Road biking rules?

[Susie]

I did this one last year and it is both a century and a race. There are elite cyclists that start a few minutes earlier than the pack that actually race for podium spots and then thousands of others that "race" for a medal. You get a medal based on your finish times (finish between x time and x time for a gold medal, between y time and y time for a silver, and between z time and the time limit for a bronze).

Most of the "race" is just fine -- not too many people and plenty of room on the roads. The first 15 miles or so are very hairy, though. There were a lot of bottles and other debris on the road and since the bikes were fairly packed, you really couldn't see them. The "pelaton" was pretty good about pointing them all out. After the first dry river bed crossing, it thinned out fairly nicely. It was absolutely gorgeous for the next 70 miles or so.

The last 20 miles or so (of the 111 mile route) got pretty scary. The 30-milers merged onto our course and had no idea how to get out of the way or even steer a straight line. If you said "passing on your left", they'd run right in to you. They also wouldn't stay to the right at all. One forced me into oncoming traffic as I was trying to pass him. There was another who couldn't hold a straight line to save his live, and bumped into my friend. She was hauled away in an ambulance with a broken tail bone. There was also a major pileup at the last railroad crossing as you headed back into town. I counted 4 ambulances and went by too quickly to count bodies/bikes.

All in all, it's a really fun ride. There are rest stops every 5 miles that were extremely well staffed. You simply pulled in and a volunteer would walk up to you with big jugs or pitchers of water to refill your bottles. Others would walk up with trays or bowls of food -- you never had to leave your bike. If you did need to use the bathroom, a cub scout would come over and offer to hold your bike for you. Absolutely the best staffed event I've ever been in! Also, the expo is well worth the time and the weather is great.

Susie

[Eden]

I was looking at the web site too - I saw some pretty big names that did this in past years, assumedly as a race. Then I looked at the rules.... I would be really concerned about doing a race that was not at least done with a rolling enclosure. At the lower levels of road racing you seldom get the pleasure of having the road actually closed, even the Pro's don't get this very often in the US (this means you always have to stay to the right of the center line), but the corners are controlled and as long as you are in the race enclosure you can expect traffic to not interfere with your race. The rules for Tuscon said you need to follow all traffic laws/signs/signals etc. Does this mean even the "race" is not controlled? Sounds scary to me. Plain old ordinary orgainized centuries are bad enough since you need to deal with traffic and other riders, some of whom are following the rules of the road and some of whom are not. If it were a race I can't imagine the risks that some people would be willing to take. Anyone know if they run the different classifications differently?