic that could have gotten him elbowed into the gutter in any higher of a category.
Some research into the cat 2/3 NCNCA crits that happened earlier this season would also have let him see that all of them have been won from a break away with the Team Cali rider driving it (The rider who bridged up to the winning break and won this race). So even though this was not a break away course, this was still a field that preferred breakaways which can make a bigger difference.
and this one.
Just a LAME way to race Jonathan! Do you actually think that you’re the only one who can ride this way that you call it “smart”?
Imagine an entire peloton cutting corners like that, taking a position forward and then stop pedaling on purpose just to make others fill in the gap…
Imagine having the fitness to cat up and still feel the need to make those moves……
One thing is to ride like Nairo Quintana who never in his life contributed with one pedal stroke to a breakaway, and other thing is to stop pedaling in the middle of the front group after making an attacking move.
And You Amber?..You were a pro…Have you actually did this in the pro peloton?..dont think so!
Very disappointed ……
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