Just curious. Nobody seems to know and it isn't intuitive - you can't extrapolate the meaning based on the phrase alone.
Anybody know origins of sandbagging phrase?
- Thread starter CptnRidesfaster
- Start date
Good question, a Google search came up with this answer:
I was thinking of how sandbags are used as fortification around foxholes and trenches on battlefields. But I just couldn't make the connection between this and bicycle racers competing in lower classes for a competitive advantage.
Also considered sandbags as fortification against rising waters, but I couldn't draw a correlation here either.
So the poker analogy makes most sense to me.
Thanks for the info!
Also considered sandbags as fortification against rising waters, but I couldn't draw a correlation here either.
So the poker analogy makes most sense to me.
Thanks for the info!
was a term used in the old days to describe how to keep man carrying hot air balloons on the ground. Sandbags were placed in the basket to help hold the balloons down. Once the ballooneers were ready to get airborne, they would toss out the sandbags and "take off".
So, in other words, someone who holds back until the finish, and then flys past everyone to win a race, for example, is "sandbagging".
So, in other words, someone who holds back until the finish, and then flys past everyone to win a race, for example, is "sandbagging".
Then I guess it wasn't your first race.
Now wouldn't that be cool?!It comes from auto racing.
To make the race more exciting, qualifying runs were used to come up with a starting order for the cars. You do a quick time trial and they seat you fastest guys at the back, slowest guys at the front- that way there's some action. Sandbaggers are guys that would toss a few sandbags into their cars in the qualifying runs to make sure that they got seeded further toward the front.
To make the race more exciting, qualifying runs were used to come up with a starting order for the cars. You do a quick time trial and they seat you fastest guys at the back, slowest guys at the front- that way there's some action. Sandbaggers are guys that would toss a few sandbags into their cars in the qualifying runs to make sure that they got seeded further toward the front.
Last year was my first year racing, and it seemed like "Sandbagger" was a bit overused, especially in the DH crowd. The top 2 or 3 riders were always labeled sandbaggers. Use some common sense. Somebody has to be in the top spots, unless nobody races. Let them have their glory and stop whining.
I have heard that term used in drag racing for years, I had always assumed it was when someone would weigh down their car with sandbags to make it slower and then remove the bags to blow doors, tricking people into racing them for money or pinks. Now in drag racing it means to let off the gas at the last second if you think your run was too fast for your ET. this term applies to bracket racing where if you run faster than your ET you are out. The basic idea is to guess how fast you can go without going faster, whoever gets the closest wins. I had never heard the poker references or otherwise before...
I'm guessing that it comes from how people hang behind. sandbags are kind of immobile, and don't move forward very quickly. when you sandbag, you don't move up in categories very quickly. just a hunch.
A sandbaggger is someone who races below their class in order to make the podium they otherwise wouldn't get if they actually raced others of similar experience.
In a recent road bike race I did the winner of the Open Rec class finished eight minutes ahead of the second place finisher - had that racer been in the Open Pro division he would have finished 6th - as it was he finished 6th overall but took the podium for a lower class. I have no respect for that.
In a recent road bike race I did the winner of the Open Rec class finished eight minutes ahead of the second place finisher - had that racer been in the Open Pro division he would have finished 6th - as it was he finished 6th overall but took the podium for a lower class. I have no respect for that.
If you don't know him it is difficult to tell his story for him....if you really want to know his story, just ask...who knows, maybe you did and he told you he was a sandbagger, then you can expalin to him why that sucks. Otherwise he could just be a really talented guy who is inexperienced at raceing and is just trying to learn the rules of the game. Raceing is very different from just riding. I see this stuff going on all the time, the judging and not communicating or even trying to learn the other guys story, I just think we should talk to each other more...face to face.Serial Midget said:
I know a guy who beat his class by twenty four minutes in expert singlespeed!! and i can tell you he is no sandbagger, I think it was his second or third ever single speed race, and in the other races he did not even win against the same field. Life is crazy ya know? Sometimes you feel strong and sometimes you fall of the back. Peace and home made biscuits bro, no offense just stickin' my nose in. 
If he races in that same class again, he's a sandbagger.Heath Sherratt said:If you don't know him it is difficult to tell his story for him....if you really want to know his story, just ask...who knows, maybe you did and he told you he was a sandbagger, then you can expalin to him why that sucks. Otherwise he could just be a really talented guy who is inexperienced at raceing and is just trying to learn the rules of the game. Raceing is very different from just riding. I see this stuff going on all the time, the judging and not communicating or even trying to learn the other guys story, I just think we should talk to each other more...face to face.
True dat! Every time I win by a large amount I move up for shizzle. No challenge you know?MtnbikeMike said: