So your 10 - 15 miles into bike portion, a pack of 5-8 catch you on incline and you concde and let pass. Next down portion and flat you catch them and pass. This plays out 5 or 6 times with slight uphills, winds, slight downhills and flats, ruins your pacing. So do you keep leap frogging with them? Let them pass concede and give up .5 -1 mph or more to your average? Or do you say potentially screw my run and give a good surge for 3-5 minutes and hope you get far enough in front to regroup yourself and get back on pacing for your run? Potentaly blowing yourself up? I ask cause it happened with me last weekend and I leap frogged with them till about a mile or two near end of ride and let them go.I alway’s conceded quickly when being passed and then kept around 3-5 bike lengthss behind. I am not blaming my shitty run on this as I was not ready for the run conditioning wise. But the scenario did play out. And from what I can tell was the only pack in race like this that happened. But what would you do ? In a oly I am going all out to try to get away. But damn in a 1/2 or longer it’s a dice game.
Why not latch on to the peleton?
Kidding, but it’s either do that, or play by the rules like you did. Next time blow by them and don’t let 'em catch back up. That was your error. 
you just gotta pass with authoritah so they don’t catch up again.
this may not be optimal pacing for you but its better than slowing up to drop behind them over and over, eh?
I had a guy pass me at GCT last weekend. It was on a particularly windy section. I sat 3+ bike lengths behind him in the legal draft zone. This guy started swerving all over the road and looking over his shoulder every 5 seconds. He was obsessed with opening up a larger gap. I don’t get that mentality. I asked him about it when I passed him on the run but he was in no mood to discuss it?
I don’t understand this. A bunch of riders pass you. By definition, they are going faster than you. Why do you need to “concede and give up” any speed whatsoever? Maintain your lesser speed and they pull away and you didn’t break any rules. In fact, you can maintain your speed with less power as they pass and pull away: free energy savings. When you catch up to them, again maintaining your own pace, you are by definition going faster than them, so you maintain your speed, get some free wind-blocking while you pass them, and continue on your merry way.
I don’t understand this. A bunch of riders pass you. By definition, they are going faster than you. Why do you need to “concede and give up” any speed whatsoever? Maintain your lesser speed and they pull away and you didn’t break any rules. In fact, you can maintain your speed with less power as they pass and pull away: free energy savings. When you catch up to them, again maintaining your own pace, you are by definition going faster than them, so you maintain your speed, get some free wind-blocking while you pass them, and continue on your merry way.
Just what I was about to say. If you don’t want to sit in a legal draft zone behind them, you can still catch a nice legal draft each time they pass and you repass. IMO, good strategy can get you a lot of legal drafting in a race as big as a 70.3.
If you stay in the “draft” zone while they are trying to pass and it last more then 10 seconds it is considered blocking isnt it. Not that I am sure of exact time given by rules. To stay out of the “draft” zone in less then 10s seconds ( which I think is 5 seconds by rule.) you pretty much have to concede a bit. during the middle of the leap frogging they’re was a motorcycle official that road by and it looked like he took down a few #'s. Thats what got me thinking if I keep on playing around like this I might be accused of drafting even though I was trying my darndest to stay legal . Which I think actually know I did.
Yes, there is a potential blocking call if you do not drop out of the zone…HOWEVER…if there is a peloton of drafters passing you and there is a motor…what call do you think they are going to make? The first battle here (as I have said time and again, year after year) is cumlative penalties that are tracked by the USAT and in a public database with the rankings.
If you stay in the “draft” zone while they are trying to pass and it last more then 10 seconds it is considered blocking isnt it. Not that I am sure of exact time given by rules. To stay out of the “draft” zone in less then 10s seconds ( which I think is 5 seconds by rule.) you pretty much have to concede a bit. during the middle of the leap frogging they’re was a motorcycle official that road by and it looked like he took down a few #'s. Thats what got me thinking if I keep on playing around like this I might be accused of drafting even though I was trying my darndest to stay legal . Which I think actually know I did.
Do the math. Unless the passer is traveling less than about .7mph faster than you, he (and it’d better not be a she, you slacker) will be clear of you in less than the 15 seconds you’ve got to be out of the draft zone. And it wouldn’t be blocking, it’d be drafting (have you read the rules lately?).
If you are going 24mph and the passer is going 25, he’ll put about 1.5 feet per second into you. That’s enough for you to get out of the zone in time; any official who is watching will clearly see what’s going on. You don’t have to concede anything.
Agreed, ride your race and forget they’re there.
