S34.E03: It's All in the Details

[Whimsy]

Quote

Teams start a Megaleg in Bologna, Italy, where they must cart an 88-pound wheel of parmigiano cheese and build a Ducati Panigale V4 motorcycle.

Original airdate 10/5/22

[InDueTime]

It looks like Killer Fatigue is setting in early for some teams.

Hindsight's 20/20. But for theAnatomyy Detour, maybe one teammate could focus on bones, and the one could focus on organs.

The motorcycle Roadblock would be trouble for me. 

[Cotypubby]

Wow, super impressed by the one twin on the Ducati Roadblock!

[bunnyface]

For some reason our feed really messed up.  I saw a few people at cheese and the first couple try anatomy once and then all the sudden everyone was heading for motorcycles and some people were on 5th or 6th tries on anatomy.     Survivor messed up too.  One minute they're talking, the next they are in the middle of the challenge.  Frustrating.

I would have tried the anatomy since I work in a hospital, but I didn't see how long they had.  Just all the sudden they were timing out.  I probably would have had to do it twice though.  Once to get the ones I knew and a second time to concentrate on the ones I didn't know the first time.  Unless the time was extremely short, and I never saw the time limit, it doesn't seem like it would have been that hard.  But apparently the cheese wasn't difficult either.  The one team I saw do it seemed to go quickly.

[Fake Jan Brady]

Good grief, how many people couldn't drive stick?? It's season 34, people!

[Kleav]

2 minutes ago, Fake Jan Brady said:

Good grief, how many people couldn't drive stick?? It's season 34, people!

I’ve never driven a stick. Is it possible that learning it in one kind of car doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy in a different car? Especially under pressure?

[mertensia]

Damn, the one twin just killed that Ducati challenge.

I would definitely have done the cheese challenge. No judging.

I think to really do stick you have to drive one for a couple of weeks. I'm betting most of the teams having trouble probably went out a couple of times with a friend/relative/instructor.

[Lantern7]

Loophole! Phil said every leg would end with an elimination, but he never said a leg could could be contained in one episode.

Anything I see or hear "Mega Leg," I think of Patton Oswalt riffing on KFC and an item they tested in a regional market.

Good tasks this episode . . . haul a 40-kilo wheel of cheese split in two or play Reverse Operation, followed by assembling key bits on a motorcycle. MVP had to be the lecturer. He spoke English well enough (with a few flaws in pronunciation) and sounded as intelligent as his character. I kept expecting him to ask if any of the Racers found his talk "humerus." As for the cycles . . . it's a shame Arun never got a chance to try that Roadblock. With his skills, he probably would have finished the assembly, look up, and realize he had someone created a horse.

I'm getting nervous for Glenda and Lumumba (I can't memorize his name). I'm sure the teams will be bunched up next week, but look like the most delightful team. Hell, even with Dom being dramatic, there's no one all-out pain in the ass. Even the Big Brother team is bearable. I'm still rooting against them, but that's out of principle for me.

[GaT]

If I had to listen to Dom spout platitudes at me all day, I would kick her out of the car.

I am not really enjoying watching the challenges this season. I don't know if it's the challenges themselves, or the show is spending too much time on them, but I'm getting bored.

[Fukui San]

Hey let's appreciate that no one helped anyone else in the motorcycle build challenge. It must have been made explicitly a rule this time, because if I'm in that challenge I am asking for any help I can get. 

The twins killed it in the anatomy and the motorcycle task. 

If you've never driven stick, you have no idea how nerve wracking it is. Particularly in narrow streets, uphill streets, turns, and traffic behind you.  Now, once you get past the perilous slow speeds which is where you can stall a lot, if you get to 15-20MPH+ then you're probably OK. I drove a stick in my teens, but that was many years ago. I now live on a very hilly area and I can't imagine driving stick here.

[aradia22]

I couldn't really tell what was going on this episode. It's not that I was confused, more that the editors seemed to be getting tricky. The early tasks seemed to take so much time (Anatomy/Cheese Wheel) but then everyone bunched up at Ducati in a way that made it seem like the leads were not that substantial. And then I couldn't really tell if the motorcycle task ate up a lot of time. Obviously some people struggled more than others but the Military Brothers kept their lead, the Twins were able to catch up, and most people still left around roughly the same time. Sneaky editors.

