Pete,
I sympathize with you. I never even saw a crash when I was in cat 5 and so far twice in cat 4 races ive participated in there have been 3+ crashes. Just about every single one of these crashes was on a straight away too. Ive been very lucky to only be involved in one crash so far.
The crash that took me out was on a very non technical course and to make it worse it happened on the part of the course where most people were recovering, a place you would think would be safest. To make things worse it wasnt my fault and there was nothing I could do. I couldnt even react because we were going so fast and it was the guy directly in front of me that went down and took me out.
The worst part about this crash is that its taken me off the bike for several weeks. The first thing I realized while being off the bike is that biking is about all I do these days. Now Im sitting around the house trying to figure out how to pass time until I can go out riding again. That sucks. What ive realized recently is there is a possiblity my arm will never regain full strength and motion. Yikes.
Im planning on racing again as soon as possible. My problem is that I am never racing to win money. Im racing to beat my peers and attempt to be the best and that will always drive me to go as hard as I can and take risks.
I am already nervous about my first race back. I dont know what its going to feel like lining up or seeing someone riding sketchy. I didnt learn much from my accident. The guy I was following and went down was riding smoothly. He wasnt all over the place or anything like that. He just made a simple mistake that will be hard to look out for in other races. I cant avoid that.
Most likely my racing style and training will change. I will probably be in the front and attack a lot since its harder for someone to take you out if they are behind you.
I will also probably be more selective in my choice of races. To this point ive raced about 20 times this year and that was in every race I could attend, sometimes racing twice in a day. I never cared about the course or the field, if there was competing to be done I was there. Next year I may only do the courses I thought were fun and interesting. Im missing out on a lot of the good races this season because I got taken out in an industrial park. I hate that.
As much as I want to upgrade to 3 and then maybe 2 one day I may just race masters events instead.
Its funny. My other hobby is skateboarding in pools and vert which is also very dangerous but because I mainly only have to worry about hurting myself and not someone else hurting me I look at it entirely different.