D'Wife and I do a Charity Ride for MS every year that goes thorough our town; I am often tempted to pull off and just walk into my friend's house and come out with a beer or two

While we are registered riders, and have paid our fees and done our fundraising, I have been guilty of over-reaching at the aid stations, my jersey pockets overflowing with surplus snacks, Gummi-Bears, Clif bars and bags of chips & pretzels. So much so, that one rider, after politely giving me an “On Your Left” followed up with “Dude!!! It looks like you have a whole Wawa back there!!!”

That being said, when I have volunteered at the aid station the next day [for the riders on their way back] I have never reprimanded anyone for "taking too much"

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Similar experience, I did a ride once where my route intersected for about a mile with tri that was happening. I made sure to be through that section before the first swimmers were out of T1 but because I was the first cyclist the locals saw a I got a great, cheering reception.

"So that's what the front of the race is like" I thought to myself having never actually been there.

I think it is two fold-

I have rode/ran Quassy on Sunday when I raced on Sat...all numbers pulled from my bike, rode to see how friends were doing, never touched an aid station-did not then or now have an issue with it.

True "Bandit" either with a fake bib or using someone else's bib, nope never, never would-things like stealing and theft of services clearly come to mind.

Amazing. I am stealing that line.

I've done it once in the New Orleans Rock & Roll half marathon a few years ago. Had some buddies running it and they wanted me to do it with them but asked me the week of the race and when I went to register the price had gone up to something ridiculous like $110. I refuse to pay that much to just run on public streets. I mailed a $60 check to New Orleans Children's Hospital as a donation (made more sense than giving R&R a ridiculous race entry fee) and ran the race without taking anything from aid stations (just carried my own gels and water). Didn't cross the finish line or attend the after race festival either. No regrets.

$110 is a pretty normal price for a half; especially week of. Don't even look at a Disney event if you think $110 is a lot.

The tone and class of SLOWTWITCH has fallen so far in recent times. I can remember when the use of vulgar terms like "Christian Laettner" would have been banned by the moderator. (There are still small towns in Kentucky that keep a stake and a pile of firewood for the day that the Supreme Evildoer is captured and brought to hear the REAL final buzzer)

So let's use this example, one I've done once. Say you're spectating a race need to get a longer ride or run in (in a not so friendly running or cycling part of town) and begin your ride/run an hour before the event using the closed roads, not taking anything from the aid stations and being conscious to get back to the sidewalk/alternate roads around the times the leaders and remainder of the racers. To me this is a moral grey area as I am taking advantage of the closed roads (as they begin to put up barricades and the likewise) but am not truly taking anything from the race organization nor participants race experience.

agree. I stumbled into the run leg of a triathlon because it was on a path right outside my neighborhood that I run all the time. I went out for a run, turned the corner, and all of a sudden I was in the middle of a bunch of runners. I only was on a short section of the run with them. If I was on my bike I would probably change my route so I wasn't in the way of competitors.

I've done a similar thing a number of times. Out for a ride, a portion of which is a marked bike course. As the roads have always also been open to traffic, I've never felt bad about it, nor have I ever considered in banditing a race. I don't use any aid stations, don't cross any lines, and when my planned route veers off, I leave the course. Yes, sometimes there has been a coned off lane of a multi-lane road, and I'll ride in that, but mostly because it's not safe to ride in the car lane.

I'll also add that I've never planned this. Just happen to come upon a race while on my ride. They used to hold triathlons at Bonelli park, which is also a popular circuit for cyclists. A common route is to ride from my house 30 miles to Bonelli, do a circuit, and return. Not going to change that just because there's a triathlon going on where the roads are also open to traffic. SDSR is a different matter.

Because I've never seen a century where the roads were closed to others. If the roads are open, and you're not using aid stations or other resources designed for paying participants, why not? Why should someone avoid those roads when they're still open to the public?

There was the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "I Hate Christian Laettner." One of the better ones. My takeaway -- Laettner was actually (and is) a decent guy. Grayson Allen? Maybe he'll grow up.

Could RDs put a liability waiver on the back of the bib like they do on the back of the lift ticket in skiing? Something to the extent of "the wearer of this bib waives all rights to sue the race or it's amazing director even if you were too cheap to pay the nominal participation fee and just got the bib from someone else."

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Oui, mais pas de femme toute de suite (yes, but I am not ready for a woman straight away) -Stephen Roche's reply when asked whether he was okay after collapsing at the finish in the La Plagne stage of the 1987 Tour

The short answer is no.


The long answer is that most of the waivers that you see at ski areas are dependent on exceptions within the general statutes that further limit the liability of ski areas relative to normal businesses. See, for instance, Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 32, §§ 15217, 15218.