I thought it was an interesting choice to have "class times" which allowed racers to bunch up at the Anatomy task. Rather than say, getting started as soon as one team walked in the room. But I don't think it made a huge difference because everyone ended up together at the motorcycle task anyway. 16 identifications in 90 seconds doesn't seem that intense but I do think it's a mild challenge for a memory task even if you know the answers. Three or five minutes would have been a little more generous. But I liked that they pushed them a little. Combined with the delivery task, it felt like classic TAR. Yay to Mattie (cheerleader) and Mollie (twin) for acing the Anatomy task on the first go. I wouldn't go out of my way, but if I'm ever in Bologna, I want to visit that room. 

It doesn't stress me out as much as say, watching an awards show in a fully packed theater where mask-wearing runs the gamut or watching a fully unmasked crowd but the mix of racers sometimes having masks on and sometimes not was a little unnerving. 

I don't know how to drive any kind of car and I know stick shift is a race trope but what makes it so difficult? Why do people stall so much? And how do people who drive stick shift regularly seem to manage fine? 

Dom was a little less annoying this episode because she wasn't the main one doing tasks but she did still give off backseat driver energy. While Rich was very 'yes, dear.' Back to back quotes from him during the motorcycle task... "Yes, baby." "Yes, sweetie."

I did think it was cute how excited Michael (military brother) got about going to the Ducati factory. Unfortunately I don't think there was nearly enough insurance to let them actually ride bikes. Did we know that David was a helicopter mechanic??? I forget his wife's name but I thought they were sold as both being dancers.

Kudos to Emily for finishing the motorcycle task so quickly just by being attentive and focused and patient. Derek seemed to be getting frustrated. I wonder how they're deciding which tasks Claire should take. I do think people who had some sense of how to use tools had an advantage (how would you even know to twist that wrench thing in the other direction?) but while I don't blame her at all for struggling, the tasks she chooses don't really seem to be playing to her strengths. I just wonder what their strategy is. Maybe let Derek do more tasks so he can struggle and pipe down with his sideline commentary. I know they keep losing their lead but they're not that far behind.

[aradia22]

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I would have tried the anatomy since I work in a hospital, but I didn't see how long they had. [...] Unless the time was extremely short, and I never saw the time limit, it doesn't seem like it would have been that hard.

Phil said 90 seconds. I think it's a decent challenge for 16 IDs because you're stressed and you also have to mess around with the blocks... and a bigger challenge for the teams who knew very little about the anatomical terms.

Quote

Hey let's appreciate that no one helped anyone else in the motorcycle build challenge. It must have been made explicitly a rule this time, because if I'm in that challenge I am asking for any help I can get.

Possibly... No one was rude about not giving another team a hint (e.g. put it in neutral) so maybe it was a rule to not help and everyone understood that. I only saw Will trying to ask the guy doing the demonstration and getting rebuffed.

[OutOfTheQuestion]

1 hour ago, aradia22 said:

I couldn't really tell what was going on this episode. It's not that I was confused, more that the editors seemed to be getting tricky. The early tasks seemed to take so much time (Anatomy/Cheese Wheel) but then everyone bunched up at Ducati in a way that made it seem like the leads were not that substantial. And then I couldn't really tell if the motorcycle task ate up a lot of time. Obviously some people struggled more than others but the Military Brothers kept their lead, the Twins were able to catch up, and most people still left around roughly the same time.

I'm not sure if it's tricky editing, or that these challenges are challenging enough that they're leading to a lot of extremely varied finish times.  The cheese wheel task has seemed like the only one that has been pretty straight forward over the last two episodes.

[Lamb18]

I think Claire is doing the roadblocks she physically can do, while saving Derek for the ones she physically can't.

[GenerationX]

Kudos to the cheerleader for getting the anatomy task on the first try!

If we ever got on the show, Mrs. GenX has insisted we implement her "Read the clue twice" strategy.  Every season multiple teams get tripped up by not following the clue's directions, such as when to DRIVE to the next task.

[Seelouis]

Dom is a cliche of cliches. It’s like she’s playing a character fans would call out as not believable in a scripted show. Sitting at the roadblock “sending energy” to her partner. I think I may have strained myself rolling my eyes so much. 

[mojoween]

Dom is a lot.  Rich’s patience must be immeasurable.

If somehow I were on this show and ended up having to do the motorcycle task, I would be in Italy to this day, not able to finish.  Also, I can’t drive stick for shit.  

[sugarbaker design]

11 hours ago, InDueTime said:

It looks like Killer Fatigue is setting in early for some teams.

Killer Fatigue in the third episode?

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

I think Claire is doing the roadblocks she physically can do, while saving Derek for the ones she physically can't.

I wouldn't be surprised if she also wanted to "make up" for her last roadblock performance. Unfortunately, it didn't quite play out that way. But they're both still doing a good job keeping their spirits relatively up.

Abby and Will are fading in the edit, but I still like them and am rooting for them. Will at the roadblock was pretty charming in his slight befuddlement, and Abby's still cute! (even though there was less delighted squeeing this episode).

[iMonrey]

I think I would have crushed the anatomy Detour, I already knew a lot of the bones and organs and would only have had to focus on the few I didn't know or wasn't sure of. I was kind of surprised how few teams already knew this stuff. It's not like I majored in anatomy or anything either.

On the other hand, the Ducati challenge looked to be pretty hard but I think that might have been somewhat deceptive because all they really had to do was attach the wheel and brake pad, and then add some plating for the chassis. And they had examples. I think most of the stumbles came from those who didn't know how to use the ratchet wrench.

I'm enjoying the casting this season so far. I like Marcus and Michael, Glenda and Lumumba, Linton and Sharik, Derek and Claire, Abby and Will, Molly and Emily. That six teams I wouldn't mind seeing win this thing, that's got to be some kind of record. And I'm warming up to Quinton and Mattie. I'm just meh on Aubrey and David and Luis and Michelle, and the only team I really don't like is Rich and Dom. Mostly Dom. Go manifest yourself into a Philimination, Dom. 

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I'm enjoying the casting this season so far. I like Marcus and Michael, Glenda and Lumumba, Linton and Sharik, Derek and Claire, Abby and Will, Molly and Emily. That six teams I wouldn't mind seeing win this thing, that's got to be some kind of record. And I'm warming up to Quinton and Mattie. I'm just meh on Aubrey and David and Luis and Michelle, and the only team I really don't like is Rich and Dom. Mostly Dom. Go manifest yourself into a Philimination, Dom. 

This is a good group. Dom actually started out ok this episode with her encouraging words when Rich first started driving the car, but then she just kept going and adding more weirdness and buzzwords...and some of her encouragement started to sound more like criticism? Like "you're getting too frustrated, let go of that", as he's sitting there barely saying anything. And then of course she made things more difficult for him by messing up the directions, leading to more opportunities for him to stall. Her lotus position and sending positive vibes at the Roadblock were most likely performative, but at least it kept her calm while she was waiting for him to finish.

[Tango64]

10 hours ago, Kleav said:

I’ve never driven a stick. Is it possible that learning it in one kind of car doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy in a different car? Especially under pressure?

I've driven a manual transmission my entire life (I'm not young) and I currently drive a manual Jeep Wrangler every day. I'm very comfortable with it. But on the occasion I drive someone else's car with a stick shift, I'm not as smooth, at least for a little while. The clutch will feel different in different cars, with some needing a much gentler touch and some more forgiving. In any case, the point at which the clutch releases is different on each type of car and you have to get used to it. For a short while, even an experienced manual driver might stall out, lurch, or jerk wildly forward. It's always a little embarassing for experienced manual drivers but it happens. 

When I've rented cars in Europe, they were always manual transmissions and were smaller cars with a more delicate feel to the clutch than I'm used to. So I still stumbled with it a bit getting out of the airport. A short while later I was fine.

[seacliffsal]

I just can't with Dom.  She was telling Rich something like "you're manifesting negativity" or some such thing.  Then she was telling Derek how to act/react.  I would have been a big "no" to her.  I agree with an above poster that she is being performative in some of what she does.

That motorcycle task was so good in terms of shaking up some of the order.  I would never have been able to do it, but that's why I'm watching from the comfort of my home.

