Cyclocross racer uses cell phone during race (Photo)

Taken by official finish line camera during cycloross race.
(Photo: OBRA)

The photo above was snapped by an official Oregon Bicycle Racing Association finish line camera during a cyclocross race over the weekend. Yes, the guy looks to be texting or checking emails during his race! (Or, as a commenter below pointed out, it also might be a GPS device).

OBRA official Candi Murray shared the photo on the OBRA email list last night and added, “Tell me he was not making a call.”

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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matt picio
13 years ago

Classic. There is no hope for our species. 😉

Joe
Joe
13 years ago

hi mom

Scooter
Scooter
13 years ago

I bet he was timing his race and stopping the stopwatch on his phone/gps/computer

Caroline
Caroline
13 years ago

That looks more like a Garmin to me. I think I see a mount on his handlebars. Though why you’d cyclocross with one of those is beyond me. The risk to it is high.

Cell phone is a rash conclusion… or… this guy needs a reality check.

Caroline
Caroline
13 years ago

HOWEVER, is that a bidon in his back pocket? Who races cyclocross with a bidon in his back pocket?!

Dave
Dave
13 years ago
Reply to  Caroline

If you want water during a race, that’s about the only place to put it.

Matthew
Matthew
13 years ago

No, it’s a telescoping baton! He’s about to extend it and crack the next rider across the back of the head.

ian
ian
13 years ago
Reply to  Matthew

ROAD RASH CX style!

Adam Osborn
Adam Osborn
13 years ago

“Dude, guess what position I just got.”

matt picio
13 years ago

Hmm.. yeah, that definitely looks like it could be a GPS. It’s a bit too big for a phone. It’s large for a GPS, too, but it could be one of the older Garmins or one of the Magellan units.

Matt Haughey
13 years ago

It looks to me like a big cell phone in a plastic sandwich bag, the kind you’d have in your jersey pocket. I don’t use my phone while riding, but once in a while I can hear I got a call or a message or a text and I’ll wonder who called, often pulling over to pull it out and see.

I could see glancing at it to see what he missed while racing, especially if you’ve got family at home and it might have been a call from your spouse.

Pete
Pete
13 years ago
Reply to  Matt Haughey

I’m in labor – meet me at the hospital! Hope you won your race.

Brendan
Brendan
13 years ago

I bet it’s his victory salute.

Burk
Burk
13 years ago

Calling in his beer order???

Slonie
13 years ago

He’s calling his guy in the pit and telling them he needs his bike ready…

Stripes
Stripes
13 years ago

Using his GPS to locate the, uh, finish line two feet in front of him? I’ve known cyclists to use GPS for dumber things 😉

Skid
Skid
13 years ago

Talk about phoning it in.

mello yello
mello yello
13 years ago

twitter addict

Jerry_W
Jerry_W
13 years ago

To parole officer “ankle bracelet will be back on in 5 minutes…tops”

Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson
13 years ago

Caroline
HOWEVER, is that a bidon in his back pocket? Who races cyclocross with a bidon in his back pocket?!

Who uses the word “bidon”?? It’s a bottle.

Caroline
Caroline
13 years ago
Reply to  Brian Johnson

I use the word bidon whenever I like. Especially when the nipple appears to be pink like a Rapha BIDON. I also call myself Little Package… I like eclairs, au gratin, and café au lait. C’est la vie, so sue me, BRIAN JOHNSON. 😛

wsbob
wsbob
13 years ago

“…bidon…”. “…’Tish! …That’s French!!”.

dabby
dabby
13 years ago

I have used the cell phone during any number of races, not to mention the “Far Away Yeller”(nextel).

Have also dropped and crushed phones while racing for that matter…..

A.K.
A.K.
13 years ago

Brian Johnson
Who uses the word “bidon”?? It’s a bottle.

Bottles are for babies. A bidon is for cyclists.

Ron
Ron
13 years ago
Reply to  A.K.

And his is in the pack pocket of his Maillot. (That’s what real cyclists wear)

eric
eric
13 years ago
Reply to  A.K.

After reading the comments on bike portland for the last several years, I think bottle is a more appropriate term.

craig
craig
13 years ago

seems like the sort of thing that deserves a few fact-finding phone calls before publishing and speculating on the photo

Dave
Dave
13 years ago

Bottles are for putting water in. A bidon is for effete francophiles.

Caroline
Caroline
13 years ago
Reply to  Dave

Semantics are for really boring people.

matt picio
13 years ago
Reply to  Dave

You say that like it’s a bad thing.