Also think about in an instance of an emergency situation. Runner A takes Runner B's bib. Runner A has an incident where he must be brought to the hospital. Runner B's family is the one getting called. Now you have a claim for emotional distress that's also got to be managed.


To make a long story short: don't bandit. Don't take someone else's bib unless you have a specific transfer protocol to do so. I agree we should all have more flexible policies (hence our transfer/deferral one), but in the absence of them...don't do it the wrong way.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

I have done this and I see nothing wrong with it. I have done my long runs on Ironman run courses before as a spectator while everyone was out on the bike. Essentially I was running while they were setting up aid stations. I even had a few volunteers offer me stuff but I never took anything. I had on a IM finisher's shirt from a previous race so I am guessing it was pretty obvious to any volunteers there setting up that I was a spectator/sherpa doing my workout while my friends were all out on their bike. I was done long before the first pros were off their bikes so I was in nobody's way at all.

Thanks for the explanation. I assumed as much, but am still disappointed in our citizens. RDs need a stronger lobby (kinda pink). How about giant posters at the start line every runner has to pass before starting the race? or is it the same idea as the back of bib waiver?

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Oui, mais pas de femme toute de suite (yes, but I am not ready for a woman straight away) -Stephen Roche's reply when asked whether he was okay after collapsing at the finish in the La Plagne stage of the 1987 Tour

Need a signature (or at least an electronic one). Registration is best time to do so. And you need that from each ACTUAL registrant.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Yes, I saw that too [the most recent airing was on the 25th Anniversary of The Stomp/The Buzzer-Beater on March 28th] and I'd have to agree with you


Just not publicly



Yeah, when nobody drafts him. In reality, he's not that good

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Yes, I would avoid those roads since I'd be freeloading. The race has to pay for extra traffic controllers (typically Police, Sheriff Deputies) and possibly permits as well. I would find other roads to ride on for that day, out of respect for the event.

You can make an argument that you have a right to ride the road, but at the end of the day you're just a freeloader.

I was out on a ride once and realized it was the same day and along a portion of the California AIDS Ride route. I kept riding (it was Highway 1). I ended up getting a flat and 4 riders stopped and changed it for me. I tried explaining that I wasn't in their ride but they didn't care. Friendliest cyclists I've ever met.

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Hillary Trout
San Luis Obispo, CA

Your trip is short. Make the most of it.
https://www.slogoing.net/

Their knee caps should be removed and then placed back in the race a year later to see how competitive they are.

It's not an argument. It's a fact. If the roads are open to the public, they are by definition open to the public.

And I don't see the freeloading argument. Yes, the event may be paying for extra security, for its participants, as well as some level of traffic control, which inconveniences non-participants. The additional traffic control, etc., is there because the route is being swarmed by a bunch of participants. The net benefit to those who just happened to be using portions of the route is likely in the negative.

It's not like I or most others seek out these routes because there's a century going on and we want to take advantage of the very minimal, if any, additional traffic control. It's that we're doing our normal, preplanned route, which just happened to coincide with an event.

You're essentially saying that, as an example, if 50 miles of PCH is being used for a century ride on a particular day while still being open to all other users, anyone who doesn't avoid that long stretch is a freeloader. That's ridiculous.

So having car traffic stopped along PCH would be an "inconvenience" for you?

As I said, I would stay off the route for that day - out of RESPECT for the event. Freeloaders have no respect or honor..

This guy is trolling. Freeloading by riding on a public road that isn't even closed for the event? Get out of here with that nonsense.

Sorry for bumping a thread from earlier this year, but I just had to share my "bandit" story...

I don't recall the year... probably mid-90's. A pro tour bike race had a stage finish at what was then Kennesaw State College (now a university). The route to the finish went past our subdivision. Having a stage finish close to home was a cool opportunity so I decided to ride the five miles from my house to the finish line.

Of course, the route I rode just happened to be the same route as the race. And, like any tri or cycling geek, I wore cycling shorts and a jersey that looked a lot like a team jersey (sported my employer's logo, as we used it for MS charity rides). I left my house well before the race was expected to pass by, because I wanted to see the finish.

The roads were not yet closed near my house, but... a few spectators had begun to set up chairs and get ready for the peloton to pass by. Some people noticed me riding, and began to cheer for me. I guess they thought I was the leader in a breakaway. At first I thought it was strange for them to cheer - then I realized that unless they knew team jerseys, I looked like a competitor in the race. It was fun thinking that I was riding a race route, with people cheering for me.

Well... at some point the route took a couple of extra turns and I knew a faster way to get to the finish. So, I left the route and made my way to the finish. It was a fun experience, and my first time watching a pro race finish.

Yeah, not really a bandit story, but still a fun memory that came to mind as I read other similar accidental bandit experiences.

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I used to have a signature...