BikeThrow.com

 Send to Friend

There seems to be a strange phenomenon in the bike racing community. No it’s not the unabashed smarminess, the haters, or fixed gear fever. Oh, this virus is more prevalent than deep dish carbon rims. It’s the prolific lying. The lying I’m talking about focuses on performance related lies. Sure, call it stretching the truth or avoiding full disclosure but it’s lying nonetheless.

lie n. 1. A false statement deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood.2. Something meant to deceive or give a wrong impression.v. lied, ly·ing (lng), lies v.intr. 1. To present false information with the intention of deceiving.2. To convey a false image or impression: Appearances often lie.v.tr. To cause to be in a specific condition or affect in a specific way by telling falsehoods: You have lied yourself into trouble.

The funny thing is that the lies cyclists tell are the opposite of nearly all other sports. Athletes in other sports generally tell lies that overstate their performance or abilities whereas cyclists tend towards understating them. Take football for example, quarterbacks always exaggerate how tall they are, the running backs and receivers claim they’re faster than they are and the big men boast about how much they can bench or squat. Let’s take a look at the most common lies.

Weight – Cyclists always exaggerate their weight usually by 5-10 lbs. If a cyclist tells you their weight, subtract 10 lbs. Common quotes and their meaning: “Gosh I’ve been eating everything in site” (They’ve either been starving themselves silly or have been eating everything in site and riding a million miles), “I’m packing on the winter weight” (Holding steady, gained 2 lbs.), “I need to drop 5 lbs before the season starts” (They already have).

Training – Cyclists dramatically under-report the amount of training they do (Except one person I know). They’re always telling you they weren’t able to ride when they did and they only got 40 miles in when they did 75. “I haven’t been on the bike in a week!”

Ailments – Faked ailment and injuries abound. Knees, backs, feet, hips, and hands are always creating some issue that interferes with training, has the potential to affect performance, or caused problems in a race.

Miscellaneous – Lies about equipment issues, racing incidents that cost them positions, not having time to warm up, illness, dead or fresh legs, not eating or drinking enough, etc.

Sure there are plenty of honest riders out there but you hear enough of this stuff all the time that you know a large portion of it is bogus. The big question is why? My guess is that this sport is just so damn hard and good results are difficult to come by. You can be great one day, follow the same routines, and just not have it the next. What went wrong? Anyone can provide a laundry list of excuses about why they didn’t have a better result. Some of the old standbys include - “I started to cramp up”, “I got boxed in”, “Some idiot let a gap develop”, “I was working for <insert name>”, “I thought we had a man in the break”, and “I flatted”. What I’m really talking about is the art of pre-race lying that sets the stage for potential or eventual failure.

Under-promise and hopefully over-deliver. If not, you told them you were carrying some extra weight on your bike with derailleur issues while battling tendonitis in your knee.

Nice result dude!