A bit of a tangent, but I hope the Real Love Boat doesn't discourage viewers from sticking around and watching the Amazing Race.  I did watch the Love Boat (leftover sentimentality from the original show [RIP Captain Stubing]) and think CBS knows the only way to keep it is to put it behind a successful show-but if it negatively impacts the Amazing Race...grrrrrr

[Lady Calypso]

The most important rules for TAR contestants: read your clue entirely, and learn to drive stick shift before going on. And of course we saw teams struggle with not following their rule to a T, or not knowing how to drive stick.

Team Long Lost Twins are probably my favourite. I just adore their attitude and energy and how they're still learning things about each other on the race. Plus, I loved Emily's redemption after the car incident where she beasted the motorcycle task.

Same with Mattie beasting the anatomy detour. I was wary of Qunton/Mattie being too hyperactive and annoying, but they've been perfectly fine and I feel bad for judging them so quickly.

Poor Claire, once again, choosing the wrong roadblock to do. I'm impressed she chose it and she did as well as she could have. That task was hard on nearly everyone.

On first glance, I feel like the Anatomy task would have been easy, but I think the Cheese task was overall quicker. Both were fairly straightforward, but the Cheese one was simply endurance and navigation, while the Anatomy one was sitting through an eight minute lecture and hoping you knew your anatomy better than others. 

Glenda/Lumumba getting lost and going from the front of the pack to last was rough to watch.

So far, there's only one team that bugs me (Rich/Dom) but I've definitely seen worse teams on this show, so they're only mildly annoying right now. Otherwise, I'm fine with the teams right now.

[lilabennet]

I think all of Dom's "positivity" in the car was passive aggressiveness in disguise.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I’ve never driven a stick. Is it possible that learning it in one kind of car doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy in a different car? Especially under pressure?

Yes because different stick shifts have the gears in different places. Sometimes Reverse is on top, sometimes it's on the bottom, etc. I drove nothing but stick shifts for years, but I've driven automatic since then and I don't know how comfortable I'd be getting into a stick shift now. Also, even if some of these people did go out and practice driving a stick shift, it's still not like they do it all the time so they just have the basic idea of how it works without a lot of experience. It takes practice. 

[HelloooKitty]

Is like to “manifest” my foot up the merfairy’s butt! She annoys me to no end with her speaking only in cliches and platitudes! Hope they are gone soon!

[aradia22]

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I think Claire is doing the roadblocks she physically can do, while saving Derek for the ones she physically can't.

Is Derek that much stronger than Claire? This isn't like Team Miami (firefighter/Pitbull dancer) or Motivational Speakers (Rich/Dom) where the guy is clearly bigger and more muscular. 

[chitowngirl]

Did I hear Dom say that she couldn’t navigate using a map or didn’t know how to read a map? 🙄

[aradia22]

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I think I would have crushed the anatomy Detour, I already knew a lot of the bones and organs and would only have had to focus on the few I didn't know or wasn't sure of. I was kind of surprised how few teams already knew this stuff. It's not like I majored in anatomy or anything either.

On the other hand, the Ducati challenge looked to be pretty hard but I think that might have been somewhat deceptive because all they really had to do was attach the wheel and brake pad, and then add some plating for the chassis. And they had examples. I think most of the stumbles came from those who didn't know how to use the ratchet wrench.

I'm enjoying the casting this season so far. I like Marcus and Michael, Glenda and Lumumba, Linton and Sharik, Derek and Claire, Abby and Will, Molly and Emily. That six teams I wouldn't mind seeing win this thing, that's got to be some kind of record. And I'm warming up to Quinton and Mattie. I'm just meh on Aubrey and David and Luis and Michelle, and the only team I really don't like is Rich and Dom. Mostly Dom. Go manifest yourself into a Philimination, Dom. 

I think the teams struggled with timing on anatomy if they didn't already have a background. Yeah, there were easy ones like "clavicle" but then you were trying to find words you'd just heard among the blocks. It didn't seem to change so after the first or second round, I'd just memorize the order of the blocks on each side if I was still there. 

I think they sped it up but from watching Michael at Ducati, getting the outer pieces to align seemed to be a bit of a struggle. 

I agree on the casting except I already like Quinton and Mattie and I would downgrade Abby and Will to meh. There are many teams I'd be happy to see win and I probably won't be upset with eliminations unless one of them goes early.

