Riding standards / accidents

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  • ongej
    ongej Posts: 118
    I am curious, I have not done track cycling before (mainly because cannot justify yet another bike), but given that you need to pass some course and get some accredition before you are let loose on racing proper, is it a lot tidier and safer racing on track for events that have quite a few riders at the same time?
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Track is certainly a good way of learning racecraft. Interestingly, the winter track league riders are usually the ones hoovering up all the road/circuit points at this time of year... ;)
  • wallace_and_gromit
    wallace_and_gromit Posts: 3,653
    Does anyone have any statistics as to how dangerous Cat 4 road races / crits actually are compared to other sports? (e.g. head injuries per participant hours etc.)

    Racing fatalities seem mercifully rare and most injuries appear to be (anecdotally at least) relatively minor e.g. collar bones, wrists or road rash. Whilst painful and inconvenient, the chances of a swift and full recovery are very high. Head injuries and other series injuries appear (anecdotally, again) very rare.

    I've hit the deck at race speed during club runs twice (ice and oil) and have been back into the fray - albeit with scars and lingering soreness - within a couple of weeks. Similar injury breaks in rugby and football are all too common as well.

    The really serious cycling injuries appear to occur mainly during normal road riding involving cars, or wiping out when descending.

    Or is the concern more related to:

    a) Dangerous riding by others forcing me to take evasive action thus reducing my chances of winning; and/or

    b) Crash damage to bike?

    Re (b) in the 4 crashes that affected my race a couple of weeks ago, one guy lost a lot of skin off his backside, but the other three cause no harm to the riders other than the knowledge that one of their carbon wheels was beyond redemption.
  • grawp
    grawp Posts: 46
    I'd just like to add that my experience as a complete newcomer to the sport has been nothing but positive. I have done a fair bit of mtb racing where crashing is common, so may be a bit less worried about it all, but in my extremely limited experience of 1 crit and 1 road race (last Sunday), but also a regular race training evening at Cyclopark which frankly is way more intense and of mixed age/ability, I have been extremely impressed at the level of bike handling all round.

    Sure there have been knocks and wiggles, some are worse than others. I see it as part of the race to identify the poor riders and get in front of them or keep an eye on them. Actually I quite enjoy the frisson of it all; I race because I want a bit of danger in my life.
    In the road race a guy slid out right in front of me as a shower hit us and I had to take some pretty drastic evasive action but for me (not for him I'm sure) it provided a bit of a thrill.

    Enjoyed the beginning of this thread because people were owning up to rash behavior; we race because we are thrill seekers. There a plenty of safe club rides to be had but as we all know it's not quite the same.
  • bigmat
    bigmat Posts: 5,134
    Personally, I get no thrill from near misses. I race because I enjoy cycling, enjoy challenging myself and see it as the most natural outlet for that. Sure, I get a thrill from riding fast, occasionally contesting a sprint, getting in a breakaway etc. But do I enjoy danger? Not at all. A serious crash would be very costly in so many ways - painful, incapacitating, damage to bike, off work - it really doesn't bear thinking about. I have a family to support so I'm always going to avoid danger, no matter what "thrills" are available. Saying all that, for me road racing is just about managing to stay on the right side of the risk/benefit line. Its a close thing at times though.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/41991871@N ... otostream/
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 9,107
    No I don't really go for the danger bit either, for me it's the physical and tactical challenge not the thrill, I'd much rather get in a race where it's whittled down to a small bunch of experienced riders than sit in a bunch of 100 novices, I get no thrill out of thinking any second someone is going to take half the bunch out!
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • mamba80
    mamba80 Posts: 5,032
    DeVlaeminck wrote:
    No I don't really go for the danger bit either, for me it's the physical and tactical challenge not the thrill, I'd much rather get in a race where it's whittled down to a small bunch of experienced riders than sit in a bunch of 100 novices, I get no thrill out of thinking any second someone is going to take half the bunch out!

    ^This is what racing is about, its not a thrill sport like mountaineering/kayaking, where the risks are born mainly by the individual, mistakes in RR effect many others (including members of the public) who havnt a clue why or what a rider might do and often the chopper who causes the mayhem isn't the one with the busted up shoulder and/or bike.
  • Dark prince
    Dark prince Posts: 19
    Yep,don't get a thrill from crashing,last time I did crash,collarbone bust...resulted in carbon wheels smashed,sram red levers smashed,no pay for 6 wks,and lost lots of fitness..guy who brought me down got a top ten finish :cry: don't do flat bcf circuits anymore,keep to lvrc and tli races fields are usually smaller and hilly bcf races...big fields but gets rid of the hangers on,get in a break :D

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