I’m puzzled by this scenario and not sure the best course of action. I’m coming up to anther bike rider to make a pass. I’m moving over to pass them when they also move over to pass someone in front of them. The road is not wide enough for a 3 person wide pass. However, I am already in the draft zone and I am required to pass the person in front of me. If I fall back, I believe that is a penalty but the person in front of me is going to slow to allow me to pass them quickly enough. What is the best thing to do in this situation? TIA
Do your own race and don’t bother. Just keep riding and pass.
If busted, take it up with the race referee after.
You started the pass first, so you’ll be fine
Agreed - the one thing I worry about in this situation is that I’m going to crash into the person in front of me and break a bone.
It’s very very dangerous and unfortunately happens a shitload, especially when you swim slowly and ride at a decent pace…
I’m puzzled by this scenario and not sure the best course of action. I’m coming up to anther bike rider to make a pass. I’m moving over to pass them when they also move over to pass someone in front of them. The road is not wide enough for a 3 person wide pass. However, I am already in the draft zone and I am required to pass the person in front of me. If I fall back, I believe that is a penalty but the person in front of me is going to slow to allow me to pass them quickly enough. What is the best thing to do in this situation? TIA
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you are passing someone… if your have not already arrived to its position, and he start to pass another person, you shall come back to the right and let him again the distance. If there is someone, he has to left you to incorporate to the right, leaving you the distance respectively. You shall wait until the athlete finish to pass the next athlete.
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If you have arrived to the position of the athlete so you are almost in parallel, he should wait until you finish the pass (so he shall brake to left the distance to the next athlete)
ALL THAT with SAFETY FIRST.
EXCEPTION: if you are much faster than the athlete who is being passed, he should leave you pass first. For example: a pro is passing you.
If you enter the draft zone and leave the draft zone because you felt it was a “safety” issue, you won’t get a penalty. Now where I think this is debatable, what makes the road not 3 wide passable? IE- your perception of it? Lack of shoulder? Back country road that is a little more “narrower” than normal other roads?
But if you truly think it is an safety issue then you fall back. That’s “allowed”. Again, if it’s been the same road size the whole bike leg, I don’t know that you will get away with “safety” imo. The official may expect/think you should pass.
**(i) Exceptions: An athlete may enter the drafting zone without penalty only under the following conditions: (i) If an athlete enters the drafting zone and completes a pass within 25 seconds; (ii) For safety reasons; **
In general the rules of triathlon are such to keep the sport safe and fair (and in that order)… If it’s a legit safety issue to continue making the pass (not enough room to pass without crossing the center line, etc.), you should not be penalized for dropping out of the draft zone.
But you are asking the right question, in that you’re trying to ensure that you are following the rules, despite the actions of others, which will generally have you well positioned to avoid penalties. But you do need to assess the conditions to evaluate the safety of the pass, in general if people are sticking to the right side of the road as they should, 3 wide passing could be possible, unless the first passer goes flagrantly wide, in which case, they may actually be guilty of blocking your pass. But if the lane is narrow, it would be reasonable to drop back until they complete their pass, and then go and pass both athletes…
Maybe Sam Long can chime in one this …
Now where I think this is debatable, what makes the road not 3 wide passable? IE- your perception of it? Lack of shoulder?
A lot of people won’t come within meters of another cyclist and only pass by swinging sharply and widely to the yellow line, cutting off the rest of the road. Others will be shocked if you pass them without giving the absolute maximum berth. The collective lack of pack skills makes triathlon accessible but is a big factor in the silly passing rules.
Yes and in that instance where someone swings “wide†left and is next to the yellow it’s then an obvious safety issue (passing double yellow May even be auto DQ, I’ll have to look into that)z But if it’s 2 wide w an normal amount of the lane “free†an official may reason there is no “safety†issue to complete your pass. And obviously I think most can reason what is and isn’t reasonable within reason. You need to be able to pass safely. 18†of road won’t suffice etc.
Thank you for all of the answers. Knowing that the rules state you can leave the draft zone for safety reasons is really the answer I was looking for!
I’m puzzled by this scenario and not sure the best course of action. I’m coming up to anther bike rider to make a pass. I’m moving over to pass them when they also move over to pass someone in front of them. The road is not wide enough for a 3 person wide pass. However, I am already in the draft zone and I am required to pass the person in front of me. If I fall back, I believe that is a penalty but the person in front of me is going to slow to allow me to pass them quickly enough. What is the best thing to do in this situation? TIA
This is a good question because I think it is a scenario that a lot of us face, especially those of us who are stronger bikers than swimmers. Early in the bike I tend to catch a lot of people and it’s fairly common for me to be in the midst of a pass when the person ahead of me pulls left to pass someone else, even if I’ve been saying “on your left” as I approached and I’m coming up fast. I then find myself in the unenviable position of failing to make the pass or heading toward the center line. All I can say is that I’ll take a penalty over an accident and I try to err on the side of caution. Until I read this thread, I didn’t actually realize that I could argue a penalty on the grounds of safety; it’s good to know.
Am I missing something? Is passing faster permitted? If so, do that.