[aradia22]

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Did I hear Dom say that she couldn’t navigate using a map or didn’t know how to read a map? 🙄

I don't think she meant generally. But at that point she was admitting defeat since he was constantly stalling the car and her directions were getting them no closer to the destination. I think that might have been when they just asked for directions.

[lilabennet]

I think Claire has a lot of anxiety.  Maybe she and Derek are having her do as many Roadblocks as possible in the first half of the race, so that he can do them later when there is more pressure.  That could backfire if a later Roadblock is something that Claire would be really good at but Derek isn't.

[eel21788]

15 hours ago, Kleav said:

I’ve never driven a stick. Is it possible that learning it in one kind of car doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy in a different car? Especially under pressure?

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

Yes because different stick shifts have the gears in different places. Sometimes Reverse is on top, sometimes it's on the bottom, etc. 

There are also a lot of cars made today that require you to push down on the gearshift before putting it into reverse. That can be a total surprise to people who haven't driven one recently.

[SG429]

What's with announcing this megaleg bs to the teams at the top, depriving us of the mat-based "Keep Racing!" and the drama of the last team being unaware that they're not out yet? Would Mr and Mrs Kevin Hart have been so cool being so far behind if they didn't know?

[aghst]

16 hours ago, Fake Jan Brady said:

Good grief, how many people couldn't drive stick?? It's season 34, people!

16 hours ago, Kleav said:

I’ve never driven a stick. Is it possible that learning it in one kind of car doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy in a different car? Especially under pressure?

16 hours ago, mertensia said:

Damn, the one twin just killed that Ducati challenge.

I would definitely have done the cheese challenge. No judging.

I think to really do stick you have to drive one for a couple of weeks. I'm betting most of the teams having trouble probably went out a couple of times with a friend/relative/instructor.

You can't rent a manual car in the US.

So unless you do know someone with manual transmission car who'd be willing to lend it to you to learn, it's going to be pretty tough.

Manual transmission cars are more common in Europe but they're also pushing EV transition as well, with deadlines from 2030 to 2040 after which no more new gas or diesel cars.

So maybe by season 45 or 50, they will be driving EVs which don't require any shifting.

[PurpleTentacle]

I'm immensly disappointed that teams took the amazing charter jet instead of just driving from Austria to Italy. I want them tired and I still have fond memories of early season trans-national road trips. Like the one where a bunch of teams put gaoline in their diesel cars. Good times.

The leg was okay. If you didn't have really good prior knowledge of anatomy, the chese part of the detour was clearly the better option. Not sure why so many teams didn't go for it.

The Roadblock was kinda meh. Sure it shook things up a bit, but watching teams build a little bit of a bike is not exactly interesting.

Dom was exhausting this leg. I didn't super like her before, but now she is really getting on my nerves.

Although Rich made me laugh out loud. After stalling the car again he said completely ernest: "I'm releasing really slow, too". Which he clearly wasn't. It was funny.

But what really soured me on them: Rich: "Do you know how to navigate using a map?" Dom: "no". Argh! WTF? You are on the amazing race and you didn't learn to navigate by map or how to drive stick shift better than a three year old? There should be immediate disqualification in these cases. I just can't with that.

I hate a TBC. It's the worst of all worlds. A Megaleg should only exist if it's a two hours episode. Well at least this time they said it from the start...

[aghst]

Google Maps indicates Innsbruck to Bologna is a 4-4.5 hour drive, 400 km.

There is a direct train but it's 5 hours even without changes.

I think this transit time wouldn't give them time to do both a roadblock and a detour on the same day, even if all the teams made it without delays or getting lost.

As it is, they may have flown down and then start out the leg the next morning.

Parts of it are very scenic drive, going through the Brenner Pass into Italy and then driving past some of the Dolomites and possibly they could see parts of Lake Garda before getting on the autostrada towards Bologna.

People would be worn out though and I suspect they wouldn't finish the leg until it was well past dark, unless they did it in the middle of the summer when the sunset is around 10 PM.

[PurpleTentacle]

17 hours ago, Kleav said:

I’ve never driven a stick. Is it possible that learning it in one kind of car doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy in a different car? Especially under pressure?

Modern cars are super lenient. So anybody who drives in those brand new cars on the race should really be getting it, if they took more than 5 minutes to learn stick before.

Of course it's kinda normal to have to figure out a new car for a few minutes. So I don't hold it against the teams who stalled, when they first drove off that parking lot, but anybody who struggled a lot afterwards clearly didn't practice enough.

