Ow. Ow ow ow. B*ll*cks.

964cup

Half-way through a 100k group ride today, all going very nicely indeed. Trundling along at 32k (says Strava). Hit some diesel, rear wheel goes out from under me without warning. Big crash. Half the peloton come down - I watch someone's bike fly over my head. Too much damage to me & bike to continue safely - limped to Watton and took the train home. Been recuperating and reviewing the damage since. The toll so far is: right arm skinned from wrist to shoulder, right hip skinned and big oedema, various other grazes and bruises, black eye; 9070 RD & shifters, mech hanger all knackered and handlebars broken; mitts and jersey destroyed, knee warmers holed. About £900 so far in replacement costs; I hope Rapha's repair service comes through for the jersey.

Wonder if I'd have stayed up if I'd not gone out on the summer wheels & tyres...

That is all.

Rigga

Ouch, sounds like a bad one. Get well soon.

DKay

Sympathies dude. Heal well.

Moonbiker

You gonna have to pay out for the other people you took down also?

Hope you are insured :?

EDIT: Sorry that sounded abit a harsh, was just wodering if one crashes could possibly cause 5K bike damage or something, how would insurane etc claiming work in that scenario?



Reminds me I should renew my BC insurance. :oops:

jgsi

Moonbiker wrote:

You gonna have to pay out for the other people you took down also?

Hope you are insured :?

EDIT: Sorry that sounded abit a harsh, was just wodering if one crashes could possibly cause 5K bike damage or something, how would insurane etc claiming work in that scenario?



Reminds me I should renew my BC insurance. :oops:

errr... why?

Moonbiker

Why what?

norvernrob

Ouch When I got home today my mate messaged me, we'd split up to go home a couple of miles out and he came off crossing some tram tracks. He's currently in A&E as he's really hurt his wrist.

jgsi

Moonbiker wrote:

Why what?

pay for others I meant .. Op has had some massive painful misfortune ..a riding incident can happen to us all.. any time.. any place... no need for this compensation culture.
Not that BC are going to stump up and pay for repairs to other people's bikes .. no way . not a fat chance

crikey

What's with all the sympathy?
Whenever I've fallen off I have been subjected to instant piss-taking and at least 6 months of being reminded of my ineptitude.
Standards have fallen, that's all I can say...

jgsi

crikey wrote:

What's with all the sympathy?
Whenever I've fallen off I have been subjected to instant piss-taking and at least 6 months of being reminded of my ineptitude.
Standards have fallen, that's all I can say...

but the scars remain as opportunities to embellish the story telling in the dressing rooms up and downthe country

964cup

crikey wrote:

What's with all the sympathy?
Whenever I've fallen off I have been subjected to instant piss-taking and at least 6 months of being reminded of my ineptitude.
Standards have fallen, that's all I can say...

Oh don't worry. That's happening on Strava as we speak.

Still bloody hurts, though, so thanks to those who offered sympathy. As for the insurance question, what the actual f? Bizarre that we've come to this.

crikey

Oh don't worry. That's happening on Strava as we speak.

This comforts me in a keeping-up-traditions kind of way.

Get well soon!

jgsi

964Cup wrote:

crikey wrote:

What's with all the sympathy?
Whenever I've fallen off I have been subjected to instant piss-taking and at least 6 months of being reminded of my ineptitude.
Standards have fallen, that's all I can say...

Oh don't worry. That's happening on Strava as we speak.

Still bloody hurts, though, so thanks to those who offered sympathy. As for the insurance question, what the actual f? Bizarre that we've come to this.

well we havnt really, but new people to cycling will often not understand that riding incidents are as such and no need for pre nuptials if damage occurs.... you just have to suck it up... but the cost of my even a small off can be very disturbing if you want things back as they were.

oscarbudgie

next time someone posts a 'do i need a winter bike' thread they can be referred here

pinno

oscarbudgie wrote:

next time someone posts a 'do i need a winter bike' thread they can be referred here

He hit diesel not snow.

dilatory

What are summer tyres? Surely they're more grippy? Unless you have some hard compound tyres that react with oil and diesel to make a sticky glue...

Anyway, at the risk of sounding like a twat, don't ride what you can't replace as they say!

hector88

dilatory wrote:

W
Anyway, at the risk of sounding like a fool, don't ride what you can't replace as they say!

Only ever heard 'don't race what you can't replace', the logic being that crashes are very common in race...

pinno

dilatory wrote:

What are summer tyres? Surely they're more grippy? Unless you have some hard compound tyres that react with oil and diesel to make a sticky glue...

Anyway, at the risk of sounding like a fool, don't ride what you can't replace as they say!

That's right - when I am out riding the winter bike, I think to myself, 'If anything goes wrong, I have the summer bike for spares'. When I am out riding the summer bike, I think to myself, 'If anything goes wrong...'

