"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Good take on crashing

I don't read the cyclingnews.com blogs much, but this was a good write up by Millar.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/david-millar/the-insiders-guide-to-crashes

Interesting read. And timely as I had my first wreck experience on Saturday. Cause was number 5 and it was me.

82 miles in. Fatigue buliding. Just slid up on the guy in front of me. The pace was a lot less smooth at that point. I was trying not to brake so I just slid off to the right side of his wheel to pick up a little wind resistance. Then he starts sliding to his right and I get crowded against the roadside. Try to feather brakes and slow down sloooowwwly. Too slow. Touched wheels and down I go. Luckily I'm the only one that went down. My fault. I didn't protect my front wheel. Next time if I find myself sliding up on a wheel I'll make damn sure to do it on the other side to avoid being crowded again. Lesson learned.

how can one put "good" and "crashing" in the same sentence?

I went down for the first time on Friday while winding up a sprint. As such, I can relate to a lot of what he experienced.

I just finished off another season without crashing. I slid a few times, rubbed tires a bunch, got pushed a lot, barely missed a hay bale, wheel chopped, surfed grass, but always stayed up. No in-race crashes since 1994.

I just finished off another season without crashing. I slid a few times, rubbed tires a bunch, got pushed a lot, barely missed a hay bale, wheel chopped, surfed grass, but always stayed up. No in-race crashes since 1994.

:beer:

I got shoved into a fence in a crit early this season, but aside from that it's been pretty uneventful here too. That kind of "boring" is good.

Yeah, I think I'm more lucky than skilled. My time will come, I'm sure. I seem to make up for it with a bad training crash every couple years.

Good story from Millar though. Not much you can do in that situtation.

As I rolled to the line for Monday's crit I looked around and noticed all the bandages and ripped skin. I thought to myself that more was to follow. The course had already sent a kid to the hospital with head injury's and I figured it would claim some other victims by the end of our race. Turns out that we must have collectively had the same thought as this was about the cleanest race I've done all year. Everyone was on their best behavior.

One thing I've noticed in the cat 3/4, or 4 races I've done that seem to add to the risk of crashing is that guys will fight for wheels 5 min into a crit or 1mile into a road race. Honestly if someone is really that desperate to get a wheel that early I just let him have it. I won't waste the energy that early on and inevitably that person is somewhere of the back by mid race. The other thing that happens at this level (cat 3/4) is that generally the races aren't hard enough to dislodge the guys who aren't really strong. They hang around till the end and are so crosseyed from oxygen debt that they can barely ride their bikes. This causes a lot of contact and brake grabbing which leads to wheels touching and bikes hitting the deck.

This causes a lot of contact and brake grabbing which leads to wheels touching and bikes hitting the deck.

What is the proper response if someone (or several) in front of you do this other than to grab a fistful yourself. I had it happen this year and the chain reaction ended in a crash way in the back. I heard it but never saw it. I feel kinda guilty but at the time it was either that or plow into the guys in front who were grabbing their brakes.

That's kind of the point: if nobody brake grabs in front of you, you don't need to worry about it. All you can do is either not be the first guy to grab, or look far enough up that you don't have to. That's all out the window if someone in front of you has a freak out.

"it happens."

http://www.kokeshnet.com/wordpress/wp-content/forrest-gump-running-beard.jpg

That's sort of what I thought but I guess it's alot to hope for in a 4/5.

That's sort of what I thought but I guess it's alot to hope for in a 4/5.

It will only get slightly better in the 3's.

I came really close to getting my front wheel taken out tonight. I had an "out", but by taking it I lost contact with the pack and suffered like a dog for a long time. At least it was a good workout.

It will only get slightly better in the 3's.


In all of my races that have included 3's, I was begging for someone to grab some brake.

"it happens."

http://www.kokeshnet.com/wordpress/wp-content/forrest-gump-running-beard.jpg


nice , good call :D

It will only get slightly better in the 3's.

I would have to disagree. At least in this area. The move from 4's to 3's was amazing for me. I've never been so comfortable moving through the field in my life.

It will only get slightly better in the 3's.

I've noticed that the higher the category, the more spectacular crashes but the less people involved.

I've noticed that the higher the category, the more spectacular crashes but the less people involved.

Makes sense. People doing stupid things just at higher speed, and less people over reacting.

UD

I've noticed that a lot of times crashes are like magnets... sometimes people behind the riders that originally went down freak out, stare at the crash and head straight for it instead of going into the grass or swerving around it.

It got a lot smoother but there are still a few sketchy riders around here in the 3's. No where near as bad as the 4's were though where you can still run into people that only come out to race once in a blue moon.

rubbernecking a crash almost always leads to more crashes.