"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Big Crash at the Pier Ride

Big crash today at the Pier Ride. Two teammates went down, one with a broken collarbone and the other a dislocated shoulder. A Cynergy rider was transported to the UCLA trauma center with a possible concussion and facial injuries. Several others had minor injuries.

We were going hard (30+ mph) into the final sprint on Westchester Parkway and from what I gather somebody swerved around a slow moving mountain biker and didn't call it out. The riders behind couldn't move away in time and a pileup ensued. Probably 10-15 people went down hard. I saw my teammate do a full somersault then get hit from behind.

If anybody has an update on the Cynergy rider, please let me know.

:eek: that sucks, man! I hope that Cynergy rider is doing o.k.

what's the pier ride? is this a race?

It's a fast Tuesday/Thursday group ride. Lots of fast masters and an occasional pro. The crash happened about 200 meters from the final sprint. Its a very wide road so its a shame this happened. There was no reason not to give the guy 5-10 feet of room.

Were either of the teammates at Pine Flat with you?

No, they weren't there. It was one of our female riders and a cat 5.

Wow. Sorry to hear that.

No, they weren't there. It was one of our female riders and a cat 5.

Not #585 (see previous post, socal forums)!!! Did she get injured?

I hate to see my alma-mater AND one of my favourite local shops get involved in a crash like that. Ugh.

Yeah that was her. She dislocated her shoulder and had it set at the ER. She's hoping to be back on the bike soon, but we'll see how she feels after the pain meds wear off.

crashes suck. I wish them all better. There was a crash right in front of me at Dinuba but nobody was seriously hurt.

Sorry about your teammates. :(

Cynergy guy (Rod) is doing well. Plenty of head to toe road rash down left side, and stitches in the chin. His new Tarmac was snapped in two.

I’ve seen that exact scenario many times. When people are hammering 30+ to the finish, no one is calling out or pointing at anything. People in the back have no time to react, and are swerving around the slow rider on the left and right!!! - by inches. If the guy even flinches, it’s a disaster.

It’s a f-upped situation. Unless the front riders take a real exaggerated line to the left - way out into the traffic lanes - so the pack can see it, they have no way of knowing there’s a danger up ahead. And if the front riders sit-up to call it off, everyone will swarm around them thinking they are simply blowing up.

And how about the guy just cruising in the bike lane...? People have a right to be there, without having the ***** scared out of them, or injured. :mad:

Not sure what the answer is... when the adrenaline is rushing, the judgment part of the brain seems to go blank.

And how about the guy just cruising in the bike lane...? People have a right to be there, without having the ***** scared out of them, or injured. :mad:

You think?

Couple of years ago at our local "ride" they took out an old guy tooling along on his hybrid and broke his leg.

There's a place for field sprints. It's called a race. You can hammer along on a training ride and not do low IQ stuff like this.

Thanks. I got an update that Rod managed to get away with no broken bones and no head trauma. Pretty amazing after seeing him on the ground surrounded by paramedics. His poor bike is a lost cause.

There was also almost an accident last week at the Marina sprint. A runner was crossing the road at the curve 200 yards from the line and didn't see the riders barreling down on him. My teammate was opening up his sprint and actually went between him and the left hand curb.

As much as I love the Pier ride, it can definitely be too dangerous at times.

You think?

Couple of years ago at our local "ride" they took out an old guy tooling along on his hybrid and broke his leg.

There's a place for field sprints. It's called a race. You can hammer along on a training ride and not do low IQ stuff like this.

Big +1 to this. Hains Point is where a lot of our local meathead racers go to flex their nuts, and they do stupid **** there all the time. The worst part is there are kids that go there and play.

Big +1 to this. Hains Point is where a lot of our local meathead racers go to flex their nuts, and they do stupid **** there all the time. The worst part is there are kids that go there and play.

+++1

^^^^
We really do need to exercise some common sense not only for our own safety, adn the safety of other people, but for the continued opportunity to have group training rides.

Our Tuesday night World Championships certainly have their share of stupid, dangerous behavior, p.o.'ing the locals.

The Rose Bowl ride has been threatened with being shut down. Unless we work to safely accomodate other users, we're going to find ourselves without any place to do rides like this.

