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The Most Horrible Crash You’ve Seen All Day

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I don’t like watching other cyclists crash but this video, this one held me transfixed. Apparently, racing elbow to elbow in a peleton (especially in a Cat 4) can be just as dangerous as racing downhill bikes.

According to the YouTube poster, the first rider to crash was up and walking after the incident, but was taken to the hospital afterwards just in case.

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22 Comments
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Ken
Ken
12 years ago

Frank GO!

Xris
Xris
12 years ago

The crack of carbon sends a chill up the spine.

ESL
ESL
12 years ago

There wasn’t even anyone close to the guy. Good example of your fitness exceeding your bike handling skills.

Cam
Cam
12 years ago

Go Greg, go Greg, go Greg, GOOOOO!!!!

Gène
Gène
12 years ago

I think most downhill riders are more capable handling a bike than most roadies. Anyway, I think the first rider spent two angels during that crash

JeroenK
JeroenK
12 years ago

Kind of disturbing to see the public rushing to get those barriers up instead of helping the fallen riders…

gofrank
gofrank
12 years ago

GO frank Go GO

jpb
jpb
12 years ago

they were lifting the barriers because there’s a rider underneath. You can see his feet.

Chris
Chris
12 years ago

I’d blame the course organizers for poor layout, and/or the first rider for not reviewing the course (I’m assuming here that it’s a crit). He was coming through that turn WAAAAAAY too fast.

Huffman
Huffman
12 years ago

Looks like rider #2 wouldn’t have made the turn either.

Tom
Tom
12 years ago

ESL – Do you know the layout of this course or do you know this corner? It’s a downhill left hander and the rider slid out on manhole cover before the videoframe. Moron.

dicky
12 years ago

I will be posting some judgmental assumptions of my own as soon as I can get my head up my a**.

satisFACTORYrider
satisFACTORYrider
12 years ago

anything coulda happened before he came into frame…but let’s be honest, more care about grams, wattage, and aerobic intervals than bike handling drills at this level. who do you know that practices cornering and descending? sure the learning curve might put you in the hurt locker…

Champs
Champs
12 years ago

Why I Don’t Race: Part 1 of 36.

You know, besides the mid-pack finishes.

balayeur
balayeur
12 years ago

if you watched the other videos from that race, that manhole cover took some people out, grip tape over that next year should solve that problem

fuzzbuzz
fuzzbuzz
12 years ago

Hope everyone is okay or recovered by now. That was nasty.

Gillis
Gillis
12 years ago

I’m just gonna say that at the local weeknight crit, 4## level race numbers are given to Cat 4’s.

Patrick
Patrick
12 years ago

Just thought I would throw in my two cents as I was in this race (I’m in the neon trimmed shorts when the video is stopped)! Yikes, the video doesn’t do the sound justice. I had a team mate in parking lot 2 blocks away who heard the sound…it was sickening.

This is the Cat4 crit, and obviously yes everyone was moving way too fast through that last corner. I think the course was definitely not as safe as it could have been. The finishing stretch was located on the main street of town. The video is from the final turn of the race, corner four, which was slightly down hill, and also had a manhole cover located right near the apex. I think the organizers felt pressure to put the finish on the main street with all the store fronts…but the ironic thing was that the first turn of the course was a nice sweeping left hander…onto a road that was 4 lanes wide! Not one and a half like the main street.

As for the leader (first crasher), he can definitely handle his bike…as he had raced with me at Battenkill a few weeks before. This was just a bad case of trying to get a run into the sprint, and a less than ideal course layout. His bike was obliterated. The fork was sheared in half, and the same happened to his front wheel (a zipp 404). A lot of people were carrying their bikes out after that one….

Inspector Gadget
Inspector Gadget
12 years ago

If you watch the Cat 3 and Pro last lap videos from the same race you’ll notice a wall of hay bales placed along the barriers right where the Cat 4 crash happened. Organizer lesson learned the hard way.

dave
dave
12 years ago

this is why I don’t race crits. I don’t get it, these guys all have to work on monday. why take these kinds of risks?

Patrick
Patrick
12 years ago

Crashes happen…it is part of our sport, and it is endemic through all levels of our sport, and through all disciplines. To pretend that they only happen at one level or in one style of racing is naive. I have seen crashes happen on a straight flat stretch of road in the Tour de France, does that mean the pros don’t know how to handle their bikes? No!

The key with any accident is to analyze the cause and try to make adjustments in your riding to prevent it in the future. Was it something you did, or a particular feature of the course, something another rider did? Whatever the reason, if you continue racing or riding long enough, the law of averages WILL catch up to you.

Tommy Nickels
Tommy Nickels
12 years ago

Dave,
Their are two reasons I race despite the crashes:
1. Most crashes look a lot worse than they are. Immobile objects are the worst culprit, but for most other crashes you leave with just road rash.
2. I’m crazy.

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