Road Bike Racing - Wheel pit

What's the story with the wheel pit at Criterium's?

Can you use them and your free lap (free lap if it's in the first, I don't know, 60% of the race) for flats and wheel replacement only? Can you use a free lap for other technical reasons? Say you drop a chain on a hill and can't get it back on in a timely manner, can you go back to the pit and wait for the pack to come around once it's on?

I think I know the answer to this, but didn't see it immediately in the US Cycling rule book (I browsed it very quickly). It was a topic of discussion today at a local race and I didn't have time to go over and bug the official about it.

Also, do circuit races (Prospect Park, for instance) go by the same rules of the wheel pit and no fanny packs?

Thanks in advance!

I think I know the answer to this, but didn't see it immediately in the US Cycling rule book (I browsed it very quickly). It was a topic of discussion today at a local race and I didn't have time to go over and bug the official about it.

Here, now you don't have to borrow it. http://www.usacycling.org/forms/RdTrkCx_rulebook.pdf

Here, now you don't have to borrow it. http://www.usacycling.org/forms/RdTrkCx_rulebook.pdf

Damnit! I knew there was another rule book! :o For some reason I only saw the one with the upgrades, points, etc. Thanks for sharing the link! :thumb:

Basically a wheel pit can be used for one lap in a crit. Usually the free lap is available until 5 miles or so to go, or 5 laps if it's a sort-of-one-mile lap. After that it's considered an unfair advantage to sit out a lap so the free lap is void. You can still pit for a wheel/whatever but you have to chase.

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If it's a true mechanical (i.e. failure of a part) then you can take a lap. Mechanical can be anything as long as you have what it takes to replace/fix it in the wheel pit. If you have a complete bike in the pits you can just grab your second bike. This is good if you break a cable or a chain or something unusual that most pits don't have.

If it's something that can be adjusted away (dropped chain, loose skewer, rubbing brake) then it's not a free lap. Maintenance and test riding should be done before a race, not during a race.

Some riders pit for a free lap for a flat, then the officials pump up the tire and wait for the race to see if it loses air. The country's best (at the time) track sprinter got caught out by this check when he started racing on the road enough times to permanently ruin his reputation in my eyes. More energetic (and rich) cheating racers will flat their own tire to earn a lap of rest. Use a safety pin to puncture that sweet tubular :)

Finally, if you crash or get delayed by a crash, you can get a free lap. That's a really iffy rule since lots of people get delayed but only a few take a lap.

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Some pits are wheel in, wheel out, i.e. you supply the spares.

Others are neutral support, i.e. they supply the spares. Usually neutral support, in CT, is covered by SRAM (now), previously Campy or Pedros or Mavic or Campy again.

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Prospect and other circuit races do not allow a free lap. You'd get too much rest. So it's chase back on if you flat or crash.

hope this helps,
cdr

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Prospect and other circuit races do not allow a free lap. You'd get too much rest. So it's chase back on if you flat or crash.

hope this helps,
cdr

It does help, thanks CDR. Much appreciated.

That part about Prospect Park makes sense, since it's a 3 mile loop. I take it that seat packs are allowed there then?

It was good seeing you and the Missus at the race yesterday.

It does help, thanks CDR. Much appreciated.

That part about Prospect Park makes sense, since it's a 3 mile loop. I take it that seat packs are allowed there then?

It was good seeing you and the Missus at the race yesterday.

You know, I don't know if seat packs are allowed in races. I have to check the rules. But I suppose, yes, it would make sense to be able to carry flat fixing things. Especially in Prospect Park, where the parking lot could be covered in glass (depends on how much partying went on in there the night before).

A good tip for Prospect - if you have time to warm up, use a trainer. And then walk the bike to the road/course. Or use puncture resistant tires. I've flatted there and it's a real bummer when it happens.

Good to see you too :)

cdr

Finally, if you crash or get delayed by a crash, you can get a free lap.

This is not correct. Only those who actually go down in a crash are entitled to a free lap. If someone is just help up by the crash, they do not get a lap.

Seat pack are not allowed in Crits. They are allowed in road and cirsuit races.

Only those who actually go down in a crash are entitled to a free lap. If someone is just help up by the crash, they do not get a lap.


This is correct!

This is not correct. Only those who actually go down in a crash are entitled to a free lap. If someone is just help up by the crash, they do not get a lap.

Seat pack are not allowed in Crits. They are allowed in road and cirsuit races.

So basically put your foot down and pretend to go down to get your free lap.

So basically put your foot down and pretend to go down to get your free lap.

9 times out of 10 if you roll in with the bloody crashers, check your wheels and brakes, faux realighn your handlbars, you will get sent back out with them.

This is not correct. Only those who actually go down in a crash are entitled to a free lap. If someone is just help up by the crash, they do not get a lap.

Does "going down in a crash" involving putting there feet on the groud? Because I've heard a racer who got held up behind a crash, unclipped both pedals and put his feet on the ground and got a free lap.

Finally, if you crash or get delayed by a crash, you can get a free lap. That's a really iffy rule since lots of people get delayed but only a few take a lap.