The thing that pisses me off is that the road is very wide and has minimal traffic that time of day. They actually hold a race there in March. LA Circuit Race (http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=h7m9oru.82v0zqi6&Uy=egn725&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1) You can see that there are 2 lanes, a bike lane, AND a wide shoulder. From what I saw, the guy was pretty far over to the right. No reason to even get close to him.

As much as I love the Pier ride, it can definitely be too dangerous at times.

Agreed. I think it’s safer to take some fliers, pulls, etc, ie: blow yourself up where it’s safe, and skip the sprints.

Thats what I always try to do. I was way in the back because I had just been caught from a solo flier.

Our Tuesday night World Championships certainly have their share of stupid, dangerous behavior, p.o.'ing the locals.

You have a World Championship every Tuesday night?! Damn.



The Rose Bowl ride has been threatened with being shut down. Unless we work to safely accomodate other users, we're going to find ourselves without any place to do rides like this.

The Rose Bowl ride has it's own circumstances. There are some incidents of riders crossing the double yellow, but the majority of the problems come with pedestrians walking in the buffer zone (there is a buffer zone separating the pedestrian path from the bicycle path from the road) with an iPod on full blast walking in the wrong direction. The intended direction is opposite that of traffic, so a pedestrian can see what's coming at them (if at all), but the problem is people walking in the buffer zone (sometimes the bike lane itself) with their backs to traffic, ears plugged with music/whatever. This is the problem.

Oh yeah, did I mention the mothers with baby strollers in the bike lane when there is a completely separate path for them to walk on? Yeah. Great stuff.

The Rose Bowl ride has it's own circumstances. There are some incidents of riders crossing the double yellow, but the majority of the problems come with pedestrians walking in the buffer zone (there is a buffer zone separating the pedestrian path from the bicycle path from the road) with an iPod on full blast walking in the wrong direction. The intended direction is opposite that of traffic, so a pedestrian can see what's coming at them (if at all), but the problem is people walking in the buffer zone (sometimes the bike lane itself) with their backs to traffic, ears plugged with music/whatever. This is the problem.

Oh yeah, did I mention the mothers with baby strollers in the bike lane when there is a completely separate path for them to walk on? Yeah. Great stuff.


Understood, and I didn't mean to imply it's all the Peleton's fault. Just an example that there are people that don't like our rides and want to stop them. If we don't try to be safe and work with them we're going to have problems.

Hello,


You think?

Couple of years ago at our local "ride" they took out an old guy tooling along on his hybrid and broke his leg.

There's a place for field sprints. It's called a race. You can hammer along on a training ride and not do low IQ stuff like this.

Definitely +1 on this. A buddy of mine broke his leg badly on the Pier Ride a several years ago, but that's another story. FIELD sprints are for races, not training rides.


You have a World Championship every Tuesday night?! Damn.

That's the problem with most of these rides. People aren't smart enough to realize that it's just a TRAINING RIDE. They ride it like it's a world championship or like there's money on the line. Nobody really cares or remembers who won last week's training ride sprint. Hell, nobody really remembers who won last week's crit.


The Rose Bowl ride has it's own circumstances. There are some incidents of riders crossing the double yellow, but the majority of the problems come with pedestrians walking in the buffer zone (there is a buffer zone separating the pedestrian path from the bicycle path from the road) with an iPod on full blast walking in the wrong direction. The intended direction is opposite that of traffic, so a pedestrian can see what's coming at them (if at all), but the problem is people walking in the buffer zone (sometimes the bike lane itself) with their backs to traffic, ears plugged with music/whatever. This is the problem.

Oh yeah, did I mention the mothers with baby strollers in the bike lane when there is a completely separate path for them to walk on? Yeah. Great stuff.

I am not saying that people shouldn't be in the right places on the Rose Bowl roads, but that's why I don't train on MUPs. People do stupid things and cyclists are just multiplying the stupidity by doing those kinds of rides in uncontrolled circumstances. It's a training ride on public roads with no special permitting by the city. It's kind of like when my wife starts to cross the road in a crosswalk in front of a car that looks like it might not stop before making a right turn on the red. She's in the right but at what cost?

