Did you see it the first time you watched the clip? I didn't. I watched it again. Didn't. The third time I realized where the "leadout guy" was before he got obscured by some of the other riders, and there's no indication that he's going literally 20 or so mph slower than the group. I'd have guessed he was going 30ish (based on the group going 40ish) when I finally spotted him coming back to the group.

I understand that the camera doesn't capture everything. When, in my Naugatuck crit clip, I look back and literally look into the racer's eyes behind me just before the bell lap, the helmet cam I'm wearing only sees the side of the racer next to me. The camera can't capture everything. Even if the camera is pointing in one direction, it doesn't mean the rider is looking the same way. It's impossible to say that umd was doing one thing or another based on the clip - it's only possible to say that his handlebars didn't move much (so he wasn't doing much out of the saddle stuff - he was just sitting and spinning).

Sprinting at 40 mph for 30th place may not be that smart, on a group ride especially.

But simply following wheels on a group ride at 40 mph, that's normal; in fact, it's usually necessary to avoid getting dropped. Gaps grow rapidly when riding at a fast clip - if you get gapped off during a sprint, it's a real bear to get back on, especially with the caliber of riders in this particular ride. There's always "after the sprint" bit of riding, and a lot of times that's a very tough part of a ride, perhaps tougher than the sprint itself. Most of the times I've gotten dropped at Gimbles I got dropped shortly after the first sprint, when I couldn't hang on for the few minutes after the sprint (and this on the short ride). I use a number of tactics to avoid getting dropped, especially if I'm not sprinting. The first tactic is to be as far forward as possible in the group, to buy me "drift back" room as the pace rockets back up (and my pace doesn't). For me, surfing the front end of a group ride is pretty normal.

It's one thing to criticize a rider's actions. That's fine. But it's another thing to make assumptions about motivation, intent, etc, then to base your arguments on those assumptions. Unless umd made a reference to trying to film a particular thing in some other thread/post/site, he's made no reference to trying to get good footage. As a helmet cam person you know that footage comes to you. And just like taking pictures, the more footage you get, the more likely it is that you capture an interesting moment. I, too, wear a helmet cam virtually every time I ride the bike outside. I've captured a lot of interesting things - snake on the course, cars rolling through very red lights (like a few seconds red, not just "barely" red), cars flying through stop signs or no turn on red turns. I've captured a near miss by a truck (less than an inch to my teammate). I didn't go looking for this footage, it just occurred.

Finally, one of the ways to discredit one's position is to issue personal attacks - name calling and the like. It doesn't add to an argument, it doesn't present facts. But it isolates the two sides because the discussion veers from objective matter to subjective/personal stuff.

Ultimately, though, I'm blaming umd, for posting a "base layer as it relates to road rash" topic in the Road forum. Because although road rash is something many road riders experience, they don't want to know about it until it happens. Then we can post our Tegaderm links. But until then, no one wants to know. Road rash is a badge of honor, not an inconvenience. So it's all your fault, umd

cdr