Originally Posted by DrPete
zimbo does make a good point. In races as well, there's a fair amount of touching/nudging/etc. that happens as you move up the cats. It's a form of communication, really. This is a completely foreign concept to most Cat 5's just starting out, and over-reaction to incidental contact is probably the #1 reason for crashes in Cat 5 (and even some Cat 4) races.
Yet another thing I didn't know when I went off on the OP so long ago...
yeah...i've watched quite a bit of cycling on TV and Youtube and that was one of the first things i noticied. those i would classify as good touches. my mom told me that those are perfectly OK.