Originally Posted by
yonderboy
It's probably not that your butt is touching their bars, but they're putting their hand on your hip/butt area to let you know where they are. On the track, most people aren't going to take their hands off the bars to give you a pat.
It's not a pat on the butt, I know what that feels like and there's plenty of bumping in road and track racing often a few bounces... with an elbow or a shoulder tossed in. The fields in my races are pretty big for cat4, usually 40 to 80 racers.
This was his bars touching my leg/butt [followed by some cursing]. It happened yesterday when I passed a rider on the inside of a turn. I had about 2-3 feet (not a whole lot) of space to the inside cones, it was a 25-27mph relaxed corner at the end of a long straight with the wind helping us. It seem to me like he adjusted his line and his bars brushed against my leg or butt as I went by him.
So either
a) I should steer tighter lines when passing or
b) not pass on the inside at all or
c) it wasn't me
Am I just cutting it too close? It often feels to me like 90% of the guys racing are afraid to corner fast and hard, while my bike is glued to the asphalt.
If I'm passing, can I choose my own line or do I have to follow the line of the guy(s) in front of me?