Who won?

smarauder68 · Who won?

Need some help in settling a friendly wager with a friend....we bet a dinner on 10km bike race....first 8 km were completely flat and we finished with a punishing(14% gradient) 2km climb up a hill overlooking my new home in Ziegelhousen. Despite my having reached the agreed upon finish line some 75 seconds ahead of my friend he disputes the results.

During the flat portions of the race I maintained a steady lead of 20 or 30 meters until the last km before the climb...but just before turning up for the climb, he forged ahead and gained a gap of 20 or 30 meters himself. Sadly for him, oncoming traffic didnt allow him to turn up the hill as he arrived at the turn and I was able to catch him and hit the hill with full momentum...I quickly jumped out to a 100m lead in the first km of the climb...after a couple of switchbacks, we hit the steepest portion of the climb....a 700 m stretch of 15% gradient...nasty! I had problems immediately and tried to shift down to the lowest rung, but for some reason my cheap ass bike didn't grab hold of the gear and I was stuck in the 2nd rung....already at my limit, I had no choice but to stop, get off the bike and walk it up the hill...gradually my lead slipped away and my friend(Ironically named Lance), found his lowest rung and was able to continue pedalling....he caught me but surprisingly couldn't really pull away even when I was walking my bike up the hill. To his credit, he never got off his bike, but his only recourse was to zig zag up the hill. I must have walked 300 or 400m up those steep portions before getting back on my bike. As soon as I did, I pulled away and left him in the dust, gapping him rapidly over the final 1km. I reached the summit 75 seconds before he did.

He claims that I quit the race when i got off my bike and should be disqualified. I contend that walking the bike(however pathetic) is legal and since we didnt outlaw walking the bike before the bet, the rules of cycling should apply.

He contends walking is paramount to quitting and therefore I forfeited the wager.

I say, I got my bike up the hill 75 seconds before him without anyhing but my legs...walking or pedalling shouldn't matter.

Question for the masses....Who should be declared the winner?

I know I shouldn't feel too proud about my performance but I wanna know if walking the bike is legal.

What's the verdict?

Looking for a wide sample of opinions here. The majority will rule.

Bartali

Scott - you should be ashamed of yourself ... or/and your 'cheap ass bike'! Wink

But, walking is generally within the rules so I reckon you won.

Slapshot 3

You're pre race FP should have declared this and your opponent would have known he was going to lose...... Wink

smarauder68

I will only defend my performance by saying this...fat tires and 15% don't mix.

I need a road bike with skinny tires!

Boogerd_Fan

Lance by name Lance by nature!!

Depends what he is contesting - walking up the hill or that he was impeded by traffic allowing you to catch and take him at the start of the slope, obviously that little advantage gained allowed you to keep ahead despite taking the easy way out when the going got tough.

Drongo

In the first half of the century, Tour winners would still be walking their bikes up parts of the steepest climbs. They were going as fast as they could. You aren't disqualified for using a slower method of getting up the hill; the only penalty is the time you lose. Every year dozens of riders walk up hills in the Tour of Flanders (sometimes only a handful ride up them all). The first to the line still wins.

If he couldn't even beat a man who had supposedly 'given up', how can he claim a win?

I call it yours.

Me, a fan?

The victory is yours! Your friend should be commending you for your "never give up" attitude instead of accusing you of being a quitter. Then again, if I were him I'd wait 3 weeks to see how the doping controls turn out before paying up. Very Happy

HuwB

In order to give up, you would be require to climb into your support vehicle.
He obviously doesn't know you, if he thinks you would give up.
Rules of the game, you won. Buy him a beer and give him a testosterone patch for the re-run.

Did it look like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub_qNqzoSMk&feature=related

Bart: Definitely another one for you! Wink

mr shifter

Just Quote the Koppenberg as part of the Rules of Competitive Cycling.

The Bloody Tight Arse.

Bartali

Nice one Huw.

I have the whole film on two DVDs. Its in Italian but with english subtitles. I had to buy it from Australia because the italian version didn't have the subtitles .... then it to me three months to crack my DVD player to make it all region!!

What fun.

Not a great film but the subject matter is clearly close to my heart. I can't understand why they got an actor that looked like Coppi, but the main character, Bartali, looks nothing like him??

The Lemondheads

The only cycling event where you're disqualified for pushing (or just putting a foot down) is hill-climb time-trialling. In an en-ligne race, first over the line, there's no problem with pushing if it's what you want to do.

MAILLOT JAUNE

You won! Fair and square. Think your mate is just a sore loser.

kathy

OK, Scott, you won this one. But take my advice - give up gambling - it's a mug's game! Wink

CapeRoadie

kathy... Scott, she's RIGHT!

Fontfroide

You won, for sure. No doubt.

but I looked up Ziegelhousen on my Via Michelin to see where you lived, and could not find it. Is that a town or a what?

Bartali

FF ... careful, you sound like a stalker! Wink

It's a suburb in the easten part of Heidelberg.

Fontfroide

I thought he lived in Texas.

