October 2011 Technical Director Update

Happy October, everyone! In this edition I will cover a few things that have come up in the last couple of months that apparently need explanation.

Officials Clothing Program

The sale item for October will be the fleece-lined jacket shown below:

These will be offered at the monthly discount rate of 15% by using the code OCT11JKT. Please visit our clothing store at www.usacyclingapparel.net to place an order.

Injuries and Insurance

There seems to be some confusion out in the field with respect to how to handle insurance questions. First of all, from the perspective of the officials, the information on the occurrence report is correct. In case of serious injury, you fax the form to Philadelphia Insurance Company at the number on the form. This first part of the process has more to do with liability than it does medical. If a rider wishes to make a claim for their USAC medical insurance, they should contact their membership service representative (MSR) in Colorado Springs. Please do not try to send them anywhere else. The MSR will walk them through the process and make sure all the correct forms got sent to the correct place.

Android and iPhone App

We have an app for smart phones that allows the user to quickly connect to their account with USA Cycling. We welcome this being used in the field to document license status. Thus, if a rider does not have a hard copy of his or her license in hand, but can document their licensed status and category via our app, please tell registration to accept that as proof.

Cyclo-cross Bicycle Rules

When officiating cyclo-cross, it is very important to keep in mind which type of event you are officiating. We have had multiple reports of bicycles being rejected at domestic events based on UCI rules. The UCI bicycle rules specify tire width at no more than 33 mm. The UCI has provided measuring devices for this that many of the International Commissaires have, plus many others made their own. This rule is only for the UCI races and National Championships for age 17 and over. Any other category at a UCI event does not need to follow this rule. Please do not freak everyone out by measuring tires in the masters or juniors event, even if you then tell them you will let it slide today, but it would not make it for an international race. If someone asks out of curiosity because they are going to Nationals, then that is a different story.

At a purely domestic event, a rider may use a mountain bike. The only restriction is that if the bars have extensions, they must be removed or pointed back or down (not forward). That has been a problem at other domestic CX events.

Free Lap Rule

No Technical Director update would be complete without a word about free laps. While the rule has been in effect as long as I can remember, there have been some recent changes that seem to be causing problems out in the field. Here are the specific issues that came up in the last couple of months:

What to do when free laps close?

A rider may always enter the pit, get a wheel, and chase. Just because the free laps ended two laps ago does not mean the pit is hermetically sealed and nobody can use it. As an official, you have no authority to tell a rider he cannot use the pit and get his wheel, nor any authority to tell him he cannot go back out again and chase. The only time you can tell a rider that he cannot go back out is when the free laps are over and the rider is now down a lap while you are pulling lapped riders. Then it would make sense to not let the rider back out.

Confusion over stage race rules and single day rules

In a single day race, a rider is never awarded anything without finishing the race. For example, a rider is off the front with another rider with a 45-second advantage in a single day crit. Free laps closed at 5 to go. The rider comes into the pit with two laps to go with a flat. In one case, the official told the rider he was done and would be given second place. That was an incorrect interpretation. In a single day race, that rider can be done, but then he gets nothing. Instead, that rider should change his wheel and chase. He might still get second. He might end up in the field sprinting for third. The other rider might even wait for him, but that rider cannot just retire and be given second place because he got a flat after free laps closed. That was an attempt to use a stage race rule, although even then it was used incorrectly.

For stage races, here is the rule in question:

4E3. Finish.
(b) A rider who suffers a mishap in the last three kilometers of a road race stage or after free laps have ended in a criterium stage shall be given the same finish time as the riders he was with at the time of the mishap, provided that the mishap was observed by a race official. The rider shall be given his actual place across the finish line, or last in the stage if he is unable to cross the line.

This was what the official mentioned above was trying to accomplish, but it is not applicable to a single day race. Even so, the rule is you get the same time, not the placing. So, had the criterium mentioned above been in a stage race, the rider who was in the break would have received the time of the winning rider but would not have been given second place. He would have been given last place if he did not finish. Again, this rider should have chased.

I hope that clears up that issue. Enjoy the fall.

Shawn Farrell
Technical Director
sfarrell@usacycling.org

Related Articles

• September 2011 Technical Director Update - Sep 07, 2011
• July 2011 Technical Director Update - Jul 28, 2011
• June 2011 Technical Director Update - May 31, 2011