16 hours ago, mertensia said:

I think to really do stick you have to drive one for a couple of weeks. I'm betting most of the teams having trouble probably went out a couple of times with a friend/relative/instructor.

I bet most of the teams struggling went out maybe once and said "good enough". The only team I thought was understandable was Luis and Michelle, who couldn't get the car in reverse. If you learned on an old car, you just switch to reverse. In newer cars, you have to push the stick down before you can put it into reverse. It's a safety measure so you don't accidentally shift into reverse while driving.

15 hours ago, Fukui San said:

If you've never driven stick, you have no idea how nerve wracking it is. Particularly in narrow streets, uphill streets, turns, and traffic behind you.  Now, once you get past the perilous slow speeds which is where you can stall a lot, if you get to 15-20MPH+ then you're probably OK. I drove a stick in my teens, but that was many years ago. I now live on a very hilly area and I can't imagine driving stick here.

I asumme your teens were a while ago? Even 20 year old cars are way less lenient than cars today. You really have to fuck up real hard to stall them. As seen by most teams having no problems.

In narrow streets you just stay in first and shouldn't have much of a problem. As long as you don't have to come to a stop, you don't even have to work the clutch. The car will just drive around 7km/h when you are not on the gas or the clutch.

14 hours ago, aradia22 said:

I don't know how to drive any kind of car and I know stick shift is a race trope but what makes it so difficult? Why do people stall so much? And how do people who drive stick shift regularly seem to manage fine? 

You have to release the clutch slowly, while also giving it some gas with your other foot. It gets harder when you are on a hill, as you don't have three feet, so can't be on the break at the time. But anybody who already knows how to drive and practices a bit should be able to figure it out. The struggeling teams clearly didn't practice enough.

9 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

I think Claire is doing the roadblocks she physically can do, while saving Derek for the ones she physically can't.

Does she have some secret illness? Because she is a tall young woman. There is no roadblock she won't be able to do. It's not even like Derek is packed with muscles, so there won't be a huge advantage for him doing certain tasks.

15 minutes ago, aghst said:

I think this transit time wouldn't give them time to do both a roadblock and a detour on the same day, even if all the teams made it without delays or getting lost.

Then they transition into a "night" (in reality more evening) leg, great! Or don't have the stupid mega leg. In both cases I'd count that as an aditional win.

16 minutes ago, aghst said:

People would be worn out though

Which would be great! The race has gotten way too easy.

[Browncoat]

The twins were seriously impressive this leg!  The way they rocked both the tasks just blew me away.  They just need to work on the stick-shift driving a bit. 

When I first saw the clue, I probably would have chosen anatomy, but then when I saw that you had to sit through an 8-minute lecture, I probably would have bailed.  Unless they've changed the rules to disallow Bald Snarking -- no one did, after all.  I did love the guy judging and handing out clues.  "Give this to the other couple.  And one for you."  

I hope the Ducati people re-do all of those bikes before they try to sell them.

[dgpolo]

20 hours ago, InDueTime said:

Hindsight's 20/20. But for theAnatomyy Detour, maybe one teammate could focus on bones, and the one could focus on organs.

That's what I said to my daughter, but it looked like there were a lot more bones than organs.

16 hours ago, aradia22 said:

but the mix of racers sometimes having masks on and sometimes not was a little unnerving. 

There was one team member, maybe the female cheerleader? who said grazie , whooped 'woo hoo' and THEN put on her mask. Like really? what's it going to do now?

18 hours ago, Kleav said:

I’ve never driven a stick. Is it possible that learning it in one kind of car doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy in a different car? Especially under pressure?

I haven't driven a stick in decades so I don't know if it has changed but it was really hard to coordinate pushing the clutch, which was a pedal on the floor, with your left foot while changing the gear shift with your right hand and pressing the gas pedal with your right foot. It takes a while to get all that coordinated. At least for me.

[eel21788]

16 hours ago, aradia22 said:

Yay to Mattie (cheerleader) and Mollie (twin) for acing the Anatomy task on the first go. I wouldn't go out of my way, but if I'm ever in Bologna, I want to visit that room. 

You should also go to The Museum of Pathological Anatomy in Vienna. It is fascinating. 

