Drafting in adventure races.

suegoody

Hi all,
hoping you could give me an honest answer about drafting in races. I'm planning on competing in a few adventure races this year- Gaelforce being my 'big race' and I'd love to know how people really feel about being drafted.
I've never drafted a single person in a race cause I felt like it was cheating in a way but a few of my friends think I'm mad. I've been told that alot of guys won't care if I fall in behind them seeing as I'm a girl....
I hate the idea of annoying someone by drafting them either....
What do you all think?

MrCreosote

Pretty easy really. Check beforehand if the race is draft legal or not.

If drafting is allowed, then you'd be silly not to. Forget about the drafted person's feelings (as long as you're safe- no half-wheeling etc). Take the tow.

If it's non-drafting then don't. if you draft you are cheating. No excuses, even if everyone else is doing it. It's not that hard not to draft.

Up to you to find out beforehand- I can't see anything on the GFW website however.

ThisRegard

It's usually fine, I don't think people usually mind as long as you help out if you can, most people wouldn't mind the company either.

helimachoptor

In GF I've had more than a few people ask could they draft me on the bike, don't have an issue with it and those that ask its appreciated!
There's no rules in GF but maybe ask if you have an attack of conscience doubt anyone will say no

suegoody

Thanks all,
I'm pretty sure it's legal in GF alright. Great, that puts my mind at ease. Thanks for the advice!

Peterx

Totally fine in GF, in fact recommended:)

If you have the strength taking an occasionally turn at the front is usually appreciated but if you're just about hanging on, well stay hanging on!

If two or three or four of ye are roughly equal in abilities heading out on the bike you will all go faster if you work together.

nerraw1111

Most of them, if not all, are draft legal. Makes a huge difference. I don’t think anyone would mind you sitting on the wheel. Try take a turn at the front, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can recover sitting on a wheel before your next turn.

It’s part of the race, not cheating at all. Sometimes it can be worth putting in a hard effort at the start of the bike to catch up to people and form a group. Or if you see a group approaching, work your ass off to get onto the back.

El Director

Are tri/TT bikes allowed in these races BTW? If so then surely there is a safety issue. If drafting is allowed then group/peloton riding could be form/organised, personally I wouldn't like to be part of such a group...being impaled I'm sure isn't fun

nerraw1111

Not sure re what races allow them. The only race I saw anyone use one is Achill Roar. Id say that's the only race I've done where a TT bike would be an advantage.

You don't get pack riding tho as the run really stretches out the field. Usually small groups of 3 or so

Head The Wall

A few people used them in the third WAR last year

tunney

AR racing. Just my opinion of it goes up and up

ThisRegard

Get out of here you, we're all out to help each other in AR/multis !

There's none of this pretence that no drafting is allowed, but do draft, and then come on later and bitch about a race in which you were drafted, how there weren't enough marshals to keep an eye out for it and those that were there did nothing about it

Enduro

In actual Adventure Racing, as opposed to mongrel/multipsorts races like GF, not drafting when on roads would be a sign of bad teamwork. The best teams will work fluidly together on road, like any good cycling team. Usually teams will have towing devices as well to smooth out any big assymetries in the team. But then in Adventure Racing (the real sport of AR) the cycling legs would usually consist of large amounts of mountain biking, where drafting isn't an option, obviously enough. Generally a mountain bike would be specified as mandatory gear (see here, the current mandatory gear list for this year's AR world championship, as an example).

Expecting codes of conduct for cycling in a multi-sports/mongrel race would be a bit like expecting rigourous lane discipline to be enforced in an egg and spoon race. Why bother!

Peterx

The correct answers have been given already so why confuse the issue talking about your hobby horse Enduro?

The original poster enquired about irish adventure races which as we all know are one day races using road bikes.

There is a code of conduct;

Use a bike, draft if you want, obey the rules of the road.

Enduro

Peterx wrote: »

The correct answers have been given already so why confuse the issue talking about your hobby horse Enduro?

The original poster enquired about irish adventure races which as we all know are one day races using road bikes.

There is a code of conduct;

Use a bike, draft if you want, obey the rules of the road.

Which post gave the correct answer, and how many posts followed it?

There are plenty of Irish adventure races, such as the Shamrock last weekend, the Beast of Ballyhoura, the CCAR races etc. Some of them are longer than one day. They all use mountain bikes.

Peterx

Every post until post 12 referred to the style of racing the OP is talking about - one day racing along the likes of GF, WAR, ROAR.