I rather think of myself as a detective rather than a stalker. Always wanted to be a detective. But I suppose the line is a little bit hard to draw between the two. My wife is a bit of detective as well, but since she can't drive, our silly ideas about opening a detective agency never worked. How could we do stakeouts? So we end up restricting ourselves to the internet and Facebook and so forth. It is rather nice to find old friends though. I remember spending a few hours trying to find the guy I hung out with all the time in grad school, over forty years ago. Such a delight to find him and maybe one day we will meet.

Anyway, if I were stalking, no insult at all, I would not stalk Marauder. Laughing

kathy

bianchigirl

You definitely won, sm - and I fp'd you!

Me, a fan?

armyoflovers

Im the person who was purportedly "beat" by my cheating, unscrupulous friend. What you fail to recognize is that walking up the hill allowed Scott the chance to regain his leg endurance whilst I took the proper, noble route of gutting it out. Once Scott trekked 500 meters up this h'ore catagorie and got to a switchback, he mounted his bike with FRESH legs while I continued to grind it out with this monstrous climb, my legs as firm as a bowl of jello going down a bumpy dirt road on the back of a pick-up truck. Perhaps I am at fault for being stubborn and not taking the easy way out but my never-say-die attitude should count much more than a dubious "win" (if you even want to call it that).

If someone wouldve beat you by walking up the hardest portion of a climb whilst you stayed the course, could you in all good conscience pat them on the back at the summit and congratulate them for winning "fair and square"? I think not....

MAILLOT JAUNE

armyoflovers, I take your point, but all's fair in love and war and i'd say sm won. Neither of you had set out any specific rules and you seem to be annoyed that because he used different tactics from you and crossed the line first that his win wasn't fair. I'm sorry, he won - I'm not a good loser either. Next time specify the rules clearly. Fair dues to you for posting your side of the race on the forum. Good luck. And I hope you and your friend can enjoy a good meal and fine wine in each other's company.

cyclingtv

scott 100% you won.. bad feet and all Wink

I've seen a race where a rider carried his bike..
due to a mechanical.. across the finish line to win..

armyoflovers

you guys ever listen to the song 'burning heart' from survivor? I give you this musical passage from the song:

In the warriors code - theres no surrender,
Though his body says stop - his spirit cries - never!
Deep in our soul a quiet ember,
Knows its you against you, its the
Paradox that drives us on -
Its a battle of wills, in the heat of attack,
Its the passion that kills -
The victory is yours alone.

Obviously if you feel like he "won", its hollow as hell and has no merit. I coudlve quit, too, and walked up that hill like him and preserved my energy and took off and have left him in MY dust. But why didnt I? Refer to the aformentioned verse.

armyoflovers

And no one can argue how paramount it was for him to have had this 100-150m lead up the climb. He says it was 30m on but thats rubbish, I got hemmed up in traffic and had to begin my climb basically from a still position while he comandeered traffic and got a serious thrust up the hill. But thats not really the point, the point is that what he did was bush league and cheap and its an unwritten rule not to pussyfoot it like that, If I wouldve walked and beat him up to top I wouldve awarded him the stage, Im not a sore loser but an intense competitor and would never take a cheap, "paper victory" that scott so readily basks in....

Slapshot 3

I'm sensing some sour grapes here....... Wink

armyoflovers

Ralphnorman

So armyoflovers, do you think cyclocross is a sport full of cheats for getting off their bikes and running? People's attitudes are never remembered (think Moreau in le Tour 2/3 years ago) only their results. I applaud you for getting up the climb all the way whilst still on your bike but IMO Scott won.

berck

HuwB

Hey.....I think it's time for we forumites to get out of this particular kitchen.
Seems to be getting a bit hot. Wink

I think you two ought to arrange a re-run to settle your dispute. Best solution, IMO.

All hinges on Scott's alleged "mechanical".
If true, you have little option other than to taste the bitter pill of defeat.
None other than Fabian Cancellara, had to carry his bike up the feared Koppenberg, during this year's Tour of Flanders, due to a "mechanical" (snapped chain).
However, he did have to abandon, when he couldn't get a replacement bike , in time.

However, I wouldn't put it past Scott to pull a fast one!

Me, a fan?

Boogerd_Fan

I'm thinking a rematch is only days, hours away!!

armyoflovers

goodness im the victim of group think here....have someone walk a win on you and are you saying same thing?

Mrs John Murphy

You should have called in WADA to test SM's T:E levels.

A rematch is in order and FF can film it on his stalker-cam.

I am pretty sure that if the situation had been reversed SM would have been complaining about anti-americanism and cheating. It's only cheating if SM loses.

Bartali

I'm sticking by my first post. Tex takes the win but its a hollow victory. Smile

armyoflovers

mr shifter

cyclingtv

armyoflovers.. lover boy.. buy your boy pal his meal and have a do-over..

same rules.. if you have to walk up the friggin hill to beat
scott since walking with your bike during a race is allowed Wink

btw.. please please please video the race this time and up load it to you tube Laughing

Slapshot 3