Alexi Grewal: worst teammate ever
 

On Dec 8, 7:10*pm, "H. Fred Kveck" wrote:
In article ,
*Ryan Cousineau wrote:





In his own, awesome words:

http://www.alexigrewal.com/index.php...uit-aka-the-ol...
-la

" I was not thinking what I could do to help Davis, I was thinking how
I could use the situation to work all my rivals against each other"

"Phinney was wearing a skin suit.... The skinsuit was information I
filed away. *Only one pocket was sewn into it and we faced a hot,
hilly two hundred kilometer race. *One feed zone per lap on a
downhill, right near the start finish, wearing a skin suit with one
pocket was to rely on the unreliable."

"Two laps to go Davis asks me for food. *I lied, said I don t have
any, I justified it in my mind by thinking I might need it myself."

...and much more, very entertaining stuff, not just about hiding food
from the team leader, but also about his tactical choices, and how he
saw the race.

I did a cursory search, and haven't seen a post in rbr that breaks
down 1984 Olympic road race race to this extent. Grewal's explanation
is as fascinating as it is Machiavellian.

There's more goodies in the rest of the site, including his story of
spitting on the camera man.

I remind you this reinforces my "amateur bike racing is awesome"
theory, since in 1984 this was an amateurs-only race.

* *He did what all top level racers (particularly motorcycle racers) know to do: The
person you most have to beat is your team mate. His explanations of how he did it was
pretty fascinating - the guy did not miss a single thing.

Steve Tilford has a comment on time and distance on his blog,
recently.

Addressing the title line: third and fourth finishers, Dag-Otto
Lauritzen and Morten Saether, were teammates riding for Norway.
Morten dragged Dag-Otto to the line and got outsprinted for the last
medal. Dag-Otto went on to a pro contract; Morten rode the Tour of
Texas (amateur) in '86 and I think subsequently went back to school
and got a degree.

The moral of the story: "That's bike racing!".
--D-y

Alexi Grewal: worst teammate ever
 

--D-y wrote:
Addressing the title line: third and fourth finishers, Dag-Otto
Lauritzen and Morten Saether, were teammates riding for Norway.
Morten dragged Dag-Otto to the line and got outsprinted for the last
medal. Dag-Otto went on to a pro contract; Morten rode the Tour of
Texas (amateur) in '86 and I think subsequently went back to school
and got a degree.

I know who really won.

Alexi Grewal: worst teammate ever
 

On Dec 9, 5:05*pm, --D-y wrote:

Addressing the title line: third and fourth finishers, Dag-Otto
Lauritzen and Morten Saether, were teammates riding for Norway.
Morten dragged Dag-Otto to the line and got outsprinted for the last
medal. Dag-Otto went on to a pro contract; Morten rode the Tour of

Dag-Otto Lauritzen was also somewhat famous in Norway for dragging one
L. Armstrong up to the Indurain-driven break on the last lap of World
Champs, Oslo 1993.

Alexi Grewal: worst teammate ever
 

Sorry Ryan but this subject line makes you look like a putz. If a guy
holds support from a teammate and then drops out or gets 18th then
he's a selfish ****ing **** and deserves the worst.

But if a guy does these things believing he can win and then does it -
that makes him a god.

Because anyone that's got to that level will tell you when the race
starts - it's every man for himself.

(of course this is different in stage racing but one day races you're
on your own)

Alexi Grewal: worst teammate ever
 

On 12/8/2010 8:07 PM, Kurgan. presented by Gringioni. wrote:
On Dec 8, 3:58 pm, Ryan wrote:

I remind you this reinforces my "amateur bike racing is awesome"
theory, since in 1984 this was an amateurs-only race.



Dumbass -

I was too greedy (regarding teamwork) in two races and I regret it
both times. It didn't work out.

It's better to work with or for your teamates.

thanks,

Kurgan. presented by Gringioni.

If you read between the lines in what Alexi writes in the
comments it isn't obvious that he disagrees with you.

"One can use your brain, for good or for things that are
not so good. Imagine my brain being used to support Davis
and Ron. A little bit different perspective and I could
have easily controlled that entire race and brought Ron
and Davis to the finish on an armchair.

Think perhaps of how that would have affected my lifetime
goal of being a Tour de France rider. One can never go
back, but we can change how we go forward."

Fred Flintstein

Alexi Grewal: worst teammate ever
 

On Dec 9, 6:23*am, Fred Flintstein
wrote:
On 12/8/2010 8:07 PM, Kurgan. presented by Gringioni. wrote:





On Dec 8, 3:58 pm, Ryan *wrote:

I remind you this reinforces my "amateur bike racing is awesome"
theory, since in 1984 this was an amateurs-only race.

Dumbass -

I was too greedy (regarding teamwork) in two races and I regret it
both times. It didn't work out.

It's better to work with or for your teamates.

thanks,

Kurgan. presented by Gringioni.

If you read between the lines in what Alexi writes in the
comments it isn't obvious that he disagrees with you.

