Blocking etiquette

(that is all)

That guy can win anything!

not to mention, running you in the gutter is a little over the top, not illegal, but it sounds like the 3 guys were bullying…not much you can do about it except get pissed off and be vocal about it.

I kinda agree with bradBordeaux above…if you’re already in the situation, what are your choices?
  1) Organize the chase (with 3 or MORE guys) to overpower the bullies.
  2) Give up and document it as lesson learned.
  3) If you have the legs, try to break away & bridge on your own.

As far as “elbow permitted”…I wouldn’t try that, unless your team outnumbers them. Dudes’ll get all bowed up on the bike, but back down in the parking lot afterward.

Hopefully, one or two other riders will go with you (who don’t have teammates in the break). Even if you don’t succeed, at least you tried something.

I’ve dealt with some shitty blocking before too. A rider who was at the front with one teammate off the front, sweeping back and forth if anyone tried to come around him. I rode to the front to tell him to cut that shit out because he would crash someone out and he says, “I’m blocking”. And proceeded to tell me he would knock me off my bike, which was what I was worried about in the first place. I even tried to talk to his teammates and others in the group and everyone was scared or not savvy to the danger? His teammate told me, “none of us are experts”.

D-bags like that make me want to only do hilly selective road races.

Seriously… running you into the gutter? That’s total bullshit. If cycling has one single rule, it’s hold your lines. Yes, there are fine points to it, like closing the door on a wheelsucker trying to come around at the end, but these caveats are pretty limited, and don’t extend IMHO to swerving in a flat straight to cut off a legitimate bridge effort.

is that the lower the level of the cyclists in a given race, the more dangerous/annoying/antagonistic things get. This is so different from other sports, e.g. if you’re playing basketball with a bunch of crappy guys you just score every time you get the ball (though I guess there’s more potential for injury there too, since people are moving in unpredictable ways – more likely to come down on someone’s foot). I’m echoing Brad’s comment from above but can you imagine that shit happening in Europe? That dude’s own teammates would beat the crap out of him. God I’m violent today. Maybe that dude will learn his lesson when he goes down just as hard or harder than the person he takes down. Anyways I’d say the best advice is a. stay away from him b. keep improving so you can move up to a higher cat. and race with people who have more of an idea of what they’re doing.

The frame pump idea seems pretty good too, anyone remember those Italian guys in Breaking Away?

By the way I can’t tell by the kit, who do you race for, McGill?

How do you win the sprint for 12th?

Did I miss something in the story?

They did it because you were the only dude wearing knee warmers.
I had ex pro’s take my line in a wheelrace a couple of weeks back. I guess it depends on how badly you want that win, it’s a fine line between allowable and Illegal out there in the bunch…when in Rome. I think you need better teammates but I find that in the lower grades it’s all for one only so i am actually surprised that you had guys out there that actually had the sense to do that. Revenge is sweet. I took someone out in a pro running race once, just clipped his heels and made it look accidental by leaping over him when he went down (and that was because he was a football umpire in another life and had made what I considered a bad decision that had cost my team a Grand Final win) and I’m a nice guy…really.

that’s the first Airedale sighting in the history of the Podium Cafe.

First, the dudes “blocking” were assholios. Really, there’s no diplomatic way to put it. That is super not cool racing tactics. It is cool to interfere with the chase – we’ve seen a couple textbook examples of that recently. Cervélo did a very nice job of it at Omloop het thingy, and Bobby Julich did a smooth job of it last year for Cancellara (I’m forgetting the race). You never go to the front and sit up. In a stronger field, it wouldn’t work, anyway. But it is okay to interfere with the chase by intermingling with the chasing riders, taking slow(er) pulls when it’s your turn, making the rotation not so smooth by opening gaps. You can also try small attacks to break the rhythm. These are dandy ways to interfere with a chase effort. Sitting up and softpedaling is beyond lame. Putting peeps in the gutter, lamer still.

If you’re stuck in this sit., well, back up a sec. First rule of road racing, never ride in the wind unless you’re attacking. Did you have a team-mate in the field? If so, then cool to try to chase down the break. Otherwise, towing the field up the break is generous, but not really the ideal response. Assuming no team-mates, your best option is to attack repeatedly, and hope that someone else decides it looks fun and joins you. It sounds like it was late in the game for bridging to the leading group, but trying to get something of your own going is never a bad idea. Your other option is to sit-in, accept that you’re racing for fourth and save your legs for the bunch sprint. Never, ever tow the field, unless you have a team-mate who will profit from it. Always attack, or save your legs for the sprint.

In this scenario, it helps a lot to have team-mates. You can probably break the hold of the blockers by alternating attacks. You can also use numbers to get to the front and string things back out. Alone, well, we’re back to either attack and try to stay out there or wait for the sprint.

Tactics. Yum :-)

just go up to the dude, punch him in the face, and say “outta the way, shetbag”

It’s Racing Tactics For Cyclists by Thomas Prehn. Some of it many of us already know, through experience. Mostly it’s a good read on tactics, and the mechanics of how various situations work. It’s even got illustrations….. I recommend it for those who race and for those for whom the mechanics of an echelon are Greek mythology. Unfortunately it doesn’t directly address the situation at hand, but as someone else pointed out, direct interference with a riders forward progress is illegal. Chase and break him, or let him go, one can’t do a Breaking Away on a guy just because he wants to go forward.
  Usually tactics as you describe lead to some form of retribution later, especially since these asshats are going to be at other races this season, correct? Essentially we’re talking the tactics of a coward right? They basically are saying “Our guy is off the front, and we’re not smart enough or strong enough to protect that break by racing, so we’ll just sit up”. It’s only a classy move if they can pull it off and no one figures out they’re doing it. I’m guessing that there were others in your group that felt as you did, but didn’t know how to break the deadlock. It seems that if you can bring a couple of the other teams into the fight next time you can swarm these clowns and leave them in the dust. I’ve actually seen officials at races here, tell a block like that to race or get pulled.

First, road racing is not an individual sport, it requires cooperation with teammates and other teams with like minded goals.
So, go make some friends, on your team, as well as in the ranks and your life will get a lot easier.

Second, a block is a block, and if someone is trying to put you in the gutter it is all in good fun.
Nobody ever said road racing was not a contact sport, especially crits.
Look, you’ve got one of the biggest bodies in the picture.
Quit being such a wuss and bump some elbows.

Go on ebay and get yourself a nice used C’dale, or some other cheap alloy frame and go do a little rubbin’
US crit racing is a lot like NASCAR.
Get used to it.

Not all that glamorous.

Go McGill!

you can put them wherever you want left/right. It’s not hard. Put the offender on the inside of you for the next corner and cut it a bit closer than they’d like. All of a sudden, you’ve got them a ways behind you, as they’re not likely to hop the curb. No question. It’s inches that matter. It’s not nice racing, but it is racing.

Obviously, you can’t do it to three hombres at a time; motivating the rest of the group is the problem. That being said, one or two racers blocking is not the problem you think it is. If you’re strong enough to get to the front, you’re strong enough to go with the three guys away in the first place. Mark ‘em in your next race. The actors don’t change, just the venue.

Thought that this post was going to be about Twitter blocking etiquette.