CDR, lets say that you were caught or did crash halfway around the course as the pack moved on. Do you, then, ride to the official, tell them you were delayed or crashed, and wait for the field to pass by? How do you prove you were delayed and not dropped?

If the pack passed you again, as you were approaching the official, are you still allowed a free lap, even though you're down a lap?

One of your helmet cam race showed a guy who went fell down just as the race stared and got a free lap. I thought that was a little suspicious.

So basically put your foot down and pretend to go down to get your free lap.

Putting a foot down would not constitute being in a crash. I want to see blood, dirt, or torn clothes.

Putting a foot down would not constitute being in a crash. I want to see blood, dirt, or torn clothes.

Pics incoming!

CDR, lets say that you were caught or did crash halfway around the course as the pack moved on. Do you, then, ride to the official, tell them you were delayed or crashed, and wait for the field to pass by? How do you prove you were delayed and not dropped?

If the pack passed you again, as you were approaching the official, are you still allowed a free lap, even though you're down a lap?

One of your helmet cam race showed a guy who went fell down just as the race stared and got a free lap. I thought that was a little suspicious.

To clarify, because I wasn't clear, if you're delayed by a crash (for example, you have to take an exit route to avoid the crash, but you end up off the course) then you can get a free lap. Technically, if you have to stop because of a crash, you should be able to get a free lap. I've even been told by officials not to chase but instead to wait (Harlem, at a crash in front of the wheel pit, I had to stop but I only had to put a foot down). It certainly beats crashing into fallen riders on purpose so you can get a free lap. You only get one free lap so if you use it up, that's it.

I've ridden off the course to avoid a crash, had to turn around, and get back on the course (New Britain, Ninigret, others I can't place). I didn't crash but I was delayed. The alternative would have been to t-bone someone, but I didn't want to do that, for his sake and mine. Unfortunately, each time I've done it, it's been in the last 5 laps of a race so I couldn't get a free lap. I have gotten free laps a bunch of times but I've been so beat up that I dropped out shortly afterwards.

I crashed once at Poughkeepsie, it took me a good three laps to get to the wheel pit (the first lap I was crawling to the curb with the help of a motorcycle pace vehicle driver (he also retrieved my bike), and then I got the glass out of my hands/arms/legs, then I rolled to the pit and asked if I could get back in. They let me back in, no problem. I felt reasonable physically but my chain had twisted when I crashed and it was skipping. I felt it dangerous and so withdrew from the race. Then I went to the ambulance since my hand/wrist/forearm was sort of numb and I was bleeding from all sorts of wounds.

At one race course, until they repaved it, they painted lines demarcating the edge of the course. They considered you to have "crashed" if you went over the line (for example, in a prime sprint, or to move up). They'd force you to take a free lap if you tried to move up by going over the painted lines. Now that there is a 2" lip, if you drop off and get back on without crashing, they figure you can stay in the race even if you went "off the course" (Ninigret). This was sort of like a double yellow line rule without the double yellow line or the DQ for straying over it. But you'd lose that prime if you went "off course" to pass someone in the sprint.

The guy who fell at the start of the crit in that helmet cam tape got rear ended by someone, his foot got caught in something (wheel?), and he fell over. He actually took a couple free laps, but I think the spirit of the rule was followed. The laps are 0.4 miles long so they are over in a jiffy, and he took 2 laps (?). I think it's still less than a mile so the officials thought it okay. He fell, got himself put back together, and raced. No one protested even though he eventually won the race (that day as well as the overall).

Typically you get a free lap once you get to the pits, so, for example, if you had to run across the course with a broken wheel and it took about two minutes (so the field already went by once and is coming around again), then the officials will typically let you in on the next lap (i.e. you get two free laps). The goal is not to punish the rider, simply to let him get back into the race. This would not be the case if it's inside 5 to go (i.e. you get to the pits as the field goes by at 5 to go - tough luck) or in more serious races (nationals etc).

As far as getting dropped, normally marshals and such will note if there is a rider "sitting out" a lap. Officials also keep track of the first bunch and last bunch of racers every lap. EVERY LAP (!). So they know, "Oh, 172 has been dangling at the back for 15 minutes... and now he claims to have crashed? By himself? And none of the marshals saw it?"

However, having said that, I've seen riders sit out for literally 15-30 minutes of a crit then jump back in and get a "finished with the field" kind of thing (Tour de Michigan, also at Prospect Park in NY). Also a local sprinter wrote about his experience of feeling incredible fatigue, laying down in a field, and forgetting about the road race he had been in (on a long loop, maybe 10-12 miles a lap). He woke up refreshed, got back on his bike, and suddenly the field rode by. He jumped back in and got a "finish". I think this was in the Killington Stage Race.

Of course if you saunter to the pits 5 laps after the crash was reported, you're not going to get a free lap. I've seen officials say to each other, "Okay, that's it for the guys getting free laps" after a lap and a half go by and 6-8 guys had already trickled in. If you took longer to get back to the pits the officials would be very suspicious.