[aradia22]

Quote

the chese part of the detour was clearly the better option. Not sure why so many teams didn't go for it.

Based on past "delivery" tasks I would be wary as well (even if this one was not in a hot climate). I think they took it easy on them as the locations didn't seem very far apart but if you didn't know that in advance, I can see thinking a memory task would be simpler.

[PurpleTentacle]

29 minutes ago, aradia22 said:

Based on past "delivery" tasks I would be wary as well (even if this one was not in a hot climate). I think they took it easy on them as the locations didn't seem very far apart but if you didn't know that in advance, I can see thinking a memory task would be simpler.

Detours have detailed descriptions when you open the clue, as you have to do them according to the clue. So they would have known how many stops it was and where they were. And the clue for the other side would have at least said they had to sit through a lecture that began at certain times, if not also how long those lectures were.

Every time you have to wait for a lecture to begin and finish, you don't do that unless you are sure you can do it in the first try. Otherwise it pretty much always takes longer than the other option.

So I get that argument with roadblocks, as you often don't know what it is beforehand, but not with detours. You get a detailed description and can even switch at any time. The two options weren't even far apart.

[Andyourlittledog2]

17 hours ago, aradia22 said:

I don't know how to drive any kind of car and I know stick shift is a race trope but what makes it so difficult? Why do people stall so much? And how do people who drive stick shift regularly seem to manage fine? 

I've driven stick my whole life and I love it. Nothing gets you closer to the actual feel of being one with the car and the road like stick.  I swore the first few months driving that it should be outlawed because it was so overwhelming paying attention to the clutch, the gears, the road, other drivers, hills, etc. I planned out routes that took me around uphills (and I lived in a hilly city) no matter how much time it added to my drive time. But then I got good at it and never looked back. Also, each car is different: the gears can be in a different order so that in one car you shift up to reverse, in another you shift down ... you have to figure out the gear shift in a new car and then get good at remembering it without having to think about it. So I can totally see folks learning stick and then getting to try it in a new car on a race and being confused and not being very good at it.

The first few gears you change quickly to keep going and you have to coordinate your pushing down the clutch perfectly with the gear shift change or you grind or stall. The faster gears change much less or not at all as you drive for longer and usually you don't really stall them. First to second to third is a quick move as you gain driving speed. Also if you are driving very slow it's hard to stay in gear sometimes, as it is also in stop and go traffic. You're just switching gears all the time = more likely to stall out.  And until you are used to it stopping uphill is terrifying.

I like this season so far but Dom would make me crazy. I know she means well but there'd be a blow out eventually if I partnered with her. Nervous/rushed people don't want to hear platitudes about attitudes from the back seat or the sidelines. It comes off so condescending.

[Netfoot]

I have a question: Did anyone else see 88 lbs. of cheese and think "I want one!" or was that only me?

20 hours ago, Kleav said:

I’ve never driven a stick. Is it possible that learning it in one kind of car doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy in a different car? Especially under pressure?

The difficulty with "driving stick" isn't really the stick. It's the clutch pedal. Some clutches are long, some are short. Some are heavy, some are light. Which is why even an experienced driver can have issues for a short while, when switching to an unfamiliar vehicle. The real problem for the novice is balancing the release of the clutch against depressing the throttle. They have to be operated together and it has to be smooth and the timing just right. The actual use of the stick to select gears is generally the simplest part of the entire operation. Most vehicles have the same pattern for gear selection, with Reverse being the exception.

18 hours ago, GaT said:

If I had to listen to Dom spout platitudes at me all day, I would kick her out of the car.

When he was building the bike, I thought he would ask her to shut up. *I* wanted to ask her to shut up.

9 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I think most of the stumbles came from those who didn't know how to use the ratchet wrench.

It looked like the ratchet drivers were all set to "Loosen" and the builder had to switch it to "Tighten" in order to assemble the wheels and brakes. Claire in particular was repeatedly trying to tighten the rear wheel nut but you could tell from the clicking that she was actually slackening it. I think the engines were also deliberately left in gear. The bikes had to be put into neutral to get the rear wheel to spin freely.

2 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Does she have some secret illness? Because she is a tall young woman. There is no roadblock she won't be able to do. It's not even like Derek is packed with muscles, so there won't be a huge advantage for him doing certain tasks.

