[Closed] Bike Races... why so much course tape....

As I understand it the orange tassels are so tape doenst get in the way of TV cameras.

Our club re-uses tape as much as possible after cx races.

Two things you have to remember: 1) while most riders do ride in the spirit of things, some will cheat and if its not just a 'fun' one off event that has to be prevented; 2) Sometimes you need the tape to be reminded where to go, when your vision is going fuzzy from exertion its hard to remember where the course is going - I've crashed in the past because of getting confused about where i was meant to be going.

Fair points you make there ferrals..

The tape is there to define the course. If there's no tape you can ride anywhere. How else do you mark the line between an alternative line choice and cutting the course?

Potentially tape makes corner cutting less likely, too

Organiser here - tape costs money so we try and use as little as possible and re-use it for other races, training sessions etc. Commissaires have the final say, but the course has to be clear. 'Most riders' understanding it isn't enough, all riders have to.

Technical lines nearly always have to be fully taped, or people start sneaking lines down the side of features, riding through scrub rather than over rocks etc. Also keeps spectators in the right place and makes positioning marshals a lot easier.

Better from a rider's point of view too - you don't want to be concerned about the possibility of having ridden off course and hesitating.

As an organiser:
Its stops people cutting corners
Never under estimate how people can get lost on a course
Never under estimate how some people will try and "cheat"

As a racer:
Its nice at max HR to have an idea as to where I'm going

A big part is shortcutting- for race fairness and for trail damage. The infuriating thing when you're taping is you can't just tape off the good alt lines, you need to try and see the track both from the Joe Barnes/Fabien Barel point of view, where anything goes and you take fast lines other people don't even see or choose not to do, and the knobber point of view, where there's a huge mindset of "ride a different line because that's what the pros do" that doesn't worry much about "is it faster". So people end up in really weird places.

I always use the same example but one time at innerleithen the UKGE left the razor rock section mostly untaped, because it's a clearly defined trail- whoever did the taping thought that was enough. By the end of the race day you'd barely recognise some sections because of the huge level of corner cutting, every technical section had a cut line. It took 20 of us most of a day to fix it back to spec and some of the damage couldn't be fixed.

Reusing it is fairly hard because it stretches and tangles. Easier sometimes than others, if it's poled on an open hill it's easier to recover, if it's tied/wrapped into trees on a forest course it's a mess.

As another race organiser. BC has certain regs on how to tape courses, I tend to organise under the TLI which is much more relaxed.

I tape as a racer, so corners are done properly so they can't be cut. Then just enough tape is used between corners to keep people on track. No organiser likes to spend hours walking round taping a course, even less so taking it all back in. I'd love to reuse the tape and do try to. But being honest when it is covered in mud, knotted, snapped I can't be arsed to sort it our so it goes in the recycling and I use a new roll next race.

I love how the word 'cheat' keeps getting used for people who don't ride the intended 'sheep line' 😉

The rules state that a rider must ride between the marker tape. I have done races in the past where the tape was on the outside of a corner, so therefore everything on the inside is fair game no matter where the 'sheep trail' is.

If you tape the inside of corners fully, then you should be able to get away with less tape.

I once did a race where I sussed out on a big hair pin that there was a blind route through the inside bushes to cut 10+s off 😉
There was a famous incident in DH years ago at Cheddar where Titley sussed out that a massive horse shoe bend was taped on the outside only so he cut it and saved 20+ secs and was duly DQ'd. But Peaty and warner argued his case and he got reinstated.

@100mph, maybe 'cheat' is the wrong word, but there is a world of difference between sneaky lines and charging through the undergrowth to cut out a big chunk of singletrack because its not been taped properly. Thats why its up to the organiser to tape as they see fit to ensure that can't be done.

FWIW, personally I think courses should be taped as wide as possible so people have to look for creative lines.

it's annoying, I've twice had tape caught in my rear mech due to someone else breaking it and had to stop, and seen it happen to others countless times.

FWIW, personally I think courses should be taped as wide as possible so people have to look for creative lines.

I try to do this in cross when I organise. Also lines change in cross races throughout the hour so clipping the apex was fast on lap one but when it churns up you want the outside Sven line.

A lot of the nutcracker xc courses are marked with little pink flags at ground level on metal pins - generally works well provided people behave fairly and you pay attention on the pre-ride to avoid getting lost in the race.

Also means one guy on a trials bike with a courier bag can lay out / remove the course quite quickly. Just needs tape at start / finish loops and any ambiguous bits.

ferrals - Member

@100mph, maybe 'cheat' is the wrong word, but there is a world of difference between sneaky lines and charging through the undergrowth to cut out a big chunk of singletrack because its not been taped properly. Thats why its up to the organiser to tape as they see fit to ensure that can't be done.

And of course the big difference with enduro or xc vs dh, is distance- it's one thing to tape a 3 minute dh track, another to tape 5 enduro stages or a 10 mile endurance lap in the same way.

(There's a compromise solution that some organisers use- basically they reserve the right to fix any shortcuts between practice and race day. So you may come down the hill aiming for your clever line, and discover it no longer exists, deal with the change of plan, and have to ride the intended line which you may not have practiced.)

But it's obviously all greys here- organisers can't tape everything, racers can't reasonably be expected to pass up opportunities, especially when they know not all competitors will. Some high end enduro racers have really strong "ride what you're supposed to" ethics but that's not right/wrong, there's no right answer- any 2 riders might make different calls on what the "proper" route is or whether a line's been taped in intentionally.

And like i mentioned where it gets really complicated is when people ride the "impossible"- a line was missed at the last tweedlove ews because the people taping it just didn't see it as a line (gap jump across a ditch, then monster truck over a load of forest floor- carl's lane > zoom or bust.)

For me, the impact on trails is important, racing tears things up at the best of times but especially on built trails shortcutting's very destructive. So I tape things like I have some sort of disorder 😆

The tape does nothing to keep me on the course as i slide down the hillside on my arse.

For me, the impact on trails is important,

Probably the most important point.

Strict taping has got to be sensible to prevent all manner of "enduro lines" opening up on people's local trails.

Here's a perfect example of the need for good taping at races.