Bending The Rules

Okay, so everybody knows the big rules of bicycle racing like no hand slinging your team mate to the front of the pack like it's Madison Race on the track, or no head butting your rival in the final sprint, but a few more subtle rules have popped up this past week so let's just touch on them briefly.

Steve Tilford posted on his blog last week about crumpling numbers making the point that when you do that the number lays flatter on your back, doesn't act like a sail when riding, and after 30 years of crumpling his numbers he still gets placed in his races just fine, thank you very much. Well, you can read that very interesting post for yourself, but after discussing this with several officials at the last Kenosha race they still ask you to not crumple your numbers because it indeed does make it hard to read your number as you rip by them at 35mph. Yes, Tilford has been crumpling his numbers for the last 30 years and the officials have been b****ing at him about it for 30 years as well! The point is that the little facets of a crumpled number make it hard for the camera to make it out.  They said to simply not fold or crumple your number and place it where they ask. If you want it more securely attatched use more pins or a spray adhesive which is what some riders do from what I understand.

Bottle throwing. This past week one rider was DQ'd for tossing his bottle on the final lap. I imagine that had he not tossed it 20 feet in the air right at the start finish line in front of four different officials he probably would have gotten away with it. If you absolutely must loose that baggage on the last lap, perhaps do it in front of the seaguls on the back straight and make note of what the officials look like because they do walk the course from time to time and just might be standing back there too. If officials are enforcing that rule now in spring, you can bet they will during Superweek. Just something to keep in mind.