Who's to blame in this crash video?

flasher

Terrible group riding by all, looks like a free for all, someone needs to take charge before there's a bad accident

sniper68

Terrible “group” riding from all.Are you sure you all ride together?Looks like a free for all to me.
Everyone’s at fault for totally cr@p riding.

jgsi

Probably all experienced riders on Zwift.
A game where you can barge thru with no consequences.
Ive been in road races where the general demeanour of the riders has been happy even when you feel like you've gone into a level above the red zone.
Smile a bit more out there an find another collective -- and be very wary of those who do seem to have had a breakfast of droids.

haydenm

Shirley Basso wrote:

That doesn't really look like a particularly hard ride for the riders involved so not sure why velo labs guy decided to shoulder barge the guy in front rather than brake or ride round him.

This. If it was a sprint to the end of a stage of the Tour it might be slightly different.

pblakeney

HaydenM wrote:

Shirley Basso wrote:

That doesn't really look like a particularly hard ride for the riders involved so not sure why velo labs guy decided to shoulder barge the guy in front rather than brake or ride round him.

This. If it was a sprint to the end of a stage of the Tour it might be slightly different.

I’ve seen a few cyclists with the thousand yard stare. Their attitude seems to be “I am a serious rider, riding seriously. I have no time for you”. They are knobs.

svetty

Agree that whole group is a shambles - guys all over the road at varying speeds. I have to say that the guy recording the video may well be most culpable - it looks as if he moves out and passes too close to the guy in front. Veloguy is partially unsighted because he is following the wheel in front and by the time he looks up he is clearly going to contact the rider on the inside. He tries to deviate and this throws his shoulder out as he loses balance and down they all go. Clearly Veloguy should have been more alert and yes the chap he hit should have looked before deviating. The guy in green is probably the initial cause as he slows down and moves left forcing all those behind out into the road.

Overall it's the classic problem where groups don't ride in proper pace lines and some then freewheel downhill with the resulting differential speeds then causing gaps to close and riders then weaving to avoid others.

peat

Name and shame the 'club' and riders.

So everyone can avoid riding with them. Horrible to watch 45s of it, can't imagine actually being with them. Ergh.

webboo

Given the side of the road they are riding on and the weather. It looks to be Aus or Yank land.

imposter2.0

Webboo wrote:

Given the side of the road they are riding on and the weather. It looks to be Aus or Yank land.

They drive on the left in Aus (assuming you mean Australia and not Austria). For what it's worth, 'Velolabs' appears to be based out of Herndon, VA, USA..

Anyway, the OP has gone quiet....

webboo

Imposter wrote:

Webboo wrote:

Given the side of the road they are riding on and the weather. It looks to be Aus or Yank land.

They drive on the left in Aus (assuming you mean Australia and not Austria)..

Anyway, the OP has gone quiet....

Well you learn something everyday.
Maybe Velotabs had been reading about Sagan adjusting his bars by banging them on the rider in fronts back wheel and thought he’d give it ago.

Matthewfalle

Imposter wrote:

Webboo wrote:

Given the side of the road they are riding on and the weather. It looks to be Aus or Yank land.

They drive on the left in Aus (assuming you mean Australia and not Austria). For what it's worth, 'Velolabs' appears to be based out of Herndon, VA, USA..

Anyway, the OP has gone quiet....

i think that may be because we are not giving him the answer he feels his "A" team riders want.

lets hope they are not jailed for a crime they didn't commit.....

cougie

I don't think it's a club. Looks like a collection of guys who have never ridden in a club and learnt all their skills from watching pro races...

Matthewfalle

these guys - RBC? OP was RBCRider.

reston Bicycle Club, Herndon, Virginia

joey54321

bad riding from most people in the clip but having watched it in slow motion I would say its bad riding from the rider in front but the VeloLab that caused that crash and I would def be trying to avoid cycling with him. If he was an 'A' rider he would have dealt with the bad riding WITHOUT causing a crash, that is GOOD bike handling. What he did made it much worse (obviously).

Thigh_burn

Making the big assumption that Mr Velolabs rides locally to Velolabs, then this was in Herndon, Virginia.

I'm still a relative novice to riding in groups, but even I know this is a disaster waiting to happen. Not in pairs, half-wheeling, different speeds, different distances to wheels, no hand signs, no looking over shoulders.

I'd love to know what Mr Velolabs in the seconds before he goes down.

Matthewfalle

even if RBCRider isn't from RBC, some handy tips taken from RBC's site that may help them.


https://restonbikeclub.org/page-1666409

ayjaycee

Only just had a look at this and a second look only served to confirm my gut reaction from the first viewing. I share the same opinion as quite a few others - terrible discipline by everybody in the group. I would however add that IMHO, VeloMan looks to be a right kunt - indeed, if that was a genuinely his opinion post-ride (and crash), he's a double kunt. Had he caused me to crash through such stupidity, I think I might have been having a quite word with him once everybody had been patched up as he seems to be in need of a little attitude adjustment.

svetty

ayjaycee wrote:

Only just had a look at this and a second look only served to confirm my gut reaction from the first viewing. I share the same opinion as quite a few others - terrible discipline by everybody in the group. I would however add that IMHO, VeloMan looks to be a right kunt - indeed, if that was a genuinely his opinion post-ride (and crash), he's a double kunt. Had he caused me to crash through such stupidity, I think I might have been having a quite word with him once everybody had been patched up as he seems to be in need of a little attitude adjustment.