I'm not saying that El Dorado Park is perfect, but it is a RACE conducted in conjunction with a city (Long Beach) permit. The section of park is closed to the public during the race and Park Rangers enforce the closure. Random people do get on the road but they get told to leave by the race organizer and the Park Rangers. The main hazard is ducks and geese trying to cross the road, but the organizer tries to curtail that by buying duck feed and feeding the duck away from the road before the race.

BTW, Eldo started out as a ride, the city threatened to stop it and a racer decided to work with the city to turn it into a race. Win-win.

Hello,



Definitely +1 on this. A buddy of mine broke his leg badly on the Pier Ride a several years ago, but that's another story. FIELD sprints are for races, not training rides.



That's the problem with most of these rides. People aren't smart enough to realize that it's just a TRAINING RIDE. They ride it like it's a world championship or like there's money on the line. Nobody really cares or remembers who won last week's training ride sprint. Hell, nobody really remembers who won last week's crit.



I am not saying that people shouldn't be in the right places on the Rose Bowl roads, but that's why I don't train on MUPs. People do stupid things and cyclists are just multiplying the stupidity by doing those kinds of rides in uncontrolled circumstances. It's a training ride on public roads with no special permitting by the city. It's kind of like when my wife starts to cross the road in a crosswalk in front of a car that looks like it might not stop before making a right turn on the red. She's in the right but at what cost?

I'm not saying that El Dorado Park is perfect, but it is a RACE conducted in conjunction with a city (Long Beach) permit. The section of park is closed to the public during the race and Park Rangers enforce the closure. Random people do get on the road but they get told to leave by the race organizer and the Park Rangers. The main hazard is ducks and geese trying to cross the road, but the organizer tries to curtail that by buying duck feed and feeding the duck away from the road before the race.

BTW, Eldo started out as a ride, the city threatened to stop it and a racer decided to work with the city to turn it into a race. Win-win.

your wife does that too!? my GF does that and it always scares the crap outta me. her response is always the same..."don't worry, i got the right of way".

Our Tuesday night World Championships certainly have their share of stupid, dangerous behavior, p.o.'ing the locals.


I never get over there on Tuesdays, but as a lot of the people I work with live in Mandarin, and know I'm a cyclist, I get to be the brunt of their frustrations with "those *******s" frequently. :rolleyes:

Sometimes I think that's the worst part of it; group ride bad behaviour pisses people off, and they take it out on single riders when they get a chance, doing the passive-aggressive close buzz, throwing things, or whatever.

The aftermath:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x220/esammuli/Clavicle.jpg

I'm not saying that El Dorado Park is perfect, but it is a RACE conducted in conjunction with a city (Long Beach) permit. The section of park is closed to the public during the race and Park Rangers enforce the closure. Random people do get on the road but they get told to leave by the race organizer and the Park Rangers. The main hazard is ducks and geese trying to cross the road, but the organizer tries to curtail that by buying duck feed and feeding the duck away from the road before the race.

BTW, Eldo started out as a ride, the city threatened to stop it and a racer decided to work with the city to turn it into a race. Win-win.

I'm looking forward to getting out to El Dorado, Cleave. My other options for fast training rides are Food Park and Como and I'm just not comfortable with that, for the above mentioned reasons. Now I just need to find a teenager to drag along to watch the kids...anyone know one that will work for pizza and a few bucks every Tuesday night? :p

Esammuli...I'm wishing your teammates a quick recovery.

I'm looking forward to getting out to El Dorado, Cleave. My other options for fast training rides are Food Park and Como and I'm just not comfortable with that, for the above mentioned reasons. Now I just need to find a teenager to drag along to watch the kids...anyone know one that will work for pizza and a few bucks every Tuesday night? :p

Esammuli...I'm wishing your teammates a quick recovery.

Como is not that bad. Food park on the other hand....
Looking forward to El Dorado, hopefully my schedule will allow it.

Como is not that bad. Food park on the other hand....
Looking forward to El Dorado, hopefully my schedule will allow it.

Yes, but you're fast! :p Just not thinking it's my best intro to fast group rides.