Speckled

pinarello001 wrote:

oscarbudgie wrote:

next time someone posts a 'do i need a winter bike' thread they can be referred here

He hit diesel not snow.

tlw1

Speckled wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

oscarbudgie wrote:

next time someone posts a 'do i need a winter bike' thread they can be referred here

He hit diesel not snow.

Yep called perfectly

veronese68

What if it was winter diesel?

Seriously, hope you heal fast.
Regarding that insurance business I think anyone that expects someone to pay out in those circumstances would soon find nobody is prepared to ride with them. I can understand wanting someone to pay if they'd knocked you off through doing something stupid, but not for a genuine accident like that.

debeli

964Cup wrote:

Half-way through a 100k group ride today, all going very nicely indeed. Trundling along at 32k (says Strava). Hit some diesel, rear wheel goes out from under me without warning. Big crash. Half the peloton come down - I watch someone's bike fly over my head. Too much damage to me & bike to continue safely - limped to Watton and took the train home. Been recuperating and reviewing the damage since. The toll so far is: right arm skinned from wrist to shoulder, right hip skinned and big oedema, various other grazes and bruises, black eye; 9070 RD & shifters, mech hanger all knackered and handlebars broken; mitts and jersey destroyed, knee warmers holed. About £900 so far in replacement costs; I hope Rapha's repair service comes through for the jersey.

Wonder if I'd have stayed up if I'd not gone out on the summer wheels & tyres...

That is all.

My sympathies; crashing is unpleasant and hurty - and worse when you skittle several others with you. I hope your recovery is swift.

Diesel is an interesting thing - it is a bane for cyclists and motorcyclists. Sometimes you can smell it, but often you can't. But it tends to live in particular places on the roadscape... at places where a swinging HGV with full tanks might splash it. Sadly, this in often on bends and roundabouts... Such is life.

I quite like your 'full race' definition of the group as a 'peloton'. I'm not sure I'd describe a training ride like that, but I may be stuck in the dark ages.

I'm sure your group is experienced and that I don't need to say this to you, but for less experienced riders thinking of heading out as a group, it's worth having a couple of wise, old owls at the sharp end - looking for things like shiny tarmac and the pong of diesel and such. They can then indicate it and give the following group a better chance of missing it.

Similarly (and this is often unrealistic in a chaingang situation) it is worth considering the eventuality of a sudden mishap when riding in a group. Strictly speaking, you are not in a peloton, the roads are not closed and you are on a public highway. Would anyone drive cars or ride motorcycles so close together that a fall or skid would skittle half the group? No. But we do it (I've done it) on bicycles.

We say (and I've said) that we do it because we know what we're doing and we take it very seriously.... And yet when excrement and Ventaxia collide, there is a big pile of bikes and (potentially) the risk of harm to other road users. I'm not preaching; I've ridden like that myself and still would if I had it in my legs... But if we saw powered vehicles doing so, many of us would be screaming about safety.

I realise the OP will know this anyway... and as a fellow offender I am not preaching, but speed, proximity, shared highways and other unpredictable variables do not make a good combination.

964cup

Debeli wrote:

Diesel is an interesting thing - it is a bane for cyclists and motorcyclists. Sometimes you can smell it, but often you can't. But it tends to live in particular places on the roadscape... at places where a swinging HGV with full tanks might splash it. Sadly, this in often on bends and roundabouts... Such is life.

That was the odd thing. I was aware that the road surface was a bit treacherous - still damp in the shade etc - and had been having some rear tyre slip when cornering, but this was in a straight line. The road was in shadow and I think it was just the combination of camber and precipitated diesel that took me out. The reference to "summer wheels" is because I was on S-Works Turbo tubs (at 120psi) for the first time this year, having been on Paves (at 90f/100r psi) until now. I've had no traction problems with the Paves even in the depths of winter on wet muddy roads. We always spot for hazards if we're on the front, and I was third wheel, so I must have been particularly unlucky.

I quite like your 'full race' definition of the group as a 'peloton'. I'm not sure I'd describe a training ride like that, but I may be stuck in the dark ages.

Sadly, the name of our club is the Muswell Hill Peloton. We don't take ourselves very seriously, however.

Similarly (and this is often unrealistic in a chaingang situation) it is worth considering the eventuality of a sudden mishap when riding in a group. Strictly speaking, you are not in a peloton, the roads are not closed and you are on a public highway. Would anyone drive cars or ride motorcycles so close together that a fall or skid would skittle half the group? No. But we do it (I've done it) on bicycles.

We've all been saying this to each other for some time, usually though with reference to the Saturday AM Regent's Park chaingang, when we're regularly hitting 50k coming past the Mosque, with up to 20 riders doing through and out. Until now, we've got away with it, but a line of riders nose to tail no more than a hands-breadth apart was bound to go wrong some time... Of course, if we rode further apart, we wouldn't go as fast. Which would be awful :oops:

I realise the OP will know this anyway... and as a fellow offender I am not preaching, but speed, proximity, shared highways and other unpredictable variables do not make a good combination.

