Message #1872

[Inexperienced]

Then there is the handicap race. You would think that the group would work together & roll through to do a short turn. Nuh-uh. The group I ride in have 5/6 riders having a go at keeping a good tempo, & the other 6 riders as passengers. On the last lap, the passengers wait for the chasers to catch us, then jump on the back of that group to be taken to the line. Poor form if you ask me.
If you are not interested in putting in an effort to help the group stay away from the chasing bunch, then stay at the line till the group you want to wheel suck off is leaving & go with them....

Wow - that really resonates with me as you put it "poor form". My view of handicaps is that they are like a team time trial. You work together and really flog yourself to try and stay away from the group behind (and catch any groups in front).
While my pacing in handicaps is so bad that I cook myself and fly out of my group like I've "put it in reverse", I do hope to finish one some day.

As for scratch races. If you can do a turn, then do so. If you can't, don't try to sprint for the line if you have been sucking wheel all race. Another case of Poor Form if you ask me. Then to be given the excuse that they are a sprinter, please..............wake up to yourself. There are probobly only a handfull of true sprinters in Newcastle area, & I guarantee none of them are in the lower grades.

Just out of curiosity, how do you define a "true sprinter"? By the law of averages, should there not be an even distribution of sprinters to all-rounders to climbers to pursuiters?
I consider myself a sprinter yet I am not a very good one (not very fit/fast). My "feel" and data suggests I am one (I have a down-sloping plot for my power profile as per Allen & Coggan).
That said, I hope that I do my fair share at the front - although when the hammer is down, my lack of fitness sometimes does complain about the effort.