Shane
13 years ago

Maybe he’s a time traveller: http://www.youtube.com/user/yellowfeverbelfast

PS I just had to make a comment to try out the new comment field. I think I like it.

Schrauf
Schrauf
13 years ago

It’s a padded iPhone with an app for controlling the electric assist motor hidden in his frame. That bottle is actually a wireless battery pack. He also may have a device that fires little darts into the spokes of competitors as they attempt to pass, but I believe OBRA allows those.

Gabriel Amadeus
13 years ago

To test out my stalker skills and the new comments, I believe you could just ask him. Name’s Doug I think: http://www.crossresults.com/racer/9605

Sorry if I’m wrong!

Also, cool lacing on those wheels.

Kevin Hedahl
Kevin Hedahl
13 years ago

The funky spoke pattern is due to how the OBRA camera takes pictures. It’s tons of vertical pictures, all taken at the time that portion of the person passed the finish line, that are pasted together into one image. That’s also why the background looks like a bunch of horizontal lines.

S change
S change
13 years ago

Youy might want to retest your stalking ability. Look up rider 975 in the master C 35+ catagory here:
http://obra.org/events/15429/results#race_261706
It don’t appear to be Doug.

Gabriel Amadeus
13 years ago
Reply to  S change

Awh, dammit! Career change in order, asap!

Joe
Joe
13 years ago

Foursquare check in 😉

Jeff
Jeff
13 years ago

Checking his power output during the race…

nuovorecord
nuovorecord
13 years ago

Forget the phone/GPS discussion…are those REFLECTORS(!!!) on his wheels? The Fred is strong with this one.

Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson
13 years ago
Reply to  nuovorecord

Holy Tooledo!! You’re right! I also see a seatpost reflector! 🙂

Impressive. Most impressive.

mello yello
mello yello
13 years ago

Annnnnnnnnnd *pause*

thefuture
thefuture
13 years ago

I think he’s just making the jump to lightspeed. He’s gone to plaid.

Spiffy
Spiffy
13 years ago

is than a blue-tooth mic sticking out by his mouth?

reflectors? awesome!

if he had a handlebar mount for it I don’t think he’d be holding it…

and I don’t see anything weird with having the bottle in your back shirt pocket… better than getting it muddy and risk losing it on the frame mount…

slowracer
slowracer
13 years ago

he’s turning off the motor on his mechanical doping devicw. Call in the scientist.

CaptainKarma
CaptainKarma
13 years ago

At some point, a certain segment of the population will be opting for the hands-free implant directly into the head. You’ll never know if they are talking to you, checking what their friends are doing right now (I’m in the bathroom…), or if they are schizoids conversing with the voices that are truly now in their heads.

CaptainKarma
CaptainKarma
13 years ago

BTW, the govt can surveil your movements at all times when you carry a cell-phone. Nice. You could turn it off, but some phones still report even then. Must take the battery out to be sure. Just food for thought.

https://ssd.eff.org/wire/protect/cell-tracking

Joe
Joe
13 years ago

oncall support tech, living the dream

Joe R
Joe R
13 years ago

He may be saving his Map My Ride route.

There’s also that thing in his mouth, which could be part of a food wrapper. He’s a diabetic and needs to restore balance to his juices.

Or, as stated above, just ask the dude.

spokesy
13 years ago

fyi, if you have time to drink water during a cyclocross race, you’re doing it wrong!

Mike Murray
Mike Murray
13 years ago

As one commenter pointed out the FinishLynx camera does not take a picture of the rider. It takes many pictures of the vertical space above the finish and then assembles them into an image that actually represents a graph of the items occupying that vertical space vs time represented on the horizontal. The point of this pedantic explanation is that the poor guy in this picture may not have been holding whatever the thing is fo very long. He may have just been putting it in his pocket. Sure makes a funny picture though.

Jed
Jed
13 years ago

It’s an energy bar…

Justin
Justin
13 years ago

One-upping Cavendish.

Kevin
Kevin
13 years ago

Yeah, energy bar with a piece of wrapper in his mouth.

I used my garmin 500 in the only cross races I’ve done, I didn’t manage to click the lap button for each lap, but I kind of wish I had..

beany
beany
13 years ago

More importantly – why is he in the little ring on the track?

jim
jim
13 years ago

This could be his heart monitor, ….

mello yello
mello yello
13 years ago

remote for the obra camera

jim
jim
13 years ago

great picture by the way

Pete
Pete
13 years ago

Yeah, it’s a giant energy bar… and he’s reading the ingredients to make sure there’s no high-fructose corn syrup!