Must touch and must not touch obstacles
Comments about this discussion:
Started
There are often lines that have obstacles that are marked not to be touched, or the opposite, that they must be touched during the completion of a line.
Being able to mark obstacles (or construction pieces) prohibited to touch is quite practical. A good example is a line where you have to hop up to a narrow beam or pipe. Of course it would (most likely) be much easier to use the construction that is holding this beam or pipe, so it is prohibited. I also think that being able to mark specific areas of an obstacle that is allowed to touch is right (for instance, a specific part of a car's hood), as long as it is marked clearly with tape or colour marking.
About must touch obstacles I think there is room for discussion. I am not saying that it is bad to have them, there are situations when the course setter wants riders to touch an obstacle and then proceed to the next obstacle as it takes more skill to touch the first one too and remain in control, and maybe it would be easier to just skip the 1st obstacle in general. But there are situations when it is allowed to skip obstacles, so it has to be clearly stated if an obstacle is must-touch.
Also, how about pedal grabbing a must-touch obstacle? Are riders required to touch the obstacle on tire, or do we accept pedal grabbing them only? For instance, let's imagine there is a line which ends with a jump onto a standing log which is must-touch. Do we accept riders pedal grabbing it and then drop to the ground (which is the end of the line), or do we require them to jump up to tire too if they do a pedal grab? Or in general, how do you feel about must-touch obstacles?
I thought it could be good to have a discussion about this, and hear some opinions.
The only part in the rulebook that I found in regards of these is section 11B.5.4, point 2.e. which section defines dabbing:
"Riding a section in any way that is not consistent with the instructions outlined for that problem." ... will result in a dab.
What are your thoughts?
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I've never really been a fan of the must touch obstacles... make the gap bigger if you don't want me to skip it! :P But I understand sometimes this is due to space and technical limitation of building a course.
I don't see why pedal grab should change anything if it's must touch... we can't force people to go to tire, I mean that's partly why we introduced the pedal grab deductions, to force people to go to tire without saying this obstacle is rubber only.
prohibited obstacles, all for.
Comment
I also like to keep the rules simple, but sometimes it does come useful for the course setter being able to say an obstacle is a must-touch.
You have a fair point on the pedal grab. I did not think of it this way, and I think you are right. Technically it is possible to "clear" a line without touching a single obstacle with your tire, so why a must-touch obstacle should not be accepted to touch only with the pedal?