Vocabulary

[RoadRaven]

Good words here...

A good list - well done...

What about -

Sucking wheels / Wheel-suckers

Drafting

The other phrase you might hear instead of "Bonking" is "Hitting the wall"

[Andrea]

I'm glad to hear they know about pacelines, but do they know about a rotating paceline? Where you have one line (ideally the side shielded from any cross wind) advancing and one "retreating" line that the riders from the advancing line pull off to as their rear wheel clears the front wheel of the person in front of the retreating line.



It's sooooo nice in a race when a group needs to work together and everyone knows how to do it smoothly.

[Eden]

Yes - we teach them rotating pacelines first off and we make them practice too. Our team is known in the area for having the best drilled newbies in the pack. We also do hands on (or should I say bike on) clinics on climbing, cornering and sprinting. Our experienced women go out before the crits at stage races and ride through them with the new people so that they can learn the best way to handle the cornering. We try to do as much as possible to make sure our women are safe and confident when they race.

[Andrea]

That's awesome- It would have been nice to have teaching like that around here when I started. I learned most of my race tactics through the "trial by fire" method

[7rider]

missing on the list was Lantern Rouge. (red light of a caboose) The last rider.

Lantern Rouge???
I never heard of that one.
Hmmm.....

[Eden]

Lantern Rouge???
I never heard of that one.
Hmmm.....

I think it may have been first coined at very early TDF's - a red lantern used to be displayed on the caboose of a train to indicate that it was the last car - so the last guy in the race got dubbed the lantern rouge.

[7rider]

I think it may have been first coined at very early TDF's - a red lantern used to be displayed on the caboose of a train to indicate that it was the last car - so the last guy in the race got dubbed the lantern rouge.

Well, then...that would be me!

[ehirsch83]

I think it may have been first coined at very early TDF's - a red lantern used to be displayed on the caboose of a train to indicate that it was the last car - so the last guy in the race got dubbed the lantern rouge.

It was. At my work party last year(I work for a gym, and the owners also own one of the LBS's, so it was a joint gym/lbs gholiday party) we went bowling and I got the Lantern Rouge Trophy for being the worst bowler-haha!

[hellostarshine]

Sandbagging might be one?
When I first started racing I couldn't understand the difference between a crit and a rr. I knew the crit was a shorter loop but didn't see any other difference. After my first race (and after getting dropped on the first surge!) I was straightened out.
It might be helpful to talk about how physically different fast, sugry (is that a word) crits are from long rr's

[RoadRaven]

I think it may have been first coined at very early TDF's - a red lantern used to be displayed on the caboose of a train to indicate that it was the last car - so the last guy in the race got dubbed the lantern rouge.

Yes, it did evolve from the TdF.
They used to give out a jersey for it, and it was quite tricky to keep the red jersey... you had to ensure you were finished within the time restriction, but still be slow enough to keep the jersey.
The riders who consistently got the Lanterne Rouge had to be very skilled at pacing themselves "just so".
One of last years bike mags - it was either RIDE, CycleSport or Bicycling Aus - had a list of Lanterne Rouge "winners" - some of these guys were able to win it 2-3 years running!

Like the "yellow jersey" has become synonmous with winner, "lanterne rouge" has become part of cycling vocab.

[Eden]

Sandbagging might be one?
When I first started racing I couldn't understand the difference between a crit and a rr. I knew the crit was a shorter loop but didn't see any other difference. After my first race (and after getting dropped on the first surge!) I was straightened out.
It might be helpful to talk about how physically different fast, sugry (is that a word) crits are from long rr's

Someone always asks how fast races are (in other words am I fast enough to race or if they are arrogant am I fast enough to kick all your lame butts... )...... the answer is basically the same as what you are talking about - its not the speed, its the surges, but I think explain it all you want and people still just don't understand until they've experienced it.

[RoadRaven]

its not the speed, its the surges

I HATE surges

Raven aka "Grumpy Smurf"

[hellostarshine]

Honestly, I think the surges are worse in womens 1,2,3 events than mens 'cause we're forced to race more tactical with smaller fields(unless you're lucky enough to be at a NRC race) That's just my silly opinion though. Surges DO suck. Seriously. Gah.

[jesvetmed]

FYI... I have a friend VERY into dog sled racing, and she tells me the Red Lantern is traditional in these races also -- the last one in to a check point at end of day.
Kind of off subject, but interesting, no?

[Andrea]

Why is everyone hating on the surges?!?!

...I find them very useful