Crowded Bike Race
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kylie posted 4 weeks ago.
It's normal for local races that make use of path systems -- and with that often comes a lot of people new to the sport and unsure about bike ettiquette/passing/etc. Most bigger races though will use the roads and have a lane or so blocked off.
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248-n8 posted 4 weeks ago.
That is pretty much how my first race was as well. It was a little crazy because I didn't know how aggressive I should have been with trying to pass and when to pass because I was worried about getting caught drafting. There were quite a few people who were yelling a lot to pass but I wasn't going for a PR so I didn't do that so much.
But I would imagine you'll always see a back up around sharp turns and the other spots where people just generally slow down.
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TriSooner posted 4 weeks ago.
Those are crazy numbers. 2,000 bikes 'spread out' along 12.5 miles. That's like a bike every 33 feet. In other words, it would be nearly impossible to not be within the 10-meter drafting zone. I guess they probably didn't enforce the drafting/blocking/passing rules.
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1623 days
beads1985 posted 4 weeks ago.
That does sound a bit crowded. Did they have a wave start to the tri or everybody at once?
''Nothing to it, but to do it''
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deehomer posted 4 weeks ago.
There 2000+ people, but race results show 1071 finishing individuals/teams.
The run start was one shot, except for the adaptive group.
They were definintly not enforcing any drafting rules. There were clearly groups of friends riding in lines that I had to pass, and I got passed by three guys drafting each other.
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beads1985 posted 4 weeks ago.
Was this USAT sanctioned? ;-)
''Nothing to it, but to do it''
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TriSooner posted 4 weeks ago.
deehomer wrote:
Wow, nearly a 50% DNF rate. Was this race on the sun?
There 2000+ people, but race results show 1071 finishing individuals/teams.
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jhudalla posted 4 weeks ago.
TriSooner wrote:
deehomer wrote:Wow, nearly a 50% DNF rate. Was this race on the sun?There 2000+ people, but race results show 1071 finishing individuals/teams.
HA ha! - think Nelson...
Weary is the path that does not challenge.
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PJT posted 4 weeks ago.
Definitely not normal to have a course that crowded, but it does happen (think Chicago or Alcatraz).
It's a huge pet peeve of mine that RDs for those crowded races never seem to space the wave starts far apart enough or take 1 minute in pre race announcements to remind everyone of the riding rules.
Honestly, there are races where you'll be reminded via loudspeaker in pre-race transition 20 times to check for bar-end plugs and wear your race number where the photographer can see it, but never once hear them say "ride right, pass left, don't draft."
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deehomer posted 3 weeks ago.
TriSooner wrote:
deehomer wrote:Wow, nearly a 50% DNF rate. Was this race on the sun?There 2000+ people, but race results show 1071 finishing individuals/teams.
I think the race was a lot of team, so each of those account for two or three people.
So I did my first bike race in a tri this weekend. The course was 12.5 along a river, pretty flat, curvy two lane bike/running path. It was pretty crowded (2000+ people), and I was passing people the whole time. You could squeeze three bike across, but when a turn came, it was a little dicey at three across. I had to run off the trail a few times into the dirt, and definitely had to brake much more than if I had the corner to myself.
Is this normal for a bike race? This was a bit of a local event, so there were all kinds, and people were not really defering to fast bikers passing, so I'm guessing not.