Casualty rate

term1te

I recently rode the Cyclotour du Leman in Switzerland/France, a very well organised event and good day out. This morning I got an email from the organisers asking for feedback. In their email they said 1420 people started the tour, of whom 1270 finished, and only 5 were hospitalised. Is that good or bad for a nominally non-competitive ride? 180 km, very flat and fast, but heavy rain at the start. I saw a couple of spills one at a railway crossing, now that was slippery, and one just past a feed station. Is 0.35% hospitalised the norm? Are there many other sports with similar rates, how would a marathon compare?

Oh, there was no de-greaser to drink at the end, but lots of cheese.

Bronzie

Presumably that's 5 taken to casualty rather than ending up staying in hospital overnight..............in which case it sounds about right.........even quite a low figure.

As one of the unfortunates to end up in A&E on the Dragon Ride (collarbone not degreaser ingestion) I can vouch that I wasn't the only rider in there............at least 1 other while I was there. In the ambulance ride from where I crashed, we had to stop twice on the same road (Glyn-neath to Neath) to hand out dressings to other crash victims.

Riding a bike in a bunch, whether in full-on race or sportif, has it's hazards. So easy to touch wheels, or like me, get taken out by someone else falling off. You only have to watch the Tour.............these guys are generally brilliant bike handlers and race for a living, but still loads of crashes.

I would say that the standard of riding at sportifs is very variable. At least in a road race, most people know the unwritten rules (don't cross wheels, don't change your line without checking behind etc) although there are always a few in each race (at 3/4 level at least) that seem intent on causing carnage.

A lot of sportif riders seem to rarely ride in a group and are frankly quite dangerous to themselves and others. When you also bear in mind that riding standards get worse when people get tired and lose concentration, it's a recipe for disaster later in the ride when everyone is knackered.