Those were my thoughts too.
jaretj
Ttell you the truth Ken it probably has been three years since I read the rules except for a add on here and there when I get emailed and happen to click the USAT link. Guess it is time to relook at the rules. Like ment ioned here maybe I should try to get that “Legal” draft and take a bit of advantage here.
I’d pull over and have some GU’s and re-read my manual.
Who’s going 25mph in a 70.3 that would be behind me out of the water?? That’s what I’d like to know.
As a general rule, whatever the question, I’m pretty sure the correct answer is never going to be “Go harder than you planned to.” for a HIM.
Ken, bmanners may have experienced what I’ve experienced many times.
Being a Clydesdale I often find myself being passed up a hill, but due to greater mass and a good bike position I repass down the backside. We may be equally matched in terms of average speed yet due to constantly rolling terrain we may pass and repass each other 10 times.
So the question can’t always be blown off by saying that since they have overtaken you they will be gone soon.
However, the answer for my situation isn’t to disregard the rules. Each up hill I must slow somewhat if necessary to exit the draft zone in time. I must then maintain at least that gap until the top of the hill, then on the down hill I must execute a legal pass, which does add some slingshot momentum for me.
With all the leap-frogging I’ve experienced I never found it hard to obey the rules. The other rider can easily pass me up the hill and I can easily pass him down the hill.
Now this would be significantly harder if I were in a very large race where I would find myself somewhere inside the bell curve of participants. The course gets so crowded that it’s practically impossible to 1) stay to the right. 2) stay outside of the draft zone
I’d pull over and have some GU’s and re-read my manual.
Who’s going 25mph in a 70.3 that would be behind me out of the water?? That’s what I’d like to know.
If you were in a race with Laurent Jalabert, it would be him.
Ken, bmanners may have experienced what I’ve experienced many times.
Being a Clydesdale I often find myself being passed up a hill, but due to greater mass and a good bike position I repass down the backside. We may be equally matched in terms of average speed yet due to constantly rolling terrain we may pass and repass each other 10 times.
So the question can’t always be blown off by saying that since they have overtaken you they will be gone soon.
However, the answer for my situation isn’t to disregard the rules. Each up hill I must slow somewhat if necessary to exit the draft zone in time. I must then maintain at least that gap until the top of the hill, then on the down hill I must execute a legal pass, which does add some slingshot momentum for me.
With all the leap-frogging I’ve experienced I never found it hard to obey the rules. The other rider can easily pass me up the hill and I can easily pass him down the hill.
When I say “gone soon,” that’s locally gone. You are out of their zone. Now if the downhill is right after that, then you’ll leapfrog them on the way down. Then you’ll be the one who is “locally” gone soon from their perspective.
I assume that everyone is riding consistently. If they pass you up the hill, then they should be continually pulling away at some constant rate. I also assume that under that circumstance, an official won’t ding you no matter how long it takes them to get around you (going uphill), within reason of course. All bets are off if the official isn’t taking intention and lack of drafting benefit into account.
I’d pull over and have some GU’s and re-read my manual.
Who’s going 25mph in a 70.3 that would be behind me out of the water?? That’s what I’d like to know.
There are a lot of guy’s out there that cannot swim for shit that are averaging 24-25 mph. I had hit the 25 and 27 mph mark a couple times when trying to pass and on the down hill. Not great pacing by me But I a am still a green behind the ears newbie as I have only did this distance once before. Still think I kept it in check for the most part though. I only averaged 20.2 miles MPH on my comp and 20.1 mph on their time. Not fast by ST standerds at all but it was planned for the most part as there were high widns and crosswind’s
I do guess I am a bit on the heavy side at 167 and 5’9.
BTW: Where do I get a manual were they supposed to send me that when I joined ? Them Chocalate gu’s are pretty good Had my first one yesterday.
We’ll if you catch me trying to draft you at the triple T I should be pretty easy to drop, haaa just playin
.
When I say “gone soon,” that’s locally gone. You are out of their zone. Now if the downhill is right after that, then you’ll leapfrog them on the way down. Then you’ll be the one who is “locally” gone soon from their perspective.
I assume that everyone is riding consistently. If they pass you up the hill, then they should be continually pulling away at some constant rate. I also assume that under that circumstance, an official won’t ding you no matter how long it takes them to get around you (going uphill), within reason of course. All bets are off if the official isn’t taking intention and lack of drafting benefit into account.
As a generalization I agree. But it does happen sometimes that this assumption fails.