http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Got my first ever elbow flick this morning en Wed, 13 May 2026 02:38:37 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=15319#post-196418 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 14:26:59 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 196418@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://www.sharoncycling.org/articles/pace-line-101-the-line/">Just one of many articles</a></p> <p>It does seem that track and road are different on this. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=15319#post-196414 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 13:51:55 +0000 condor2378 196414@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@Stiltskin It certainly seems that way, doesn't it. </p> <p>But thinking about it, on the track, you'll always pull off "uphill" to the right and no 2 will be directly behind always and will see the "I'm pulling up" indication.</p> <p>However, on the road, your pace line might be angled behind due to the wind and wouldn't see a right elbow flick.</p> <p>....1<br /> ...2<br /> ..3<br /> .4</p> <p> so it makes more sense for the left elbow "Pass this side" indication. </p> <p>tl:dr I don't know. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=15319#post-196402 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 12:54:59 +0000 stiltskin 196402@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm surprised that a signal means one thing on the road but is the complete opposite on the track. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=15319#post-196398 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 12:31:11 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 196398@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Of course I'm now wondering if rather than just 'go past' it was indeed 'go past and take a turn' as I zoomed* up the hill.</p> <p>Certainly from what I've seen on the Tour, especially with breakaways of a few riders, is the elbow flick being used to indicate someone should come and take a turn and pass on this side (before they all start becoming wary of each other and get swallowed up by the peloton).</p> <p>Reading some more a hand signal is not used because that is reserved for indicating an obstruction or poor surface coming on that side. The subtle communication of riding in a group....</p> <p>*relatively </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=15319#post-196396 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 12:23:45 +0000 Coxy 196396@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>As Cyclingmollie, I always read an elbow-flick as meaning "c'mon, you take a turn"... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=15319#post-196388 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 10:45:32 +0000 Cyclingmollie 196388@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>That would explain why one of out team members claimed we were doing it all wrong. But that's how we did it. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=15319#post-196387 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 10:42:40 +0000 fimm 196387@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Oh.<br /> On the road (not just in team time trials, but any road racing) the flick of the elbow means "I have had enough of being in front, it is someone else's turn". You see riders in the Tour de France doing it, for example.</p> <p>(There's a person on another cycling forum whose user name is Flick Of The Elbow. They got a bit offended when someone referred to them as "Herr Flick <strike>of the Gestapo</strike> of the Elbow". I have a suspicion they didn't get the 'Allo 'Allo reference...) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=15319#post-196384 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 10:34:30 +0000 condor2378 196384@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Elbow flicks (after a shoulder check) are used riding at the velodrome to indicate that YOU'RE going to be moving in that direction. If I was behind someone and they flicked a right elbow, I'd expect them to move right and pass them on the left. It's basically an indication that they will be moving in that direction. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=15319#post-196383 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 10:33:06 +0000 Cyclingmollie 196383@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I know the elbow flick is used in team time trials. You count your time at the front then flick your elbow to the side you wish the following riders to overtake on. Once they are all past you join the back of the group. I'd take it as a mark of respect from another cyclist. It certainly beats the grumpy "go away" I've had a couple of times. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=15319#post-196380 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 10:21:05 +0000 wingpig 196380@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I had similarly assumed that this thread would be about some sort of attack by a passing motorist.</p> <p>Is an elbow flick an official thing, then? Is it perhaps more clearly understood as an inter-cyclist signal than turning round and clearly asking someone to either leave space or get on and get past? I'll try it the next time I get wheelsucked. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=15319#post-196370 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 09:49:36 +0000 dougal 196370@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I am clearly well out of the loop. I assumed an elbow flick was similar to a "nudge" and someone had tried to dislodge you. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=15319#post-196357 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 08:58:36 +0000 cc 196357@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Congratulations!</p> <p>For some reason I'm reminded of French motorbike riders, who wave their foot in the air to say thanks as they overtake. Always loved that. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=15319#post-196355 Thu, 20 Aug 2015 08:52:07 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 196355@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Maybe it's cos I was 20 minutes earlier or so this morning, but the Innocent was hooching* with cyclists. Anyway, I caught a woman just before the climb to the tunnel, she was in all of the gear, and cruising. Given there's a blind right ahead, and there was a ped walking our way, I coasted and sat behind. Waited and waited till the route straightened, then saw a cyclist coming the other way (that's why you don't overtake on a blind bend kids), then as they passed I popped out of the saddle to move by, and in that instant got an elbow flick to go through.</p> <p>I believe that now makes me a 'proper cyclist' (either that or she'd got annoyed by my shadow behind her for the 30 seconds or so).</p> <p>*I passed 5, this counts as hooching, we're not in Denmark or the Netherlands. </p>