Ultracycling

A lot of drafting then cuntery unsportsmanship at the end.

Agree with the first part, disagree with the second.

Even if it wasn't drafting, it's supposed to be a solo effort so riding in such close proximity to another rider for so long is bound to cause issues. Chatting with another rider for 30min or sharing a hotel in a town is one thing but not for 2000mi...

As for the "no way I'm riding in together, it's a race" well, it's a race. That's totally legit.

It's safer and shorter than many other events so yeah, do it.

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.

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!

Just the fact that you know you can abandon the race and have your team quickly come to your aid/rescue

You do realise that this is the opposite of a benefit, right?

Not really. You can just push yourself more knowing if you cross the line you'll still be fine. I made decisions of not pushing on into the night because I didn't know what lay ahead and if something happened I was totally alone. Not so if you have a crew nearby.
It may not be the same for everyone but it would be for me.

And I'm talking about filmcrews in general, not Lael specifically. During last year's TCR the german pair that raced for the first time had a photographer following them the whole way. I saw it as an unfair advantage.

Proof is in the pudding. Like I said, Lael has done this solo before, smashing the women's record then smashing her own record. Yet when she has a film crew nearby... DNF. It's the opposite of a benefit for someone like her who is comfortable with this racing. You were in your first race right? It's a totally different ballgame when you've done a few.

Lael's crew were specifically staying away from her though, not like the TCR film crews that are all over riders. In that case it does seem like an advantage, especially for rookie riders.

True, I can only speak from a rookie point of view. :)

As for the "no way I'm riding in together, it's a race" well, it's a race. That's totally legit.

Its a race but she's technically cheated to get where she was?

Yeah, had to check an interview, but I remembered Lael at the finish say something along the lines that Steffen helped her before the end.

we’re 130 miles from the finish. So, I knew that I wasn’t gonna be
able to sprint for 130 miles. I took a wrong turn on the track. I
wasn’t focused enough on the map, and I turned to the left. And he
said, ‘It’s to the right!’ And he kind of slowed down for me to catch
up. And he said. ‘I want to talk to you for a minute. We’ve been
battling for two weeks. Why don’t we just finish this together?’ And I
said ‘No way. This is a race. I’m gonna finish it.’ So I just kept
riding hard. We rode together for a couple more minutes and then he
dropped off. And I never saw him again.

here.

Plus Evan's help for a large part of the race. That aside, her performance and following Hippy's exploits was what drew me in to follow this stuff. She rode in fairly plain clothes and has a full-on attitude which is impressive. I'm sure she has helped spread interest in new riders/fans, but the stuff on that Radavist link, is not what I enjoy about this sport (as @frank9755 said).

I mean, sure you can ignore the paragraph I wrote about that aspect of the race.

I can understand both points of view.

Race should be kept pure and honourable for sure, but she has sponsors to keep happy and us lot - I can't be the only one that enjoys films of races? I thought her crew had done a reasonable job of removing themselves from interfering with the race.

Everyone should ITT, and there should be a global curfew during the race. solved.

Yeah, I think the transparency that Rue displayed was quite reassuring and she made a real effort to stay out of Lael's way and not intervene in any way. That's much more respectable than other film crews etc. Even in the original Ride the Divide film, the protagonist racer Mike Dion bivvied with the film crew, but there were only 16 racers and no keyboard warriors, so it wasn't an issue (plus he scratched).

and Jay Petervary was filmed during one of his TD races? What's good for the geese, isn't good for the gander, it seems. No wonder Salsa dropped him.

Isn’t it all just ego(s)

Yes.

In other non-ego news, @Cycliste and I will be starting the Three Peaks Bike Race in Vienna on Saturday. It's our first ultracycling event.

What is/ are your goal(s)?

TLDR ;)

Yeh I should have read that before posting

Finishing the ride, and not the relationship...

Finishing the ride, and not the relationship...

Haha! Good luck with all aspects!

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.

Which year did Lael ride along next to the guy on TABR? Is there footage?

In 2016. She talks about riding with Evan in an interview I watched a while back and that he helped her pace the ride for a while. Their trackleader dots are pretty close for a large part of the race if you watch the replay of it on their site. Evan won the race in record time the next year.

There is probably stuff here too, haven't read it yet.

Our best chance at catching Steffen is to ride together, to help each other through the nights and keep a good pace. “Let’s do it, Evan. Let’s go catch him.”