The Honor Argument

by Andy Shen

Section head text.

Ok, Jens Voigt pats a guy on the back and gives him the win, and everyone loves him for it. But is he missing the point? Aren’t we supposed to be ripping each other’s throats out? Greg Lemond was proud of being able to fake strength when he was weak, and acting tired when he felt good. Is the idea of honor in racing legit or misguided? Are wheelsuckers evil or just clever?Do we ride hard and take our pulls because it’s the right thing to do, or so we’ll be seen as good riders to get in a break with?

And while we’re at it, who’s the local Jens?

Here’s our nomination…

41 Comments

you've bought it

I wish people would stop repeating that story about how upstanding Jens Voight was to let the other guy win. A big part of that decision was ensuring that CSC would get help in following stages from the winner’s team. You can call it "enlightened self interest" if you want, but it wasn’t just that Voight is such a nice guy.

walter

cycling is a tough business…this is their career…they race together for 5, 10 or 15 years day in and day out and easily log 15k+ miles a year of racing (avg 3 days/week or more of racing)…the smart pro cyclist thinks about the long haul…it’s easy for us to romanticize something like letting the other guy win but it’s much more practical than that…jens may need that guy or one of that guy’s teammates just to stay in the next race…unless you’re lance armstrong (even lance let voeckler stay in yellow), it pays better to make friends in the peloton when you can…

Depends I guess

Before I enlighten…..there is one thing that drives me nuts. The guy who goes "I pulled for so long, no one would pull, I was pulling, I did so much work"….and finishes 20th in field sprint or worse. Listen guy….if you did do all that pulling and you finished 20th then you are an idiot..,,for me it is the same lame excuse as I got boxed in. There are no asterixs next to your name in the results…..it’s not like they post them "Tim Johnson, 40th but he lead the group up the climb at bear mtn, 2nd lap, so that means he probably could have been 30th." I see 3 distinct reasons to do pulls that are potentially longer than necessary, jens style. 1) The race is not a priority for you and you are working on gaining fitness. 2) You are specifically working for a teamate. 3) You are the strongest in a small break and have determined that it is worth it to dig into yoru reserves to secure a top 5 with the other 4 guys then get soaked up by peolotron and possibly finish in tehe 30’s…this particular point is why I think Jens is always pulling. Other than those three things, the line is on the road, and its’ the 1st one to get there that counts, and usually it is the guy who has more energy at the end that wins. You simply can’t get mad at wheelsuckers, especially in pro/1/2 as often times these are guys just doing the right team tactic and marking a move.

Anonymous

Most of you bike racers should consider a semester at The Derek Zoolander School for Kids Who Can’t Read Good. Regardless of how painfully stupid or attractive you might be, the DZ school will give you the attention you need to hopefully someday understand the concepts of reading, spelling and punctuation.

I've wheelsucked a bit

I was sitting on a group chasing another group that had my teammate near the finish in Harriman a few years ago. One guy who was working hard starts screaming at me to work and I said I wouldn’t. So then he starts to mock me, saying "Oh yeah, saving your energy for 8th place: What a big deal." So I say to him, "If 8th place doesn’t matter, why are you yelling at me?" That shut him up.

TH

being "honerable" can be mistaken for having a long term strategy, whatever that may be. chris horner used to say bike racing is a ‘good ‘ole boys’ network. gaining a reputation and having people on your good side can pay off when you need it most. give a little now and get something later. i think it makes the sport more interesting.

Ol' Boy

I definitely have a list of guys I don’t want in a move based on personal history. Sorry guys, I’d rather try a different time than pull you around.

lee3

what does it mean to get "flicked" I’ve heard it used but I dont know the term or the action associated with it.

cynical cyclist

we should have a space where we can put odds on which pros are doping. Like tradesports only for which guys we think will get caught.

Flicked

…is a general term to mean getting screwed up.
"We got flicked by the organizers ’cause the race map didn’t show the third climb."
Or in terms of riders, "He flicked me in the turn and I had to close the gap."

flicked:

1. To touch or hit with a light quick blow: the gremlin flicked at the keyboard, dashing out a witty response.
2. To cause to move with a light blow; snap: the gremlin flicked open his baseball flip-up sunglasses.
3. To remove with a light quick blow: the gremlin flicked a booger at me.
4. To twitch or flutter: the gremlin’s heart flicked at the sight of the new merrill kit.

