Pre-riding course Etiquette?

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

Who is racing or is riding, can you tell?

Sometimes I wonder if some riders believe in etiquette on the bike, it's like the world was created for them and their bike and everyone else are props in their world. There are the roadies and their lack of conscious cycling, and the commuter/general cyclist and their inability to follow the law and now their is the pre-course-riding asshat.

This is being brought to light because Saturday at the Blue Sky Velo race a local rider Greg Keller was taken out by a pre-rider and may have broken his collarbone from the incident. There is no rider in Colorado who lives cyclocross like Greg does and now his season may be toast!

First off, what are the official rules on pre-riding an ACA non championship course? I'm sure someone out there is a walking rule book. Next, I'm not saying just because you pre-ride the course makes you an asshat, there are times there are real safety issues if you DON'T pre-ride the course, seen that happen at CU short track every year. But there are those riders who either don't care about the racers maybe because he thinks he is riding at "race pace" or there are the riders who just don't seem to be aware of racers approaching from the tail side. While he may be apologitic to the situation it still is annoying because if you are out on the course you need to be aware of potential racers at all times!

So step up on the 303cycling soap box for a moment and give us your rant on pre-riding below in the comments

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23 Comments

warm ups

Submitted by TimC (not verified) on

As a second year newbie riding 35+,4, I like the idea of having predefined period for warm up laps and a ban on being on the course during races. In absence of that, it seems like having the 35+,4's go before the SM3 is also a very good idea since it would reduce traffic on the course.

Got any solutions, Kris?

Submitted by Ich bin ein Berliner (not verified) on

Rant much? Where are your solutions to the problems you perceive? Keller crashes out and offers solutions. You did neither.

C'mon man. If you're gonna rant, rant. But it makes you sound a bit like a crybaby when you don't offer a new or better way to handle the issue of warming up on the course.

Warmup Etiquette

Submitted by Sue (not verified) on

How about a couple course marshalls out there pulling race numbers from anyone blatently obstructing racers, or at least not making an obvious effort to pull out of the way IN A TIMELY MANNER when being overtaken! I've had guys move over at a snail's pace and at the last minute even when I'm screaming my head off- though I'm sure they mistook MY relatively snail's race pace for someone warming up! If this is indeed a major safety and conduct issue then it needs to be resolved.
I've always been terrified that some blunder of mine would cost someone his or her race so I get out of the way WAY in advance of racers and am ALWAYS looking back for racers approaching.

Mark the leg, mark the leg

Submitted by Snakeboat (not verified) on

A possible solution (other than peeps waking up and employing more common courtesy) would be to mark everyone's calves with their category with their wave number. Works well in the mtb world. If the refs choose to do so, this would make it readily apparent to them whether a rider was racing proper or just warming up. It is better for us to police ourselves, though, so the simple ability to tell if the guy/grrl ahead of you is at race pace or just cruising would help immensely. Also, calling 'track' when you're passing is common in the fat tire world and would work wonders if used in our skinny fat tire world. My two sense [sic].

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