I hate taking free laps. The disruption of rhythm, the lactic acid when you accelerate up to speed, the settling back into the race after laying on the ground. But, given a choice between a free lap and no free lap, I'll take the free lap.

cdr

Putting a foot down would not constitute being in a crash. I want to see blood, dirt, or torn clothes.

last year I had a team mate go down in a corner while taxi-ing me through the pack, I landed on him - literally on him, I never touched the asphalt somehow except for shoes. We both got up and went to the pit for our free lap, no problemo. Would you have turned me down?

To clarify, because I wasn't clear, if you're delayed by a crash (for example, you have to take an exit route to avoid the crash, but you end up off the course) then you can get a free lap. Technically, if you have to stop because of a crash, you should be able to get a free lap.

I don't know where you got your officials training, but this is not the way Colorado Springs teaches it, and the rule itself leaves little ambiguity. Free laps are only granted for recognized mishaps. A mishap is a crash. There is no language in the rule book about being involved in someone else's mishap.

1A20. A mishap is a crash or a mechanical accident (tire
puncture or other failure of an essential component).

3D5. Free Lap Rule. Riders shall normally cover the distance
of the race regardless of mishaps and must make up any
distance lost on their own ability unless a free lap is granted
for mishaps.

I crashed once at Poughkeepsie, it took me a good three laps to get to the wheel pit (the first lap I was crawling to the curb with the help of a motorcycle pace vehicle driver (he also retrieved my bike), and then I got the glass out of my hands/arms/legs, then I rolled to the pit and asked if I could get back in. They let me back in, no problem.

I don't know who trains officials out there, but they're not following any USCF rulebook I'm aware of. Asuming this was not a short course where the two lap exception would apply, only a single free lap may be given for each mishap. In this example, you would have been three laps down when you got to the pit. You would be entitled to a free lap which would then make you two laps down and you would have the option to leave the pit as soon as you were ready putting you 2+ laps behind or waiting for the group you were in before the mishap and rejoining three laps down.

I hate taking free laps. The disruption of rhythm, the lactic acid when you accelerate up to speed, the settling back into the race after laying on the ground. But, given a choice between a free lap and no free lap, I'll take the free lap.

cdr

Agree with this, free lap usually gets me too wound up. Cdr, love the Tour de MI reference, some memories there!

I don't know who trains officials out there, but they're not following any USCF rulebook I'm aware of. Asuming this was not a short course where the two lap exception would apply, only a single free lap may be given for each mishap. In this example, you would have been three laps down when you got to the pit. You would be entitled to a free lap which would then make you two laps down and you would have the option to leave the pit as soon as you were ready putting you 2+ laps behind or waiting for the group you were in before the mishap and rejoining three laps down.

Hey, thanks to you all for the real world examples. I appreciate hearing both sides of the coin. I hope I didn't stir up a pointless debate (which would make this like 99.99% of the other BF threads).

However, as CDR says here, isn't there a "spirit" of the rule?


if you're delayed by a crash (for example, you have to take an exit route to avoid the crash, but you end up off the course) then you can get a free lap. Technically, if you have to stop because of a crash, you should be able to get a free lap. I've even been told by officials not to chase but instead to wait (Harlem, at a crash in front of the wheel pit, I had to stop but I only had to put a foot down). It certainly beats crashing into fallen riders on purpose so you can get a free lap. You only get one free lap so if you use it up, that's it.

The guy who fell at the start of the crit in that helmet cam tape got rear ended by someone, his foot got caught in something (wheel?), and he fell over. He actually took a couple free laps, but I think the spirit of the rule was followed. The laps are 0.4 miles long so they are over in a jiffy, and he took 2 laps (?). I think it's still less than a mile so the officials thought it okay. He fell, got himself put back together, and raced. No one protested even though he eventually won the race (that day as well as the overall).

I hate taking free laps. The disruption of rhythm, the lactic acid when you accelerate up to speed, the settling back into the race after laying on the ground. But, given a choice between a free lap and no free lap, I'll take the free lap.

cdr

I can't imagine taking a free lap to be a good thing either. And to give more than one makes sense in certain situations. For instance when Levi was granted the same finishing time at last year's TOC, the officials used a gray area in a good (but debatable) manner. I know that some see the "slippery slope" effect here, but I think that most people are smart enough to figure out where to draw the line on a case by case basis.

sometimes i contemplate crashing in one of those sram supported races just to be able to ride one of those sram red orbea orcas with zipp 404's

I don't know where you got your officials training

So as not to confuse the issue, I've never been an official. I only promote and race races :)

As far as the "not crashing but still being delayed" thing, I only go based on what officials have told me. For example, if I'm frantically trying to get back onto the course to chase and an official says, "Hey, you! Take a free lap!", then that's what I do.

Re: the SRAM neutral support bikes, I think a running joke is that someone will show up with a trashed bike, claim it happened while they were warming up, and race a nice SRAM/Zipp bike for free. Last I saw they were Orbeas, I don't know if that's still the case.

As far as rhythm interrupters go, I've never taken a free lap and done well. The crash has always been too much for me to deal with. It's the guys that take a pin to their tire (conveniently you race around with a bunch of them on), or worse don't even bother with the pin, that irritates me.

cdr