Chris M

I read somewhere that "flicked" comes from a Belgian/French or maybe Dutch (not totally sure, but derrived from a European language) word that is loosely translated as "fucked", and refers to getting pushed off the road by an angry rider – a common punnishment in Europe for being a general jerk in the pelaton (so I undersand, having obviously no experience in the matter). Is this right?

Justin

Local Jens Voight: has to be Ken Harris. Even way back in his days in the B’s – I remember a break of him and Sherry – the pair of them away for 6 laps – in the final sprint Ken applauded Mikes win. I think he did similar with J’Lo.

The guys a hammer and a gent on the bike.

The Vulgarian

Is it the mid-August heat that makes you all seem so boring and tawdry? If you sit on and get a result, then it doesn’t matter what the other idiot-en-lycra said to you or about you or your mother or your sister and which holes she takes it in. (All three, trust me). If you give in to the huffed-and-puffed taunts of the two-wheeled bully and do"your share", but you get dropped, you are not noble, you are not Jens Voight, you are not glorifying yourself or you team. You, my friend, are a dope. Sit in, sit on, pretend you no habla senor.
This is so boring at this time of year. This whole sport seems that way every year at this point. No one cares if you get 8th in Prospect but you didn’t pull, or if you tried to bridge to the lead group at the Criterium de Parsippany Sud, but no one else would work so you didn’t make it. No one cares about your story. We’ve all got a story, and trust me, mine is more important than yours.
This is amateur bike racing, keep your mouth shut and hold your line, that’s all we ask.

Re: The Vulgarian

You my friend are the typical NYC arse that pisses 90% of the racers around here off. You sounds like a Lycra windsail that dooms most breaks.

We race together week in and week out, it is not like we don’t know each other almost better than our wives so why not give each other the respect you would like? Yes it is bike racing and screw you is the argument I’m sure but come on. We know when tactics play a part in sitting on or covering a move but why be chump and sit on. Whatever why worry about it, we all know who works and who doesn’t so in most cases once you get an arse like the Vulgarian in your break everyone usually stops anyways.

Anonymous

Landis> whrolwrojgwos!
Lance>What?..Speak after you swallow your food fool!
Landis>(clears throat)<cough>..who’s talking about wheel sucking?
Lance>Some dude "The Vulgarian"
Landis>The who?…Yo you know why they call it wheel sucking?
Lance>No..
Landis>It’s because you suck. That’s it. You suck, so you suck wheels. So hence the term "wheel sucker".
Lance>uh—->duh..no sh*t..
Landis>Yo you did some serious wheel suckin’ for 7 tours no?
Lance>No as*wipe..I sat on.
Landis>Oh so you prefer to squat instead of suck?
Lance>No idiot the proper term is "protected by the team"
Landis>Yo..I never need protection cuz I’m da man!..
Lance>uhhhh..(reaching back to grab something)
Landis>what the f*ck is that?
Lance>Knee pads and Condoms..
Landis>((glaring))
Lance>What!??? I gotta show you how to do everything???

Anonymous

Landis>what’s all this talk about Cats?
Lance>I don’t do cats..only dogs..<here kitty kitty!>
Lance>Turns up the boom box…."bow,wow,wow yippie yo-yippie yeah..bow,wow yippie-yo yippie yeah" Yo I love this song!
Landis>Uh…..right old man…….So—> what’s higher than Cat One?
Lance>Cat none! That’s when you get no p*ssy cuz you’re training so much.

Eric B

So: takes too many pulls = fool not to suck more wheel?

Then, why does everyone get so excited watching a race where someone or a couple of racers really lay it out, and it gets close at the end? The crowd almost always roots for the break to stick it, right?

You can say what you want about working on one’s sprint and learning finishing tactics, but if it is not your forte, then why expect too much? I know I will likely never be an excellent field sprinter, so I am best served by trying to make or join a break, and working hard to ensure its success.

There is one CRCA sub-team that recognizes it is better to see me end up in a winning break with them, than to work so hard to exclude me from it. Look what happened in the CRCA Masters’ Champ’s, and recognize the greater possibilities. The other teams have been working like mad to try to drop me.

Guess what? YOU CAN’T DO IT!! My current form is too good, if you didn’t notice from the CRCA A Champ’s. You end up toasting your own breakaway guys, and handing the finish to the sprinters. To those who say I should hang back a bit more, why don’t you be the one to just sit there and watch the first six places ride up the road? Not me! I’m going! I don’t have other strong teammates to wait for the counter.

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