Nick Glazener

It might be helpful if someone knowledgeable could take a few minutes to

explain what is appropriate etiquette when overtaking another Cat. field

and support vehicles.



I am new to racing. At the King?s Valley race, I got dropped by the

lead Cat 4/5 field and was in ?no man?s land? or ?women?s land? for most

of the second lap. I think I handled it appropriately. I assumed that

if I was going to pass that I needed to do it aggressively. I got a

little bit confused when I had to swerve around the support vehicles.

The women kept a clear passing lane on the left for me. At one point, I

was catching the women?s field but I knew they would pass me on an

approaching hill climb. I felt like I was a little too close so I just

backed off to feed and drink. It was difficult in a race situation not

to speed up a little as a group or someone passes me.



The finish was a little challenging. There were about 4 of us that had

to hang out behind the women?s support vehicles towards the finish. It

was no big deal for me. I was not in contention for anything.

Apparently, we were following too close to the support vehicles. What

is the appropriate distance to ride behind a support vehicle in a

situation like that. In this situation, we were not going fast enough

to gain any significant drafting advantage.



In order to improve communication between officials and riders, I

observed a couple things.



For the riders: The official may be yelling out of the car because the

ambient road noise in the car seems loud. The official may not be

yelling in anger.



For the officials: Allow for some rider ignorance due to inexperience in

the Cat 4/5 field. A calm brief explanation can be very effective. If

a brief explanation is not possible at that time on the road, let the

rider know you will be available to answer any questions after the race.





It was a great race. Awesome course. Thanks to the promoters and OBRA.