Originally Posted by
chummels
In the final 4 laps of the crit, the reckless rider slipped in between another cyclist and myself who were going side by side. First he knocked into the other rider (handlebars to handlebars), then he slammed into me (handlebars to handlebars).
Hold on a minute. One rider's reckless is another's taking advantage of an opportunity. We only have your perspective, but already I know there was more than a handlebars width between you and the rider next to you (or else how could the "reckless rider" slip in there?). To me that's a really big gap. If you leave that big a space, you should expect a rider might move into it. Then there's always the question of who moved into whom. We have your opinion, but that might not be the only one. Finally, everyone should be comfortable enough riding in a group to handle shoulder to shoulder or bar to bar contact. This isn't like someone taking your front wheel out.
My opinion, if there's more than a handlebar width between riders, another rider has every right to move into that space. If there's incidental contact after that, it's just part of racing and not a reckless act.
Before rushing to upgrade out of Cat 5, ask yourself what you could have done differently to avoid that situation. There are plenty, but to start, you could have tightened up the space between you and the rider next to you.