Road Bike Racing - what do you do when a crash happens in front of you?

Im talking about far enough in front of you that you can prepare for it?

There was a crash in front of me today and it was far enough in front of me that I couldnt see it at first but as the sea parted it was right in front of me. People were going down on either side of it as they tried to avoid it so I just slowed down almost to a stop right before it and got plowed into.

Im kind of pissed that I got hit so hard considering I didnt really stop abruptly but I guess I really cant tell since I wasnt behind myself. It just seems like if I was able to slow enough to come to a stop without skidding people behind me should have had plenty of time to react.

I was worried if i tried to swerve around the wreck I might cause another one.

pick a line and stick to it.

i have only had to ever avoid like 3 crashes though. ahh the benefits of being off the back.

I would probably have yelled Crash or stopping if I had enough time to react.

That and just hope for the best and prepare to fall so as to hurt yourself the least...

Bunny hop.

Then pull your shorts up a bit and go get a free lap.

Bunny hop.

Then pull your shorts up a bit and go get a free lap.

no way i was going to bunny hop a pile of like 5 dudes. there was no free lap since this wasnt a crit and the crash was so big the stopped the race for a half hour to clean up.

Bunny hop.

Then pull your shorts up a bit and go get a free lap.

i was thinking about this... but i don't want to hit someone with my chainring... or a wheel... and break some ribs...

i was thinking the best way is to force yourself to slide out... i'm not sure how one would go about this or have enough time to react but i'd much rather slide than do a flip on my head

any tips on how to make yourself slide in under 1 second? :D

if i would have slid out i still would have gotten ran into from behind so i dont know if that would have been much better.

I was joking

and to slide: lock your rear wheel, turn. Voila.

1. Left / right
2. Keep pedaling

if i would have slid out i still would have gotten ran into from behind so i dont know if that would have been much better.

well i dont know, i've had plenty of teammates who got tire marks on their faces and were just fine... i guess it depends on your position.. but i'd rather take a chance on the ground than take a chance doing a flip on my head. I've done that earlier this season and am too lucky to walk away with just a cracked helmet, stitches on my head, and a badly bruised knee. The guy who caused my crash... who went down first... who i hit with my front wheel hard enough for the tube to POP... got up and continued the race.

i think i heard somewhere that in most cases whoever goes down first is hurt the least.. well sliding out seems to be like a way to simulate that.

in real world terms, unless you've been practicing sliding out at any form of danger and its more of a reflex, you probably aren't going to even remember to in the first place. Maybe someone with more experience than a cat 5 can input :D

What do I do?
I try to avoid the crash, without talking myself or anybody else down. This has worked so far, but in a no way out situation I would just grab the brakes and pray.

Lith, hope you're doing ok. Sounds like a really nasty crash.

To all those involved today.

Heal up fast, I'm glad you're safe enough to type this.
Lith, you're insane for going to line up again. Hot damn.

There was no avoiding todays pileup unless you were in front of it. Typically, when people fall down in front of me, I have a moment of extreme clarity, where everything slows down and either there is a way through or not. Today, there was not, it was body or bike. I dont know which I hit, but when I went down, I skid, tucked and rolled to put my back to the field so that all the dudes that ran into me, at least 2, were hitting me in the back and helmet as opposed to the front.

Free lap. woot!

>>what do you do when a crash happens in front of you<<

Kick yourself for not racing closer to the front of course. If you're racing right all the crashes happen behind you. Ask Lance.

Ask Lance.

Yeah.

Specifically about the 15th stage of the tour in '03.

Kind of strange, but I've never been behind a crash.

EDIT: I just remembered that a guy crashed in front of me in my first MTB race. I pulled up the front and rode over his rear triangle in a half-bunny hop. No time for any other reaction -- he wasn't too happy since his leg was still under the bike.

Steve, I have no answer to the question in your original post other than to say that when a crash happens in front some of the time you're gonna go down. But I had to chime in and say that your beard is freaking awesome. I'll bet the guys who shared the break with you were wondering if you were going to pull a flask of moonshine out of your jersey pocket.

--Steve

I'll bet the guys who shared the break with you were wondering if you were going to pull a flask of moonshine out of your jersey pocket.

I've almost done that in a race.

Homebrewed beer. Really easy cat. 4 race...got a few odd faces.

