Tripleshot Cycling

I think a discussion about last lap behaviour is worthwhile...

For many in TripleShot (I include myself here) friendly competition is key. Even the 'competition' to get up at 5:30 AM matters (or at least used to matter) to me. Our competitiveness sometimes causes problems and our strength as a club is that we've been very good at addressing these problems (e.g., no drop in some rides, but not others). Competition in the TTT ride is, counter-intuitively, leading to group disintegration - the 5-lap sets often end in a big individual sprint. Maybe that's fine, but in my opinion it isn't. Not only is it contrary to the spirit of the TTT, it can be dangerous. I hate implementing 'rules' to deal with each issue. An alternative to a rule (e.g., no passing members or your own group with 200m to go) might be that we agree that it's the fourth person that counts. That is, 'you' can't win a TTT and neither can you plus the one person, or even two people, that can hold your wheel. I think/hope this will discourage individual attacks and encourage a more team-focused acceleration throughout the last lap. Just an idea,

JT

Hi John,

I'm glad you've opened this up for discussion.

I haven't TTT'd often, but when I have I've had to totally gas it to keep up on the last lap. Last Friday I over-gassed it -- missing the very good points you've made about working as group to get the fourth person across as quickly as possible. Newbie mistake, but conditioned on behaviour I've seen on some of my earlier TS TTT experiences.

I love the idea of working as a group on the last lap, and that's what I'm going to do henceforth -- that is, when I'm not burning matches trying to keep up with Rolf, Alan, and others on our cross-rides.

John n+1

Hi JohnT_v2,

The Thursday affair motivated my post, but as you wrote, experience from previous TTTs conditioned your killer instinct. My post was not a complaint about that particular incident. In case others are wondering, John's team was drafting 'my' team so closely that when I rolled to the back, there was no way to get in.... TTT drafting became TTT infiltration. It's the road-filling anarchy at the end of lap 5 that poses a more serious risk than 'over-drafting', though both are driven by the competition I spoke of above.

JohnT_v1