13 April 2011

Tactics or quick decision making

A gameboard of movable parts
When Jonathan Vaughters, Directeur Sportif of the Garmin-Cervelo cycling team, was credited with good tactics after the 2011 Paris-Roubaix, I couldn't help but think he certainly did not plan that race. No one could have planned that race. Are tactics well executed plans or are they just good decision making in the moment? Isn't that what really happened at Paris-Roubaix? A quick response to changing situations. Jonathan Vaughters, or any Directeur Sportif, could not have planned out every puncture, mechanical, breakaway or crash if they had wanted to. The outcome was totally unknown.

Good decision making is a skill that can be practiced as much as it is instinctual. There is a reason why it is taught in Business School, because one can get better at it. With a game board of movable players stretched out over 10 kilometers on bikes, in cars, and on the roadside, not knowing all the pieces to the puzzle must be mind numbingly frustrating for a Directeur Sportif trying to make a good decision, and for those wanting some direction.

It shines a light on why race radios are so crucially important to this sport and the Directeur Sportifs are fighting to keep them. Incoming and outgoing information is the foundation to better decision making. Radios don't make a race boring, they add to the in-the-moment response.
Paris-Roubaix is about reaction. Reacting to the cobbles, reacting to the riders around you, reacting to a rider in need of a wheel or bike. Reaction. And what fuels reaction is split decision making. Decision based on experience, discipline and a partnership between a trained athlete and a coach. You cannot plan that. You can only hope the fundamentals were taught, the reaction was sound and the decision is a good one.

Professional cycling teams spend countless time and money planning for every detail: gear, nutrition, training, logistics, and yet so much is out of their control. From now on when I see footage of the D.S. going over the plan for the day in the back of the bus with the riders before a race, I will always think - ya, good luck boys, you have no idea what lies ahead today.
"The best laid schemes of mice and men / Go oft awry." ~ John Steinbeck

Tactic: a method of employing forces in combat
Decision: a determination arrived at after consideration

Giving credit to good decision making, insures Team Member's confidence in their future reactions. That is good team management on Vaughters part. 

Who else was watching Paris-Roubaix on Sunday and thought - who is picking up all the riders abandoned along the road, those team cars must be full of riders and their bikes? That was a great race!