Yeah.

Specifically about the 15th stage of the tour in '03.

Remember that big crash on the causeway in France where the entire back half of the peloton went down on the slime? Can't recall which stage that was, but Lance was in front of that one, he stayed upright. Some of his biggest rivals went down and lost minutes on a day where the top 150 guys usually all record the same finishing time.

Steve, I have no answer to the question in your original post other than to say that when a crash happens in front some of the time you're gonna go down. But I had to chime in and say that your beard is freaking awesome. I'll bet the guys who shared the break with you were wondering if you were going to pull a flask of moonshine out of your jersey pocket.

--Steve

one of my teammates has suggested we try to recruit Steve solely because of his Marx style beard. :D

I'm glad you fellows are both OK, that looked like a mess. There was a crash right in front of me in the Master's race that I managed to avoid.

I guess the fact that you can wind up your 11 leading up to the finish and then have so many people going backwards up that "hill" leads to these crashes every year.

p.s. it was very cool to see Steve leading the break for a few laps before I left. Your form is clearly coming together nicely.

I always try to go around the crash while braking as little as possible, since braking inevitably ends up making things worse, as you saw. Just swerve as hard as you have to to avoid plowing into the back of the pile of crashed riders. If someone was overlapping your wheel when you swerved and he goes down, too bad, so sad. Rule no 1 of bike racing is protect your front wheel.

Even if someone is right next to you, swerve and push him! If he's right next to you, its unlikely you or he will crash, just bump a little bit.

I've tried bunny hopping and I have a scar from a 20 stitch gash that shows it doesn't work.

If you are really boxed in and about to hit a bunch of riders on the ground, try to slow down then tuck as you hit so you roll onto your shoulder/back as you go over them. Going over them superman style and bellyflopping is no fun, I've done that too, in the worst case scenario, you face plant, which leads to a bad day.

Typically, when people fall down in front of me, I have a moment of extreme clarity, where everything slows down and either there is a way through or not. Today, there was not, it was body or bike.

And actually that 'moment of clarity' is actually a subconscious assembly of the events after they take place. Your brain can only operate so fast when in a critical situation like that. Your eyes register and collect all the light (data) but your brain can only take snap shots which you put together later to form that moment of clarity. This is why for example when some one dies in a horrific car accident you often hear them say the victim never knew what hit them and its true. Because it happened so fast that the brain never assembled it since the victim died.

Anyway point I am trying to make is 99% of the time you have no choice of what you are doing if an accident happens right in front of you. If your far back enough to find a route then bonus for you but if it happens right in front then you won't have time to decide what to do. But your reaction reflex time, which is a faster 'thought' process, can save your arse, and those moments of clarity are often seen after the fact.

http://www.fluxw.com/debbie.gif

Approves of jfmckenna's post.

i totally had that moment of claritly but then my escape route was closed by other crashers!

pcad, i would have loved to be upfront but i was still recovering from an earlier effort. At this point I wasnt in shape yet to ride up front.

the only good think to come out of this mess is that its going to be easy to lose a few pounds over the next few days since I can barely open my mouth. :D <--- too bad they dont haveo one of these with missing teeth

when i woke up today my left eye had started to swell shut too!

i should try to go to a hockey game

the only good think to come out of this mess is that its going to be easy to lose a few pounds over the next few days since I can barely open my mouth. :D <--- too bad they dont haveo one of these with missing teeth

when i woke up today my left eye had started to swell shut too!

i should try to go to a hockey game

I lost a few teeth right in the middle of a stage race once (picked one up off the pavement and they stuck it back in). A bit intimidating for the other sprinters when I showed up at the start line the next day smilin like a hockey player. Nothin more intimidating than goin into the last turn, against someone you think doesnt give a crap if he comes out of it or not ;) Played that for all it was worth.

Back to the OP, I was tought "aim for the neck its the lowest point", to this day im not sure if that was tongue in cheek or serious.

Lith, it sounds like you were gonna go down no matter what. Were people already yelling? If you were going to have to slam on the brakes, yelling "STOPPING" or "CRASH" may have helped, but then again maybe it wouldn't have... You can't really assume that the people behind you know how to stop a bike as quickly as you, even if they've been forewarned, and were paying attention.

I hope you heal soon.

yeah people were already yelling.