When does a race become too extreme?

[hrotha]

I don't agree with Haas, but "you can simply quit the race" is absurd in the real world where you're an employee and your employer holds all the cards. And "you can simply quit your job" is even more absurd - there's a reason why job safety is heavily regulated.

 

[Netserk]

Re:

I don't agree with Haas, but "you can simply quit the race" is absurd in the real world where you're an employee and your employer holds all the cards. And "you can simply quit your job" is even more absurd - there's a reason why job safety is heavily regulated.

Agreed, but this is not comparable to a normal job. It's more like a hooker who can turn down customers, even if it means that she'll earn less (which it won't mean most of the time for cyclists, as when they are so affected by the weather that it is dangerous, it is only minimal what they will be able to contribute with, and as such what their employer loses when they quit).

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

I don't agree with Haas, but "you can simply quit the race" is absurd in the real world where you're an employee and your employer holds all the cards. And "you can simply quit your job" is even more absurd - there's a reason why job safety is heavily regulated.

Agreed, but this is not comparable to a normal job. It's more like a hooker who can turn down customers, even if it means that she'll earn less (which it won't mean most of the time for cyclists, as when they are so affected by the weather that it is dangerous, it is only minimal what they will be able to contribute with, and as such what their employer loses when they quit).

"Sorry, can't help you today. Extreme weather protocol"

In reality, there's possibilities and technology to measure body temperature in real time during the race, which would be a useful thing to check if riders are going too far.

 

[vedrafjord]

But the culture of the sport is for riders to bury themselves til they're barely conscious, and to ride on with serious injuries in stage races. At some point you have to save the riders from themselves.

 

[Netserk]

Re:

But the culture of the sport is for riders to bury themselves til they're barely conscious, and to ride on with serious injuries in stage races. At some point you have to save the riders from themselves.

Or, you know, the riders could actively try to change the culture. Rules and legislation isn't the only way to deal with a problem.

One could even ask, if the riders do not want to change that culture, do they really deserve to be protected from it?

 

[hrotha]

Re: Re:

I don't agree with Haas, but "you can simply quit the race" is absurd in the real world where you're an employee and your employer holds all the cards. And "you can simply quit your job" is even more absurd - there's a reason why job safety is heavily regulated.

Agreed, but this is not comparable to a normal job. It's more like a hooker who can turn down customers, even if it means that she'll earn less (which it won't mean most of the time for cyclists, as when they are so affected by the weather that it is dangerous, it is only minimal what they will be able to contribute with, and as such what their employer loses when they quit).

I don't think so. For most riders, quitting a race due to the weather would put them at risk of losing their jobs down the line. Big stars who can do whatever they want are a tiny fraction.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

That’s why riders were giving Hansen a hard time: a collective decision to stop means nobody is likely to be victimized for refusing to ride. Individually refusing is a good way to irritate your employer.

 

[Escarabajo]

Well at least plan ahead for next year. Otherwise the riders will be complaining about the same thing. I remember last year being very hot as well. So maybe change the Schedule or the routes. But don't repeat the same or they look stupid and careless for the safety of the riders.

 

[vedrafjord]

Re: Re:

But the culture of the sport is for riders to bury themselves til they're barely conscious, and to ride on with serious injuries in stage races. At some point you have to save the riders from themselves.

Or, you know, the riders could actively try to change the culture. Rules and legislation isn't the only way to deal with a problem.

One could even ask, if the riders do not want to change that culture, do they really deserve to be protected from it?

Of course they do. It was the same in rugby - they had to change the rules of the game to force players with suspected concussions to be taken off the pitch, because they would never go off voluntarily.

 

[Netserk]

That sounds like obliged paternalism. Of course such ideology is self-justifying, and to some degree we are now left with children.

 

[42x16ss]

Re:

That’s why riders were giving Hansen a hard time: a collective decision to stop means nobody is likely to be victimized for refusing to ride. Individually refusing is a good way to irritate your employer.

Hansen was always caught between a rock and a hard place. Guys good in the heat or desperate to impress will of course be happy to race. Meanwhile the guys who are struggling will be approaching Hansen asking why he’s not trying to get the extreme weather protocol actioned.

He’s getting abused just for trying to gauge the pelotons mood, and that’s not entirely fair.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

That’s why riders were giving Hansen a hard time: a collective decision to stop means nobody is likely to be victimized for refusing to ride. Individually refusing is a good way to irritate your employer.

Hansen was always caught between a rock and a hard place. Guys good in the heat or desperate to impress will of course be happy to race. Meanwhile the guys who are struggling will be approaching Hansen asking why he’s not trying to get the extreme weather protocol actioned.

He’s getting abused just for trying to gauge the pelotons mood, and that’s not entirely fair.

Sure. This is a problem inherent to trying to organise a bunch of competitors as a collective. There will be riders who will want the “shop steward” to call a general stop for the general good, but there will be riders who see the discomfort of others in extreme conditions as a potential benefit.

 

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Re:

Well at least plan ahead for next year. Otherwise the riders will be complaining about the same thing. I remember last year being very hot as well. So maybe change the Schedule or the routes. But don't repeat the same or they look stupid and careless for the safety of the riders.

There were some hot days as a well as quite cool ones last year. Our memory is fallible, which is why I created this record:

and did a max temp frequency analysis of the weather in Adelaide in January over the past 20 years:

 

[yaco]

High 30s for the Cadel Evans race on Sunday - Should be OK because the race starts in the morning and of course it's close to the coast.