Quite. So far, as far as I know, the damage from this one is all soft tissue and wallet, but we were lucky - at least one rider broke his helmet and how I got away without a broken collarbone remains a mystery to me.

Daz555

Moonbiker wrote:

You gonna have to pay out for the other people you took down also?

Hope you are insured :?

Twaddle. I have never heard of anyone trying to claim damages in such a manner. The manner the OP went down could happen to anyone at any time.

If we start thinking about compensation in this manner then group rides are dead. I would not even consider riding with anyone who'd tried to get money out of someone for an accident.

Debeli wrote:

Diesel is an interesting thing - it is a bane for cyclists and motorcyclists. Sometimes you can smell it, but often you can't. But it tends to live in particular places on the roadscape... at places where a swinging HGV with full tanks might splash it. Sadly, this in often on bends and roundabouts... Such is life.

It is a right pain and those spilling diesel about the road need jail in my view - if we could catch the selfish fools responsible.

I have come close on a few occasions to dropping my motorcycle due to diesel but have managed to get away with a bum-clenching wobble instead. A bicycle though - no chance of staying up when the grip starts to go.

The time the roads are worst is the first rain after a long dry spell - it brings all the oily crap up from the road surface.

MountainMonster

Re: compensation. I'm sure the whole group will let anyone looking for compensation know that compensation is not provided in these instances since you are a big group riding closely together at speed.

To the OP: good recovery for both yourself and the bank account.

Smokin Joe

In legal terms the riders who came off after the OP crashed were the ones at fault. You are duty bound to stay a distance behind the vehicle in front that would enable you to pull up safely should that vehicle have to stop suddenly. You draft the guy in front at your own risk and even if he brakes for no apparent reason any collision is down to you.

One of the primary rules of the road.

veronese68

Smokin Joe wrote:

In legal terms the riders who came off after the OP crashed were the ones at fault. You are duty bound to stay a distance behind the vehicle in front that would enable you to pull up safely should that vehicle have to stop suddenly. You draft the guy in front at your own risk and even if he brakes for no apparent reason any collision is down to you.

One of the primary rules of the road.

This is of course correct and should apply if some chopper rides into the back of you as he's tried to take a tow as you ride into work. However, if riding in a group as described I think everybody knows the score and these things don't apply. If somebody tried to enforce them I suspect they wouldn't be welcome in groups for much longer.

vinnymarsden

NorvernRob wrote:

Ouch When I got home today my mate messaged me, we'd split up to go home a couple of miles out and he came off crossing some tram tracks. He's currently in A&E as he's really hurt his wrist.

Rob, You don't live in Sheffield by any chance do you?
The tram tracks there are the WORST in the UK..pounded into the road by bus after bus…PERFECT width for a road type…and the owner company give advice on how to cycle on them…cross at a straight on angle!!!
I did…and like your mate..ended up eating the road!!!!!!

pinno

I watched mad Portuguese blokes on fixies hop about over the tram lines in Lisbon. Fair play to them.

norvernrob

VinnyMarsden wrote:

NorvernRob wrote:

Ouch When I got home today my mate messaged me, we'd split up to go home a couple of miles out and he came off crossing some tram tracks. He's currently in A&E as he's really hurt his wrist.

Rob, You don't live in Sheffield by any chance do you?
The tram tracks there are the WORST in the UK..pounded into the road by bus after bus…PERFECT width for a road type…and the owner company give advice on how to cycle on them…cross at a straight on angle!!!
I did…and like your mate..ended up eating the road!!!!!!

Yes mate it is Sheffield! It happened at Manor Top, coming from Ridgeway Road to Prince of Wales. He said he crossed the tracks at right angles, then in a split second he was on the deck. Nothing's broken on him but his wrist is badly bruised. His bike got away with a broken caliper quick release and scrape on the rear mech, lucky as its a £4k Cannondale Hi Mod less than a month old!

awavey

Veronese68 wrote:

Smokin Joe wrote:

In legal terms the riders who came off after the OP crashed were the ones at fault. You are duty bound to stay a distance behind the vehicle in front that would enable you to pull up safely should that vehicle have to stop suddenly. You draft the guy in front at your own risk and even if he brakes for no apparent reason any collision is down to you.

One of the primary rules of the road.

This is of course correct and should apply if some chopper rides into the back of you as he's tried to take a tow as you ride into work. However, if riding in a group as described I think everybody knows the score and these things don't apply. If somebody tried to enforce them I suspect they wouldn't be welcome in groups for much longer.

it doesnt necessarily have to be a chaingang group ride though, sportives inevitably clump alot of people on bikes into similar ability groups who are maybe even less aware of the score or the ins and outs when riding together in groups, and might even be more likely to wipe each other out because they dont recognise the overlapped wheels or try and take fastest lines through corners, spot the obvious issues etc etc.