Hi all…seeking a bit of input to a situation that happened this past weekend on the bike portion of a USAT sanction race.
The set up
The bike course, at this point, is a flat straight road, two car lanes in each direction. The two full lanes in our direction are closed off for the race. Up ahead there is a traffic light, and the bike course turns right. The turn is monitored by two volunteers and a police officer. The road we are turning onto is a one lane road with a large 6 foot shoulder. The cones leading up to the turn are at the middle stripe in the road (recall both lanes in bike course direction closed for race). At the turn, the cones curved to meet the middle stripe in the road we turned onto. Ok…got that?
The situation
I’m about 1/3 miles from the turn and there’s a procession of riders on the right side staging up for the upcoming turn. I settle in. They all start to slow down to make the turn but I know the turn is fairly wide on the far side so I decide to start passing riders and letting them know by gently calling out ‘on your left’. So as I get to the turn, I’m carrying a bit more speed than the rest of the riders which are braking. I maintain my left most position as I round the turn (almost at the cones) as all the other riders HUG the curb (right most side of the turn). There is AT LEAST 6-7 feet between me and any other rider. As I come out of the turn, one rider I pass offers sarcastic ‘thanks’ for leaving them enough room to turn. I think nothing of it, being a bit slow on the sarcasm, and hammer it to T2.
The aftermath
After the race is where the sarcasm dawned on me because as I was gathering my gear up to leave, I hear this person telling someone else about the ‘turn incident’ and how ILLEGAL it is to pass on a turn. I know this is the rider I passed and it’s clear they recognized me because the volume and direction of their speaking was done for me to hear it. Not confident on the rules of passing while turning, I let if be and left feeling like a douche. My bad. Lesson learned.
The investigation
Ok…so I visited the USAT rule book and nowhere does it say passing in a turn is ILLEGAL. The only thing I can glean from the bike rules 5.10c is that you need to leave room for another rider to make normal movements w/o contact. I left them plenty of room. From my POV, their proper location appeared to be to the right…and I passed them on the left…with about 6-7 feet between us.
As far as rule 5.10e is concerned there seemed to have been adequate space to make the move and I was certainly confident in my ability to remain in control of my equipment as I made the move.
At every race I’ve done, they announce not to pass on the turns. I don’t believe it’s a rule, just considered good sportsmanship. With that said, I don’t really know the exact interpretation of the rules.
I don’t think it’s a question of good sportsmanship. Being able to handle your bike is part of the game. I don’t have great handling skills downhill, and on some tricky courses
when I still lived in France, I got passed a bunch of times. It’s not like the chrono stops during turns.
I wouldn’t call it a douche bag move, but one that certainly put you and others at risk. The douche bag move would be to pass on the inside. I imagine the rider wanted the left side as a buffer if the turn was too sharp for his/her ability. Triathletes are pretty unpredictable with their bike handling. I wouldn’t worry about it
Yes, you do. It’s a race. You go as fast as you can. You pass on the left, and keep your line. That’s how things work in bike races. That’s how things work in triathlons.
Handling turns at speed is a pretty critical part of bicycle riding, and legally passing on them is absolutely not to be frowned upon. Obviously dangerous passes aren’t advisable (and are technically illegal as they represent unsafe riding), but to say that someone shouldn’t make up time on a turn is ridiculous. Anyone who can’t handle a turn without a huge left side buffer has either no place being on the bike in the first place, or came into the turn too fast.
It’s racing. Pass on the turns if you can handle your bike smoothly.
At Captex, they put something like 2,000 racers on a four lap course with a lot of turns. If somebody is going 15 mph and I’m going 20 around the turns, I’m not slamming on my brakes any more than necessary to avoid going past them.
Doesn’t sound like you violated any rule, but any pass should be completed before you all line up for the turn. After all, since this is a race, there is one good line through the turn (outside-apex-outside) that maximizes speed, and that should be each rider’s goal.
Yes, you do. It’s a race. You go as fast as you can. You pass on the left, and keep your line. That’s how things work in bike races. That’s how things work in triathlons.
It’s a race, not peewee soccer. Pass if there is room, pass if someone slows down too soon for the dismount line and pass coming down the finishers chute and don’t worry about their finisher photo.
ETA: If you took the turn wider than others, and they slowed down more than you did, and you got a head of them, that’s not really like you passed them … not by adding power, anyway
Know what I mean?
You didn’t pass them they “un-stayed-ahead-of” you
A lot depends on what I think are the abilities of the people I am passing. If it is someone that looks like they have been on a bike before then I wouldn’t worry about passing in the turn. But if it were someone who looked unsure and was hesitant I’d be afraid they’d swing wide comng around the turn and killing me.
Your real sin was not passing everyone before you hit the turn.
At every race I’ve done, they announce not to pass on the turns.
I’ve never heard this said at any race (ever). How do you define when it is a turn (with no passing) and when it is a sweeping wide curve or any variation in between. Its a race. You don’t pass on the right as that is explicitly stated in the rules (except Chicago Triathlon and probably some others), so where do you pass, wait until you have a straight road with no solid yellow line in your lane?