Crossing the double yellow

So hear me out on this one before bashing, i don't know if this topic was already covered or not.

say there is a mountain pass that is one way, meaning that you can climb it reach the top and have to head back down. There is no other road to the top.

If you head up at night and there is no cars on the way to the top, at the top or your descent. This means there is absolutely no cars on the road.

This means if you do the uphill no cars will appear on the road.

Does this justify the right to cross the line in order to shorten your time?

I would be ok with that if there was absolutely no other possible traffic.. No driveways, etc

How likely is that?

No passing double yellow period. Unless the road is closed off for a hill climb or something...

Do not cross double yellow, do not collect $200... no ands ifs or buts.

The only time I have personally crossed double yellows have been when people wave us by, and that is only when there is a lengthy straight to see on coming traffic.

Doing what we do is dangerous, that dont cross double yellow rule is there not to protect us but to protect the other normal people that are using the road.

The road has no driveways no nothing if there is no cars at the top there is no car period. So in a way it is a closed off hill climb

But if you go up, someone could very well be on their way up behind you while you make your way down. Only way to be 100% certain is to come back down and THEN go back up. It has been a beat to death topic, I think we have a lengthy thread here somewhere on it. At night is a bit different since you can see headlights coming, but that doesn't help around blind corners. I think the only time its realistically acceptable is through Ess curves. Me, David, and Matt have been hauling a** in the dark on the Dragon and been startled by a local hauling just as much a** in the opposite direction, can't always predict whats around every corner.

It is an unspoken rule that most mountain runners follow. If you are fast you shouldn't need to cut corners to increase times.

I mean just the uphill section, downhill would not be allowed.

and specially on our roads down here we have to contend with Bicycles... You come around a corner and there are 6 bicycles 3 wide in your lane...

rainspecialist wrote:

If you head up at night and there is no cars on the way to the top, at the top or your descent. This means there is absolutely no cars on the road.

Dana, he said he'd come back down first.

rainspecialist wrote:

Does this justify the right to cross the line in order to shorten your time?

I would look at it as an experience for different lines, rather than focus on times, but at 7/10th I am not usually timing mt runs anyways.

Of course, I don't know of any closed roads like this here in GA so I can't say.



I still think, if you are absolutely certain, that it is morally acceptable as a mt runner to cross double yellows in this case. If you are sure.

I think if you have to ask, you already know the answer. All you're doing now is trying to justify it to yourself.

Like Spartan man said we have definitely beat this one to death from all angles. Personally, I just have a hard time understanding why you would want to cut corners anyway. I drive these roads for the curves not to cut them out. I may be faster cutting corners, but I would feel like I'm cheating. Be safe and have fun however you want to do it.

there is also instances where its slower to cross the line even though its a shorter distance. Roads were the camber swaps back and forth drastically like in gravity-cavity(s) on the dragon, its better to keep your suspension planted into the camber of the road which is almost always sticking to your lane. Mountain Surfing!

07ltd#767 wrote:

I think if you have to ask, you already know the answer. All you're doing now is trying to justify it to yourself.

This,

but if someone isn't questioning it they're probably doing it wrong.