If anyone at ST was at the athletes briefing in Canberra for the LC champs, they would have the heard the BEST explanation of how to go about riding your bike properly during the race to avoid penalties
I’m not sure of the rule book of the different federations… but these were so concise (as I remember them)… I have to repeat:
draft zone is 7m front wheel to front wheel (that’s a little over 5m between bikes I think)
Competitor: “It’s tough to tell exactly 7m!!” Official: “Well… let’s just say your 7m better match our 7m. ;-)”. Solid Aussie sarcasm, meaning your best to stay farther back than 7m to be safe.
15 secs to pass once you enter the draft zone.
You MUST ride right up to the back wheel of the competitor in front of you before passing, then go around and immediately back to the side of the road
you MUST NOT go out into the road until starting to overtake (your front wheel passing their back wheel), if you do, that is BLOCKING.
riding staggered to avoid drafting: BLOCKING
if you stop making forward progress at ANY time, YOU MUST drop back and out of the draft zone
once your front wheel passes their front wheel, THEY MUST drop back out of the draft zone
the competitor you are passing may accelerate to prevent you from passing, this is legal and called TACTICS.
in the event you are passing someone who is also passing, same rules apply.
in a long line of competitors there must be room to pull back in, as everyone should be riding 7m. If they don’t let you back in the line after you pass because they are too close to the competitor in front of them… they are BLOCKING AND DRAFTING!
and finally (my rule) - If you enter a race where the race organizer has created a situation where is impossible not to draft due to extremely large fields, and/or poor race start logistics (virtually all WTC races), then you are NOT ALLOWED TO COMPLAIN TO ANYONE BUT THE RD, or STOP ENTERING THESE SHIT RACES.
My biggest beef in racing has been competitors who are so worried about drafting, they block, ALL THE TIME.
Stay to the right (or left in AUS/NZ/ETC…) until you pass.
With a long swim and staggered wave starts, there was virtually zero drafting on the 30km, 4 loop bike course.
This is one of my beefs, especially on courses where there is more than one loop and you get stuck behind the ubiquitous purple shirted road hogs, usually cruising slowly side by side discussing recipes, kids, carpooling, or whatever. I know they’re raising money for a good cause, but they still should respect the other participants’ right of way.
The blocking thing is something I have never fully understood. I get it, that it essentally means stay as far right as you can unless passing. Sounds great in principal, but out on the road in the real world, it’s a bit harder to get.
These days I don’t do much swimming, but cycling and run fitness are still at modest levels - in short, I am doing a lot of passing on the bike. The last few times I have done a triathlon, I have had to ride much of the bike ride in a location that would yield a blocking call, due to heavy traffic on most of the course. I sling-shot past as many people as possible, as per your description in your post, but often when I get out to the left there is no room to get back to the right side of the road for extended periods of time. “On Your Left” becomes my mantra. Of course, there are those that hear “On Your Left” as you approach them from the rear, . . . and they go to the left(!!), forcing me to go right! Did I say it’s sometimes nuts out on the course. Never a dull moment I guess.
I do lots of tri relays (in small and mid-sized local and regional events) and the relay wave usually goes off pretty far back. So, by the time I hit the course on the bike, there are lots of folks out on the road already. And since I’m essentially doing a time trial, I’m passing darned near everyone who’s doing the full event. I see it all … and what I see most is BLOCKING, not drafting. I see people who seemingly don’t have a clue what they’re doing on a bike who are meandering all over the road, dawdling along on the yellow line, etc. And every time there’s a hill it’s simply ridiculous … a pack forms. Actually, it’s a lot more like a clot. I just do whatever I have to do to bypass it and keep going forward … regardless of any consequences from officials. Come to think of it, I’ve been blocked at least once in nearly every race by officials!
I think people assume that nobody behind them at any given point in the race could possibly be faster than them. If you believe that, then you don’t see any harm in taking your share of the road out of the middle.
Since I’m always doing relays … mostly for time trial practice … it’s not a big hairy deal if I get blocked and lose a few seconds. But I feel bad for people I know who suck in the water and fly on the bike and run.
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For Duathletes in Southern Ontario, blocking is much more of an issue than drafting. For most races duathletes & triathletes share the bike & last run. The start times are such that the faster duathletes are passing though the slower triathletes on the bike. When I say “On your left” riders invariably look over their left shoulder & drift to the left!!!
I did come up with a solution that was started off as a gag. Just for giggles, I sometimes strap a rubber chicken in between my s-bends. I also zip tied a little pneumatic “Horn” to the chickens feet. When I approach someone who’s blocking I gave the horn a tap & the blocker immediately moved right. Maybe it’s a conditioned response related to driving a car, I don’t know. Total cost for Chicken/horn solution, $13.95
These days I don’t do much swimming, but cycling and run fitness are still at modest levels - in short, I am doing a lot of passing on the bike. The last few times I have done a triathlon, I have had to ride much of the bike ride in a location that would yield a blocking call, due to heavy traffic on most of the course. I sling-shot past as many people as possible, as per your description in your post, but often when I get out to the left there is no room to get back to the right side of the road for extended periods of time.
Not so. If traffic is so heavy that you can’t slot back in to the right, then you are “passing”, not “blocking”. The rules don’t require one to weave in and out of barely legal cyclists. If there’s a gap, move over.
or learn that in certain races, those are the conditions. It is something you have to deal with when you compete or participate. It is part of the race.
What is overcrowded for you may be interesting race conditions for another.
the competitor you are passing may accelerate to prevent you from passing, this is legal and called TACTICS.
I loved that line. And how about the line “the run is 300 meters longer than 30km but all of the extra 300m are in the first kilometer”
I really didn’t see any drafting, either. But I did see some blatant blocking. One woman rode to the right for quite a long time and I couldn’t figure out why. Maybe the pavement was smoother over there.
You’ve basically told the RD, that you know you can’t avoid the draft in their race.
But it’s ok, cuz your bike time will be fast, which will stroke your inflated triathlete ego.
That’s why racing is Florida is so popular (why the hell else would anyone want to go to Florida?)… you can draft on a flat course!
Under the USAT rules there is a term for entering the draft zone, failing to make forward progress (not executing the pass) and then falling back out of the zone - it’s called a position foul (drafting)
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I know this is hypothetical because all races are overcrowded, everyone cheats or does their best as they see fit blah, blah, blah…but:
What do the rules say about a guy who is riding slowly but turns it on for 50 yards every time an increasingly frustrated faster rider tries to go around? The faster rider has to fall back before he can start again. What, theoretically is to stop the fastest swimmer cruising at 16mph and ‘defending’ his position?
What do the rules say about a guy who is riding slowly but turns it on for 50 yards every time an increasingly frustrated faster rider tries to go around? The faster rider has to fall back before he can start again. What, theoretically is to stop the fastest swimmer cruising at 16mph and ‘defending’ his position?
the competitor you are passing may accelerate to prevent you from passing, this is legal and called TACTICS.
Once again, I feel the need to clarify the rule many people tend to not be aware of. If you are riding unders USAT rules, once you enter into the draft zone from the rear you must complete the pass within 15 seconds. There is no provision for dropping back.
