First Race Coming Up. Any Advice?

[WindingRoad]

I have a question about 'normal' cycling behavior. OK, yesterday I was on a training ride with 'the guys' as usual. It's a group of racers and enthusiasts that like to ride fast... really fast sometimes. It gives me a good opportunity to ride in an aggressive fast group. One other time when I was riding with them they were getting away from me and another rider was being nice a actually pushed me up to bridge the gap. Well... yesterday I had this same thing happen except he put his hand on my butt. He had it there for about 30 seconds and it wasn't a flat hand either it was a finger tips poking into my butt hand. He did help me bridge the gap but after that I fell back with my riding buddy because I didn't want this guy behind me not to mention they were pushing upwards of 30 - 31 MPH. I feel this was inappropriate???

[chicago]

I have a question about 'normal' cycling behavior. OK, yesterday I was on a training ride with 'the guys' as usual. It's a group of racers and enthusiasts that like to ride fast... really fast sometimes. It gives me a good opportunity to ride in an aggressive fast group. One other time when I was riding with them they were getting away from me and another rider was being nice a actually pushed me up to bridge the gap. Well... yesterday I had this same thing happen except he put his hand on my butt. He had it there for about 30 seconds and it wasn't a flat hand either it was a finger tips poking into my butt hand. He did help me bridge the gap but after that I fell back with my riding buddy because I didn't want this guy behind me not to mention they were pushing upwards of 30 - 31 MPH. I feel this was inappropriate???

what???, somone actually hand their hand on your butt while you were riding?, is that common in racing... I have never seen that.

[Andrea]

Yeah, you can use a hand on someone's low back/rear to help them across a gap or up a hill in situations where they just need a little extra push to grab a wheel & keep from getting dropped. Depending on body position of the push-ee, sometimes the push-er ends up with their hand smack on the butt.

[madisongrrl]

Well... yesterday I had this same thing happen except he put his hand on my butt. He had it there for about 30 seconds and it wasn't a flat hand either it was a finger tips poking into my butt hand. He did help me bridge the gap but after that I fell back with my riding buddy because I didn't want this guy behind me not to mention they were pushing upwards of 30 - 31 MPH. I feel this was inappropriate???

It happens. In one race last year I had three different guys give me a "push". One of them really grabbed my rear end pretty well. It was a tough race, so I didn't mind the help.

If you're not into it just say "Hey thanks for the push, but no thanks".

Cycling is a strange sport, isn't it?

[WindingRoad]

Okay then I'm going to assume nothing of it. It just caught me off the cuff and I wasn't sure what to think. Glad to hear this is normal. Thanks for the info.