I didn't want to post because I sort of feel like this thread is piling on and snobbish, but so be it. I'll be a snob that piles on too. I'll pile on the truth.
I recently watched the women's Olympic Triathlon. I know, a month after it happened. I know the theory that among triathletes that the bike is the "rest" portion of the event, especially when drafting is allowed. But I was hoping because there was a reasonably sharp climb, and twisting descent, we'd see some attacking on the bike. What was I thinking?!? No one attacked. At least not the way a cyclist attacks. Some of the "better" cyclists did try to pedal a bit harder on the climbs, which did drop a few people at the back on some laps, but no one attacked. It was like no one had an idea it was even possible to do so.
Next, Sarah True reportedly got a "cramp" during the swim, and then during the bike ride it was so bad she had to stop and climb off the bike, and could be seen rubbing it, before dropping out.
In my 30+ years of cycling. Road, mountain, CX, centuries, racing, some track and gravel, and yes, at least one triathlon where I did well. I have never, ever, ever had, or even seen someone cramp or spasm so bad they could no longer pedal a bike. And this is riding in all sorts of weather, including heat and humidity worse than they had in Rio. I've been dehydrated, gotten serious bonks, nausea, exhausted, seen people vomit, even crash from exhaustion. I have had my legs run into full lactate overload and burn, and ridden to total glycogen depletion to where I lost my ability to really accelerate and had to slow. But cramp to the point of stopping and getting off the bike, like the way a track sprinter has to stop when cramping? Not once. And yet, the announcers talked like it was almost normal.
Not to trash Sarah, she was likely to some degree actually
injured, not "cramped", and equally likely not trained or prepared for cycling. And she did try to continue. But watching her struggle, and the announcers commentary on it, was a sport I didn't recognize.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/triathlete-sarah-true-withdraws-race
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