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knowing your crew isn't far away, even if you can't see them, must help mentally
For someone like Lael? Really? I doubt it. She's not some noobie who's scared of the dark. If anything the film crew caused her more stress and probably cost her more time than anything.
I mean, she's set ITT records on the course twice!
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I don't really like filming crews following racers but I do like the race videos
I was thinking exactly the same!
For me it makes a difference who instigates it and who is paying for it. Something like Often this stuff is a bit opaque, but the 'Inspired to Ride' one seemed to me like it was made by a third party who wanted to film the race, and decided to focus on Mike and Juliana. The IndyPac ones were a bit like that too. I think Abdullah's one was independent but I think Jesse might have put some money into the other one - but in his capacity as organiser not as rider as it clearly didn't focus on him.
Lael's one sounds like it was paid for by her sponsers, which feels different - it's not neutral. Essentially there were three people there who are being paid - probably not very much- but still being paid if not directly by Lael, but via her commercial relationships.
Maybe it's just me being overly suspicious about Lael given her track record of cheating, but if I was in charge of the world I would allow Inspired to Ride-type neutral filming but I would probably not allow the second type.
I don't really like filming crews following racers but I do like the race videos. Not easy :)
But just knowing your crew isn't far away, even if you can't see them, must help mentally. Maybe not in an "easy" race like RATN but I felt lonely and scared a few times during the TCR. Especially in eastern europe. Just the fact that you know you can abandon the race and have your team quickly come to your aid/rescue must be comforting.