Post 12 disparaged adventure racing.
Post 13 was you banging on about your hobby horse.
I'm not responding any more to this thread about your hobby horse.
I'll happily agree with you in a different new thread of your own making that your form of Adventure Racing is only mighty.

Enduro

I think you might be mis-interpreting post #11

It's not my form of adventure racing. It's the common definition of AR in the rest of the world, as you well know. Nothing to do with me.

hardCopy

El Director wrote: »

Are tri/TT bikes allowed in these races BTW? If so then surely there is a safety issue. If drafting is allowed then group/peloton riding could be form/organised, personally I wouldn't like to be part of such a group...being impaled I'm sure isn't fun

You'd be mad to take an expensive set of Zipps out on the Gaelforce course.

w123

Peterx wrote: »

Every post until post 12 referred to the style of racing the OP is talking about - one day racing along the likes of GF, WAR, ROAR.

Post 12 disparaged adventure racing.
Post 13 was you banging on about your hobby horse.
I'm not responding any more to this thread about your hobby horse.
I'll happily agree with you in a different new thread of your own making that your form of Adventure Racing is only mighty.

Having done the beast and the Shamrock last weekend, I'm with Enduro.
There is a huge step up from the WAR's and Gaelforces of this world to a 36 or even 24 hour race.

His posts don't disparage adventure racing, he is simply being accurate as to the nomenclature.

From Collins on-line dictionary. (Too mean to buy the OED)
Definitions
noun

a contest in which teams compete in an expedition-length race which involves two or more sporting disciplines, often running, mountain biking, climbing, kayaking, and elements of navigation and orienteering.

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/adventure-racing

More accurately the events that you are discussing should be called multi-sport events. I think they're all great, and I think that anyone who does any of them is great. Better than sitting on your arse and eating chips, eventually costing the state hundreds of thousands in healthcare.

And...they all have lovely bottoms.

ThisRegard

Truth of the matter is everyone knows what an adventure race is and are aware of the difference between a 'proper' one and the ones that are massively popular in this country at the moment, there's no need to post a dictionary definition. Nobody is disparaging the biggies and it's in the lexicon at this stage and nothing is really going to change that.

You'll have as much chance in getting the womens mini marathon renamed as the national unisex 10k.

Enduro

ThisRegard wrote: »

Truth of the matter is everyone knows what an adventure race is and are aware of the difference between a 'proper' one and the ones that are massively popular in this country at the moment, there's no need to post a dictionary definition. Nobody is disparaging the biggies and it's in the lexicon at this stage and nothing is really going to change that.

You'll have as much chance in getting the womens mini marathon renamed as the national unisex 10k.

I think your analogy would be closer if the race was called the women's marathon and all the entrants considered themselves to have completed a marathon (or, in a similar analogy, given the forum we're in, that every triathlon and duathlon in Ireland called themselves an Ironman race, and all the finishers went around calling themselves Ironmen).

(ignoring the legal aspects with anything Ironman related...) Ask yourself what you would think of commercial race organisers who deliberatly mis-marketed their sprint duathlons as Ironman races, and what would you think of any competitor who, knowing full what the difference between a sprint duathlon and a real Ironman was, still went around claiming to be an Ironman having finished one of these races. I suspect that not many genuine triathletes would be particulary impressed with that situation.

ocnoc

ThisRegard wrote: »

Truth of the matter is everyone knows what an adventure race is and are aware of the difference between a 'proper' one and the ones that are massively popular in this country at the moment

They don't know what adventure racing is. Your average Joe soap thinks that the GF, WAR, Roar etc are the real deal.

I think its down to a marketing thing. The Multi Sport races are all very successful and the PR, field size and everything makes them grow from strength to strength. You can get away with training for ~20 hours a week to win one.

AR is a different beast. Its not so much a sport as it almost is a way of life. To win an AR, you have to be in the mountains constantly. Comes in handy if it combines with your job. As an example, Chris Forne was a part time mapper over in Trondheim Norway (beautiful part of the world by the way), while part of a sponsored Team Nike winning the World AR Champs.

It would be nice to think that multi sport is a way into AR, but its not really. The training needs are different as well as the other two basics, nav and no sleep.

ThisRegard

Well you highlighted one of the reasons why they're so popular, commitment. Few people have the time to put in the commitment involved to compete in a full AR race so the events marketed as such now suit people perfectly, hence their popularity.

Everytime these events are referred to I don't think such clarifications are required in every thread.

Anyway, I think most posts in this thread have gone way off topic.