berner

I came across a series of YouTube videos of crashes during group rides. Some crashes are during races and some are during club rides. I think everyone who rides in a group can benefit by seeing some of the videos. In my own club, a typical Sunday ride will have 70 or more riders. Even though the start is staggered, with faster riders going first and the slowest riders (me) going last, it can still seem chaotic. I always leave plenty of room between myself and the bike just ahead so I have time to see the road or react to that bike if necessary.

practical

When riding behind someone, always assume they may have to stop or take an evasive action unexpectedly without warning. If you're not leaving enough space to avoid a collision, you are raiding dangerously. Thanks for posting.

bruce19

I really don't like group rides unless I know the wheels I'm riding with. In a typical group ride I give lots of space.

bruce19

In the video it looks to me like she stops pedaling and he does not. Even if he didn't hear the "slowing" call he should be watching her and note that she stopped pedaling. In my group rides we will also give a hand signal for slowing. I did not see her do that.

AlmostTrick

Over 5 minutes just to see one crash? I feel gypped.

burnthesheep

Racers and hammer rides get the bad rap for crashes, usually due to the speeds and situations they occur in.

However, there's a local pub no-drop ride that about the same time I "graduated up" from that to a new group.........they had a crash 3 weeks in a row. Two crashes within just one of those weeks. Girl broke a collar bone. On a no-drop 15mph pub ride.

People who aren't used to being in tight quarters on bikes, at speed, and don't know the rules/protocols and have no instincts are the problem.

Before I went from "pub group ride" to faster groups, I went to the local slow paceline group knowing the leader was very protective over new riders and great at spending time with them the first time out and teaching them the "norms".

Back to the racers thing. Thing is, you either have "racer instincts" or you don't. You don't have to race to have them. You could be the person in the local slow 50-person deep paceline and have great instincts.

Being exposed to racing and hammer rides though, if you don't have that instinct you WILL be yelled at, made to feel like human filth, and probably not return if you don't get some instincts. People without them either get them or they don't come back. Simple as that.

I think the most dangerous scenario is getting the people without instincts mixed into a large fondo.

A lot of crashes you see in races are caused by outside agitations: dogs, poor course design or signage, person or car onto course, hazard in a corner (sand, debris, etc...).

indyfabz

That's racists.

70 people is a lot. I can usually tell in the first few minutes who to avoid, assuming I am not already familiar with everyone in the group. I have a mental list of people I won't ride near.

A few weekends ago my ex-GF was on a group ride. They stopped to re-group at the top of a hill and some chowder head came up, rear ended her and knocked her over.

AlmostTrick

Oops, I've never thought of the orgins of the word, but now realize you are correct.

Last Saturday I joined a group ride of about 12-14 riders. I rode fixed. Even though I never stopped pedaling, and did have to sometimes slow for riders in front of me, I was never even almost hit. Although if making a quicker stop I did call it out. Riding in groups has its risks, I don't care who you're riding with.

berner

This is true so I try to be extra vigilant on club rides. But actually I have more close calls on the bike path.

REDMASTA

Stop, drop, and roll

TrojanHorse

Hands on the tops or not, if you're about to smack into a very narrow object, do you steer INTO it or steer AWAY from it?

The guy that crashed just wasn't paying attention and potentially is a poor bike handler. Or both.

5 min. to go over that? Wow, somebody likes to hear himself talk.

Kedosto

This only serves to validate my "no group rides" policy. Been there, done that, don't need the scars to prove it. I suppose if anyone wants to call a "group" at 3 riders, then I've violated my own rule, but otherwise, no thanks.


-Kedosto

mcours2006

That's the biggest reason for me to not participate in group rides. I mean, I am sure it would be lots of fun and all, but the increased risk of a crash because of someone else's mistake makes this a no-go for me. I do contemplate it at the start of every season though. I am content puttering along at my own pace on my own time and a route of my choosing.

DrIsotope

This thread prompted me to do some YouTube investigations.

I saw a guy drop and then run over his own water bottle.
I saw a guy half-wheel himself right off the road.
I saw a couple of pedal-strike initiated wrecks.

Then I saw this...

at around the one minute mark, pause it and use < and > to advance/rewind frame by frame.

What the hell happened there? Did he hit something? Did a pinch-flat drop the front tire? How did his foot end up above the saddle?

It raises so many questions.

woodcraft

Chainsuck is my guess. You can kind of see the chain up like it was in the small ring as he crashes.

Milton Keynes

He had plenty of room to swerve to the right and avoid a wreck, but he should have been keeping distance to begin with.

caloso

He had at least a bike length. That's more than enough room for an attentive, experienced rider. My guess is that he a) wasn't paying attention; b) wasn't covering his brakes, so that when he shifted his hands, he jarred the handlebars.; c) reacted too late; d) panic-grabbed way too much brake; and e) once he rubbed wheels, panicked more.

berner

That's the way I read it also. The series of videos much the same thing in all of them - too little too late.

berner

In reading your post your use of the word "attentive" stood out. In an era of short attention spans, the capacity to be attentive for hours at a time during a group ride is less than it ought to be.

Sy Reene

I can't tell for sure, but is that a CF bike?

DrIsotope

Definitely. It looks to me to be a 2014 Colnago C59 Team Edition, which had the blue, red, and green accents on the top tube.

Kedosto

DrIsotope

I think I've watched it in frame-by-frame about a dozen times. And you know what I just noticed? In the screencap, check out that bar angle. I think he hit the lip of that manhole cover, his bars rotated down, and that's all she wrote.

Carbon paste, everybody! Use it!

Kedosto

DrIsotope

I hit the critical bolts on my Cervelo with the Torqkey at least once a week-- stem, seatpost, axles (no QRs.) Bolts trying to hold carbon-on-carbon have this tendency to loosen up over time, I've found.