This is a little harsh IMO - he isn't doing anything different to the camera bike except that he was a second or two behind and thus was later arriving at the swerving cyclists in front of him. If he had pulled further over to his left he could have been killed had a car been overtaking the group in the outside lane - he tried to go between the swerving rider on his inside and the white line and didn't quite make it. If any one individual is to blame it is the guy in green who slowed and moved out forcing everyone else to swerve.

DeVlaeminck

It's totally the Velolabs rider's fault - ok maybe someone ahead has slowed without warning but they aren't jamming the anchors on - Velolabs just needs to move out a bit - he pretty much gets close to the rider in front side by side and panics.

As for the riding standards - maybe that's just how people ride over there - looks more like a neutralised zone of a 4th cat road race than a group ride.

peat

Imposter wrote:

Webboo wrote:

Given the side of the road they are riding on and the weather. It looks to be Aus or Yank land.

They drive on the left in Aus (assuming you mean Australia and not Austria). For what it's worth, 'Velolabs' appears to be based out of Herndon, VA, USA..

Anyway, the OP has gone quiet....

When you posted that, it was 4:25am in Herndon, Virginia.

craigus89

Why did he bump him at all, he had 6 feet of room on his left. What a d1ck head.

Matthewfalle

DeVlaeminck wrote:

It's totally the Velolabs rider's fault - ok maybe someone ahead has slowed without warning but they aren't jamming the anchors on - Velolabs just needs to move out a bit - he pretty much gets close to the rider in front side by side and panics.

As for the riding standards - maybe that's just how people ride over there - looks more like a neutralised zone of a primary school cycling proficiency test than a group ride.

ftfy

svetty

Craigus89 wrote:

Why did he bump him at all, he had 6 feet of room on his left. What a d1ck head.

So you would have pulled left into the outside lane of the dual carriageway and into the path of any car overtaking the group from behind at speed then?

kingstongraham

If the group is slowing (and the guy on the left is freewheeling), surely you slow down, you don't just power through and try to ride through someone.

svetty

KingstonGraham wrote:

If the group is slowing (and the guy on the left is freewheeling), surely you slow down, you don't just power through and try to ride through someone.

Agree but he was following the camera bike who was doing the same thing. Had he slammed on he would have likely collected the guy behind him. Agree that he was going too fast and not watching what was going on but still contend it was a whole group situation and that it was the guys in front swerving and slowing that triggered the crash.

craigus89

Svetty wrote:

Craigus89 wrote:

Why did he bump him at all, he had 6 feet of room on his left. What a d1ck head.

So you would have pulled left into the path of any car overtaking the group from behind at speed then?

I would veer out yes, he only needed to move over what a foot. The road looks quiet, I'd hope for a shout if a car was passing from behind, and a car passing that close is unlikely, so if my choices were: a) plough into another rider, or b) move over a tad, I would choose the latter.

Pause it at 52 seconds, he's leaning right into the guy, if he hadn't have leaned he wouldn't have hit him.

kingstongraham

Svetty wrote:

Craigus89 wrote:

Why did he bump him at all, he had 6 feet of room on his left. What a d1ck head.

So you would have pulled left into the outside lane of the dual carriageway and into the path of any car overtaking the group from behind at speed then?

It's my suspicion that any passing car would be even more likely to hit him when he's lying in the road because he tried to ride through someone.

Matthewfalle

its almost like velonob leant on him on purpose because he knows he is on camera and wants to look PRO like on Zwift and tv in the hope that afterwards everyone will go "gee, look at Brett - ain't he PRO" but his intentions have overcome both his and other bloke's abilities which, admittedly, seem extremely limited anyway, leading to them all crashing into each other.

timothyw

Yeah, I don't understand why his reaction to someone slowing up at the front of the group is to try and perform a close overtake of the rider in front of him - close to the point of barging the rider over - he does have the rider in the white jersey pinching him in, but he doesn't know that - he should have either slowed or actually moved around the rider ahead, using the lane to his left - better to risk a crash with a car than to cause one by rear ending a fellow rider.

Green Jersey isn't innocent - was he even part of the group ride or was he being undertaken? With no obvious issue seems very odd that he is slowing down in the middle of the group, rather than pulling off on the kerb side.

The group appears to be too large for the skill level of the participants - should have split into two groups of about 8. More than 12 is pushing it at the best of times, and with the lack of discipline visible in the video it was clearly a recipe for trouble. Reminded me of the sketchier bits of ride london.

Vino'sGhost

LOL velo guy. Total tool he looks like hes livin life as a pro not an opverweight middle aged guy. Tbf he looks like hes not concentrating at all.

Velo guy is a dick. My clubs full of em, reasonably fit, newish to cycling, limited skills carnage.

Accidents happen but that ones because he's not with it I dont need to see what he can see, no traffic is oncoming as evidenced by the rest of the footage and if there were, he shouldlnt have tried to pass and if it suddenly appeared, stop pedaling and drift in.

At the risk of sounding like an old git, there was a time when people joined clubs and learned how to ride in a group. not anymore and it shows. Likewise when those people went to races they werent as bad as the suicidal muppetts i watch now.