J
John Lieswyn
Guest
"When I drove team cars I would often watch the whole pack ride on the yellow line and yet the right
gutter was open. Many riders race as if there werenothing but lemmings." -Tom Kunich
DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for misinterprations of the following due to your not reading it
slow enough, not reading all of it, or possibly having the reading comprehension of a 6 year old.
Thanks Tom for generally supporting my position on yellow line rules. However, the above sentence
can be interpreted to mean that the actions of riders in a pack getting slammed by a crosswind are
without reason. Sure, it would be great if every rider in the world rode just like Div 1 pros, and
instantly set up a 15 man echelon beginning at the right gutter (wind from the right) until the last
man was on the yellow line, and then another echelon (beginning once again on the right gutter). and
on and on. Unfortunately, most riders don't do this and so when the wind hits, it is EITHER cross
the yellow line and try to get a draft OR get dropped.
So, to all of you who can't understand why a rider crosses the yellow line when there is such a rule
against it in some (SOME!, not 99% as Bob S. says) local events, the answer is: 1) start a new
echelon (as we just figured out above, doesn't happen) 2) cross the line and get a bit of draft, or
3) get dropped.
Again, I am NOT criticizing the bulk of American amateur road races. I travel all of the USA and
realize that in some locales, the yellow line rule is pretty much the rule of all road races in that
area. Nationwide, however, there are lots of closed or enclosed road or circuit courses. Even little
"amateur" ones!
My apologies to Bob S. for calling him a moron. I got a little p.o.'d when I read that he'd like to
stick some of my writing somewhere dark. Especially when he misunderstood what I wrote, or simply
interpreted it based on the thinking that 99% of American local races are yellow line, when the
percentage is much lower. I won't even guess what the percentage is, but considering that I've only
done a handful of yellow line races in my career and I've participated in tons of amateur, local
road/circuit road races in 17 years, I'd guess that yellow line rule races are less than 50% of all
road races nationwide.
gutter was open. Many riders race as if there werenothing but lemmings." -Tom Kunich
DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for misinterprations of the following due to your not reading it
slow enough, not reading all of it, or possibly having the reading comprehension of a 6 year old.
Thanks Tom for generally supporting my position on yellow line rules. However, the above sentence
can be interpreted to mean that the actions of riders in a pack getting slammed by a crosswind are
without reason. Sure, it would be great if every rider in the world rode just like Div 1 pros, and
instantly set up a 15 man echelon beginning at the right gutter (wind from the right) until the last
man was on the yellow line, and then another echelon (beginning once again on the right gutter). and
on and on. Unfortunately, most riders don't do this and so when the wind hits, it is EITHER cross
the yellow line and try to get a draft OR get dropped.
So, to all of you who can't understand why a rider crosses the yellow line when there is such a rule
against it in some (SOME!, not 99% as Bob S. says) local events, the answer is: 1) start a new
echelon (as we just figured out above, doesn't happen) 2) cross the line and get a bit of draft, or
3) get dropped.
Again, I am NOT criticizing the bulk of American amateur road races. I travel all of the USA and
realize that in some locales, the yellow line rule is pretty much the rule of all road races in that
area. Nationwide, however, there are lots of closed or enclosed road or circuit courses. Even little
"amateur" ones!
My apologies to Bob S. for calling him a moron. I got a little p.o.'d when I read that he'd like to
stick some of my writing somewhere dark. Especially when he misunderstood what I wrote, or simply
interpreted it based on the thinking that 99% of American local races are yellow line, when the
percentage is much lower. I won't even guess what the percentage is, but considering that I've only
done a handful of yellow line races in my career and I've participated in tons of amateur, local
road/circuit road races in 17 years, I'd guess that yellow line rule races are less than 50% of all
road races nationwide.