Drafting in Road races
Comments about this discussion:
Started
In the IUF World Record committee, we have been discussing the issue of drafting behind others in Road racing. We have largely come to an agreement of what should be allowed and what not. We would like to have a corresponding rule in the Rulebook, so that all official competitions follow it, and results are potentially World Record-worthy.
In the WR Committee, we agree that drafting behind other unicyclists is an essential part of racing, and therefore allowed. At the same time, drafting behind other "things" than fellow unicyclists, is generally not allowed because it would bring an unfair advantage to the rider who drafts. These other "things" would include bicyclists, motorbikes, and cars - and even lorries, if that would ever occur during a race. Following some"thing" else closely constitutes drafting, but following at a large distance/time gap is not.
As to specifying a minimum as a distance as opposed to a time gap, we think a time gap specification is better. For one thing, a fixed time automatically takes into account that if the speed is higher, the wake gets more significant (same time gap at higher speed means larger distance separation). Also, for a race participant it is relatively easy to note when a vehicle in front passes e.g. a sign post, and then count seconds until they pass that sign post themselves. Also for an official along the course, using a stopwatch is more practical than using a tape measure, and more accurate than guessing a distance.
We have argued that a person on foot generally has a negligible wake, and so following a runner would not constitute drafting, irrespective of the distance. (This is of importance in some city marathons where runners and unicyclists may be mixed and share the road.) What does matter are essentially all types of vehicles, including bicycles, motorbikes, cars, vans. We have been toying with the idea of allowing a minimum of 2 seconds behind the rear end of two-wheeled vehicles, and 3 seconds behind vehicles with more than two wheels. But this difference might be too complicated for a race participant to take into account. After all, drafting behind vehicles is not the core business of a racer - he or she should be focusing on racing. So probably a single value for the minimum time gap is preferable.
What do y'all think of the idea to define drafting behind vehicles, and to regulate it in the Rulebook?
Comment
Are you thinking of a vehicle intentionally on the course? Apart from an opening cyclist, I'm not aware of any other vehicles doing the course intentionally. Maybe we need to limit this practice.
If it's not intentional (which is more frequent), it's more often a nuisance for the participants. Rather than punishing the participants, we need to find a solution to get the vehicle off the course.
If we add a reference to drafting behind vehicles, I think we should add that drafting between 2 participants of different classes and of different genders is not authorised.
Comment
I agree that the best way to avoid drafting is to prevent having vehicles on the course in the first place. The WR Committee does not have any power over this, we just determine the conditions to verify record claims. But indeed the IUF Rulebook would be the place to emphasise that as few as possible vehicles (other than unicyclists) are on the race course, preferably even none. I personally have had a camera car in front of me, who apparently wanted a close-up shot and continued to be in my way. A nuisance indeed!
> I think we should add that drafting between 2 participants of different classes and of different genders is not authorised
I don't agree here. If only because for the following rider it can be difficult to establish class or gender of the rider in front. Also, until now, riders have legitimately drafted off of any unicyclist on the course, so your suggestion would be a big shift to that practice. If we would want to prevent drafting off of different classes or genders, we would in my opinion have to change the organisation so that only one class and one gender races at the same time. By this, we remove the option for such interclass/intergender drafting. But organising four times (or six times, see another discussion) as many road racing is not practical at all.