Road Bike Racing - Crash your bike = free your mind?

I crashed today.

It was a liberating experience.

That is all.

How's the bike?

Kind of like getting the first scratch or dent in your car huh. Now you can just live a normal life ;-)

How's the bike?

more importantly: how's carlfreddy?

My brand new Deda bar-tape is now wearing a small cut, but other than that the bike is fine.

Hell, I even fell on the non-drive side!

Oh yeah, I'm ok too. Happened 100yards before the wheelpit, so I reported in for my free lap and got pushed back on.

I felt so PRO.

more importantly: how's carlfreddy?

He can type. He's functional.

theyre only fun when theyre not serious probably :D

does feel cool to race while bleeding

I had a nasty crash in the late 80's and shattered my arm so bad I missed the rest of the season. I decided to focus on coaching and started working with a women's team.

There was 1 rider who had been riding and racing for a few years but had never crashed. It got to be a bit of a problem as the anticipation of crashing started to affect her racing.

We were doing a crit around a shopping mall and I was in the wheel pit yelling useless information at my team as they came around each lap. I realized, at one point, that we were missing a rider. Suddenly I see our rider sauntering along the side of the course with a **** eating grin on her face. When she gets to me I ask he what happened. she said, "I crashed" and generally looked pretty pleased with herself.

My reaction was, "Damn, are you ok? What happened? how's the bike, etc". She got pushed out to the outside and actually landed in some freshly laid sod (True story. My hand to God). Other than a grass stain on her butt she was totally fine.

Dames.

My reaction was, "Damn, are you ok? What happened? how's the bike, etc". She got pushed out to the outside and actually landed in some freshly laid sod (True story. My hand to God). Other than a grass stain on her butt she was totally fine.

Dames.

Wish they were always like that...

After the crit today, I was talking to another rider who had done the mtb course that my teammate had done yesterday.

My teammate, a trials rider, was so excited when I told him that this guy had done the same course, that he turned around to start talking and went over the curb and into the grass. He didn't fall or anything, but it was still hilarious because we laughed at him for getting sick of riding on the road and deciding to take it into the mud.

I have to say that Bobby D is totally correct. I've crashed a couple of times, once getting a bad bone bruise, the other just some road rash, and because I've done it already, I take more acceptable risks during the races I've done.

She got pushed out to the outside and actually landed in some freshly laid sod (True story. My hand to God). Other than a grass stain on her butt she was totally fine.



Just about the same here, except I was on the inside. Two riders went down in front of me, grabbed a handful of brakes, headed for the curb, got my left foot unclipped and did the whole "duck and roll" routine.

Funniest part was when I stood up I noticed that I just missed a fresh pile of dog **** that had to have come from a 120lb dog. I pointed it out to the other two riders caught in the crash, but they weren't so amused.

Shrugged my shoulders and rolled to the wheelpit.

The fear of crashing is generally much worse than the actual crashes. So crashing can liberate you in the sense that you lose some of that fear. When I've crashed there's generally no time for fear. It's *BOOM* and you're down. You dust yourself off, and hopefully hop right back up and keep riding.