Olympics Women's Road Race

[Blueberry]

You can watch it here...http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/pla...elcode=sportcy

There's still not very much coverage. Only about 30 minutes for a 78 mile race.

Ah - good to know Thanks!! Don't think I'll go back and watch this one (due to the lack of excitement), but I can search around for some of the stuff I've missed (or that wasn't covered on our network...

CA

[dachshund]

The men's race started at a leisurely pace, too. I was really disappointed that they had to ride in pouring rain. I kept thinking, don't crash, please don't crash.

But TV loves those crashes, so that was the next thing they showed. It looked like the Korean woman just suddenly went at a diagonal and took out people in her way. (I haven't watched the online footage yet.) What was she thinking??

I certainly don't race, but I imagine the rain squashed the attacks that we should have seen.

[Trek420]

It looked like the Korean woman just suddenly went at a diagonal and took out people in her way. (I haven't watched the online footage yet.) What was she thinking??

That's what I was thinking. It was wet, pouring, slipping, I would think the racers would want to organize in the center and nobody would want to be at the edge ... then she went bowling across the pelaton she seemed to waver like one does when tired or trying to zig sag up a hill and then zipped right to the side. It was early in the race so I would not think she'd fade.

I don't draft at all but know you are supposed to stay steady.

Did she have a mechanical? Armstrong got caught up in that I think, great job of getting back in.

I wish Longo had placed in the TT. So close.

[RoadRaven]

I beg to disagree with those of you saying that the conditions were a reason for not racing. The first hour which TVNZ covered and I got to see was on the flat.

Thats pretty safe even in those conditions. And those conditions, everyone is worried about a slippery road and that is precisely WHY we should have seen attacks going in. Wind or rain make ideal conditions to make a break away, and then attempt to hold it.

Trek, you are right. You absolutely do not want to be in the bunch or at the back in those conditions. And that is why it is such a good reason to break it up, get away from the main group... ride safe and fast with just a handful of other women. That would be the safe thing to do.

I think you are too generous and kind Hawk... someone needs to be hard on them... these gals were supposed to be the best of the best... they didn't ride like it most of the time... and many of didn't even race at all.

If any of you who have replied or even just read this thread... wouldn't you, if you had the chance to be there, wouldn't you want to ride for gold? Wouldn't you want to maximise opportunity? Would you really sit in and think about how you don't want to crash, or would you notice that everyone else was so worried that you could seize the opportunity to take advantage of their fear and ride hard, ride your heart out, ride to WIN the gold?

How sad to say "I rode in an Olympic race" rather than I RACED in the Olympics.

[tulip]

I'd be happy to say I raced in the Olympics

[Trekhawk]

I beg to disagree with those of you saying that the conditions were a reason for not racing. The first hour which TVNZ covered and I got to see was on the flat.

Thats pretty safe even in those conditions. And those conditions, everyone is worried about a slippery road and that is precisely WHY we should have seen attacks going in. Wind or rain make ideal conditions to make a break away, and then attempt to hold it.

Trek, you are right. You absolutely do not want to be in the bunch or at the back in those conditions. And that is why it is such a good reason to break it up, get away from the main group... ride safe and fast with just a handful of other women. That would be the safe thing to do.

I think you are too generous and kind Hawk... someone needs to be hard on them... these gals were supposed to be the best of the best... they didn't ride like it most of the time... and many of didn't even race at all.

If any of you who have replied or even just read this thread... wouldn't you, if you had the chance to be there, wouldn't you want to ride for gold? Wouldn't you want to maximise opportunity? Would you really sit in and think about how you don't want to crash, or would you notice that everyone else was so worried that you could seize the opportunity to take advantage of their fear and ride hard, ride your heart out, ride to WIN the gold?

How sad to say "I rode in an Olympic race" rather than I RACED in the Olympics.

I was not talking about the conditions in regard to the rain I was talking about the fact that a lot of these riders would not be use to the humidity and the bad air quality. When I watched the men a lot of great riders suffered because of the humidity. The girls were perhaps being cautious incase the humidity etc took the same toll on them.
I don't race so I guess I don't really have much of a clue but listening to the commentators here it sure sounded like they thought the humidity etc could be an issue for the women too.

[RoadRaven]

I was talking about the fact that a lot of these riders would not be use to the humidity and the bad air quality. When I watched the men a lot of great riders suffered because of the humidity. The girls were perhaps being cautious incase the humidity etc took the same toll on them.

Yeah, I could see wanting to go out as slowly as possible and spend as little time in the red zone with that smog and humidity.

Oh I agree, Hawk. The humidity was awful. And yes, of course, humidity does take a toll on any person, male or female.

However, since both of you raise the mens RR, and both mention humidity, I guess its useful to point out that yes, while I agree that some of the men started to wilt probably because of humidity... they went twice the distance.

The two racing styles (men - "who can I drop?") (women - "I hope I don't get dropped") really bear no comparison. And that is what I was hoping to get into discussion with TEers about.

Why do women's races tend to be so different from men's? I find it so frustrating in more than one way. Its frustrating to watch because it looks slow and boring. Its frustrating to watch because if I, who want to watch, and love cycling, find it boring, than how in heck will women's cycling begin to get a high media profile or high sponsorship like men's?

[Eden]

Why do women's races tend to be so different from men's? I find it so frustrating in more than one way. Its frustrating to watch because it looks slow and boring. Its frustrating to watch because if I, who want to watch, and love cycing find it boring, than how in heck will women's cycling bedin to get a high media profile or high sponsorship like men's?

I'm wondering if it isn't a chicken and egg thing.... the men often race the way they do - long break aways, early attacks, for no other reason than to get airtime for their sponsors...... A lot of the men know they stand little to no chance of winning the race with a suicide break (OK, well this years TDF did disabuse that notion a bit), but the fans and the sponsors love it. The women on the other hand have no motivation as their races are rarely televised, so they don't have any reason to get out there and show their colors without thinking about the win.....

[oxysback]

Ah - good to know Thanks!! Don't think I'll go back and watch this one (due to the lack of excitement), but I can search around for some of the stuff I've missed (or that wasn't covered on our network...

CA

You're welcome! I've been watching the 3 day eventing. Our network isn't showing any of that at all.

[Trekhawk]

Oh don't be too hard on them.
I think that everyone was so worried about the conditions ( I think humidity was at about 97 percent at the start) that maybe that just wanted to minimize their chances of cracking. Lets face it plenty of blokes did towards the end of the course. Im sure the girls would have taken that into consideration.
The look of that smog was enough to freak me out.