When competition doesn’t help

The difference between Collaboration and Competition.

Those of us who are avid cycle sport fans (Or even competitors) know very well the dynamics of collaboration vs competition.

In an individual road race, if no-one has earlier broken away, and stayed away from the peloton (The leading bunch), then when the Peloton nears the finishing line at the end of a long day’s race, we are treated to a cat and mouse game, as the speed drops to sometimes even less than walking pace, as each rider jostles for an optimal energy saving position amongst the bunch, preparing for the final sprint, winner takes all. When a rider finally leaps forward into a sprint, all others will try to get into the slipstream of that leading sprinter, hoping to ride close, sheltered from the wind resistance, until the leader starts to weaken, and then seize victory by leaping out from behind the leader with a final burst of speed which they are holding in reserve.

This cat and mouse game at the end of the race is in stark contrast to the teamwork we might see earlier in the race, when each team works with the individuals in the team rotating in a chain, each member taking a turn of the full brunt of the wind resistance, riding at the front, for a few minutes at near maximum effort, and with each team taking a turn at the front of the…