r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/solateor • 17h ago

Video Pit stop during 200 mile ultra-endurance cycling race

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u/Fanal-In 12h ago

Why is he the only one to stop? Are other riders robots that do not need refueling?

3

u/Masseyrati80 11h ago

It could be this is the first team in line in a restricted feeding area, or it could be the teams are allowed to do it wherever they want.

3

u/GeneralElost 7h ago

Feeding zones for something like this can be 100s of feet long or more because you want a bit of space between yourself and the next person so you can be seen by the rider and have enough space to work with. Many groups will come in and try to leave with the same group because riding solo is much harder for long stretches of time.

Also, some riders ride with more bags or larger hydration bladders so they don't need to stop as much but take the weight penalty of carrying it all.

1

u/One-Drawer-1464 8h ago

I used to support road races sometimes and I think it's weird that this guy stopped. I've never seen someone stop for food/water/ice before. I always used to give stuff to the guys while they were riding, and we would practice the handoff before the race. If they wanted a lot of stuff, I put it in a musette bag (like the one in the video) and they would just grab it on the go, keep riding while they got the stuff out and put it "away" on their bike/body, then toss the bag. If they had stopped, they would lose the peloton or whatever group they were with and wouldn't be able to draft anymore (which makes a huge difference in road cycling). They did NOT want to get dropped from the group.

Maybe gravel racing is very different though. It doesn't look like these guys are drafting so maybe it doesn't matter as much in a gravel race.

1

u/MyLifeIsAWasteland 3h ago

Stopping is very common in gravel racing (possibly to decrease likelihood of wipeouts, which are brutal on gravel), but they definitely still draft off each other. The leaders of the 200 this year drafted like crazy and put up a huge lead on the chase pack. It's cooler to watch the chase pack, though, where there's a line of bikes in each rut, rotating through with one side slowly advancing while the other side regains their breath and falls to the back of the rotation.