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In the last 10 miles of the race, I gave a water bottle to a female rider who skipped the last SAG recently. This was during a climb and I knew she didn’t stop because I had passed her right before the stop and then caught her on that climb. Didn’t think much of it, offered her the water and she was grateful. She ended up on the podium… 3rd place.
Didn’t really matter because there was no prize money and it wasn’t some huge race but I did think later that if someone decides to skip a water stop and I know it, I won’t be offering water.
As far as teams helping each other… I do think it is unfair for the men to be teaming with women to help them win. Separate start times make sense in that regard. Send the ladies out 1st.
Pipeliner wrote:Send the ladies out 1st.
A drafting ban would ruin gravel racing IMO. Might as well call them gravel tours or leisure rides. I think sorting out groups and hanging with their riders is a big part of the fun. UCI or USAC… hell no.
In these ultra- competitive events like Unbound & SBT, there is a hell of a lot at stake for the winners. I think a few simple rules would help and could only be applied to the winner (meaning, if you are a contender you’d better comply). I don’t think team peloton or drafting bans would work at all, regardless of start times unless you made them gender specific which would be pretty complex on long races.
1. No food or water from other riders. That seems simple enough.
2…?
Less rules.
If people want to use sketchy tactics and semi-ethical behaviors, let them. We are free to talk about them and call them out. So long as other people's opportunity to 'ride their own' race is not infringed upon it's all part of the show.
The overwhelming majority of us are competing with ourselves and not anybody else.
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