"One can use your brain, for good or for things that are
not so good. Imagine my brain being used to support Davis
and Ron. A little bit different perspective and I could
have easily controlled that entire race and brought Ron
and Davis to the finish on an armchair.

Think perhaps of how that would have affected my lifetime
goal of being a Tour de France rider. One can never go
back, but we can change how we go forward."



Dumbass -

I didn't even read the article. That is some good introspection.

thanks,

Kurgan. presented by Gringioni.

Alexi Grewal: worst teammate ever
 

On Dec 9, 8:23*am, Fred Flintstein
wrote:
On 12/8/2010 8:07 PM, Kurgan. presented by Gringioni. wrote:



On Dec 8, 3:58 pm, Ryan *wrote:

I remind you this reinforces my "amateur bike racing is awesome"
theory, since in 1984 this was an amateurs-only race.

Dumbass -

I was too greedy (regarding teamwork) in two races and I regret it
both times. It didn't work out.

It's better to work with or for your teamates.

thanks,

Kurgan. presented by Gringioni.

If you read between the lines in what Alexi writes in the
comments it isn't obvious that he disagrees with you.

"One can use your brain, for good or for things that are
not so good. Imagine my brain being used to support Davis
and Ron. A little bit different perspective and I could
have easily controlled that entire race and brought Ron
and Davis to the finish on an armchair.

Think perhaps of how that would have affected my lifetime
goal of being a Tour de France rider. One can never go
back, but we can change how we go forward."

Fred Flintstein

Good talk. I see similarities in attitudes between the young Grewal
and young Armstrong. Speaking of changing how we go forward, Armstrong
figured it out but it doesn't appear that Grewal did.

Alexi Grewal: worst teammate ever
 

On Dec 9, 4:05*am, "A. Dumas" wrote:
--D-y wrote:
Addressing the title line: third and fourth finishers, Dag-Otto
Lauritzen and Morten Saether, were teammates riding for Norway.
Morten dragged Dag-Otto to the line and got outsprinted for the last
medal. Dag-Otto went on to a pro contract; Morten rode the Tour of
Texas (amateur) in '86 and I think subsequently went back to school
and got a degree.

I know who really won.

The guy with the most toys at the end?
--D-y

Alexi Grewal: worst teammate ever
 

On 12/8/2010 6:58 PM, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
In his own, awesome words:

http://www.alexigrewal.com/index.php...olympics-in-la

" I was not thinking what I could do to help Davis, I was thinking how
I could use the situation to work all my rivals against each other"

"Phinney was wearing a skin suit.... The skinsuit was information I
filed away. Only one pocket was sewn into it and we faced a hot,
hilly two hundred kilometer race. One feed zone per lap on a
downhill, right near the start finish, wearing a skin suit with one
pocket was to rely on the unreliable."

"Two laps to go Davis asks me for food. I lied, said I don’t have
any, I justified it in my mind by thinking I might need it myself."

...and much more, very entertaining stuff, not just about hiding food
from the team leader, but also about his tactical choices, and how he
saw the race.

I did a cursory search, and haven't seen a post in rbr that breaks
down 1984 Olympic road race race to this extent. Grewal's explanation
is as fascinating as it is Machiavellian.

There's more goodies in the rest of the site, including his story of
spitting on the camera man.

I remind you this reinforces my "amateur bike racing is awesome"
theory, since in 1984 this was an amateurs-only race.


Awesome is right!

Steve

--
Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS
http://www.dentaltwins.com
Brooklyn, NY
718-258-5001

Alexi Grewal: worst teammate ever
 

On Dec 9, 5:55*am, Anton Berlin wrote:
Sorry Ryan but this subject line makes you look like a putz. *If a guy
holds support from a teammate and then drops out or gets 18th then
he's a selfish ****ing **** and deserves the worst.

But if a guy does these things believing he can win and then does it -
that makes him a god.

Because anyone that's got to that level will tell you when the race
starts - it's every man for himself.

(of course this is different in stage racing but one day races you're
on your own)
On Dec 9, 5:55*am, Anton Berlin wrote:
Sorry Ryan but this subject line makes you look like a putz. *If a guy
holds support from a teammate and then drops out or gets 18th then
he's a selfish ****ing **** and deserves the worst.

But if a guy does these things believing he can win and then does it -
that makes him a god.

Because anyone that's got to that level will tell you when the race
starts - it's every man for himself.

(of course this is different in stage racing but one day races you're
on your own)

I said "worst teammate," not "worst racer." As you note, Grewal
achieved cycling greatness that day.

But he took an awful risk. He relied on being able to outsprint Bauer
heads-up, but he got away with it. As he notes, the good-teammate plan
would have meant delivering Kiefel and Phinney to the finish, with
extremely good odds for the USA.

The meta-problem at the Olympics and Worlds is that national "teams"
are largely a crock, featuring minimal functional loyalties (as
opposed to pro teams, where the personal and financial ties are
usually stronger). Even club teams are more of a real team.