Of course, as a healthy young woman she should be capable of doing any challenge that might be set. However, that doesn't mean there are things she won't want to do, like bungee jump or eat raw camel brains. So, I believe the thought is she will do the ones she is OK with doing while she can. Later, if something comes up that she "can't" do, he will do instead. Of courser, this begs the question: Aren't there things he "can't" do? "Can't" eat?

[PurpleTentacle]

29 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

Of course, as a healthy young woman she should be capable of doing any challenge that might be set. However, that doesn't mean there are things she won't want to do, like bungee jump or eat raw camel brains. So, I believe the thought is she will do the ones she is OK with doing while she can. Later, if something comes up that she "can't" do, he will do instead. Of courser, this begs the question: Aren't there things he "can't" do? "Can't" eat?

Well I answered to a poster who said she was doing them now because there might be tasks she can't do. "Can" and "want" are two different things. Though I question the strategy. There might be roadblocks coming that are exactly in her wheelhouse and at which Derek sucks. It doesn't even have to be something Derek doesn't want to do. What then? The best strategy is to keep it fairly even, so you can actually decide who is better suited for the task when the chips are down.

Also I think it's safe to say that there won't be an eating gross stuff roadblock. We didn't have gross eating challanges in a long time in general (I don't count one little scoop of maggot cheese) and even longer than that as a roadblock. Like, were there any after the first 15 seasons?

[Netfoot]

20 minutes ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I answered to a poster who said she was doing them now because there might be tasks she can't do. "Can" and "want" are two different things.

Yes, but in this instance I think "can't" could easily be interpreted to mean "Can't bring herself to." I'm not seeing it as a critique of her gender.

As for eating challenges, I only mentioned that as an example of something that obviously she can do, but perhaps would prefer not to do. There are a great many things she might prefer not to do, even if technically she could. Heights. Snakes. And so forth.

[North of Eden]

I'm a day behind now thanks to CBS shipping TAR off to 10pm in favor of garbage like the LOVE BOAT.

You know they tried putting it in the death slot about ten years ago but it defied the odds. CBS has some sort of love/hate thing going on with the show. They love the EMMYS and the acclaim but they don't give a damn about the fans or why else would you  put a family show on at an hour when most children are long gone to bed.

Anyway...

Love ASSEMBLY tasks. They are my favorite because I take a malicious pleasure in knowing that if it were me doing it...it would cost me the race!

Asian twins really...I mean really impressed me tonight. Their confessionals taking place during daylight augers a good ending for them in the mega race while on the other hand the demeanor of the Jamaican father/daughter in their confessionals portends a not so good ending for them.

As for the Jamaicans...the daughter gives me all kinds of warning bells. I think I'm looking at a very difficult person also sometimes you have to know when to Bald Snark and I think they should have after attempt 2.

Not going to open up the can of worms of racers randomly wearing masks at certain points in the race.

Lastly after tonight I have come to the conclusion that Ritchie is nothing more than an empty husk, a  puppet who only responds when Dom is controlling his strings....he's just....there...no personality, a blank slate forever living in the shadow of the Rainbow. I suspect he got very little attention from women his whole life and when somehow he landed Dom he still can't believe it and literally will do anything his  puppet master commands to stay with her. That's just my guess anyway.

Please no more europe. As I said in SURVIVOR threat it's time to get down to business in extreme culture shock countries like being jammed on a commuter bus in India or struggling mightily behind a stubborn oxe in some far flung rice paddy....in other words out of the comfort zone!

[Steph Sometimes]

2 hours ago, Netfoot said:

I have a question: Did anyone else see 88 lbs. of cheese and think "I want one!" or was that only me?

Me! I would've been very disappointed if I agreed to do a cheese task in Italy, and I only had to lug it around and not do any eating.

I don't watch Big Brother, so I'm not familiar with Derek and Claire, but I find myself really liking her. I can't even remember most of the other BB teams on TAR unless it's like Rachel who I was not fond of so this surprises me. But I guess assuming every BB player is like Rachel is like assuming every Survivor contestant is like Russell.

The twins rocked the tasks this week! 

[aghst]

At Whole Foods, parmesano reggiano is over $20 a pound so that disk would be  around $2000.

Yeah I would hope they got to eat in Bologna.