alfredoR

I'm a recreational rider that has been taking cycling more serious since October 2014. I have seen some improvements and with my weight loss I've gotten faster. I'm still learning bike control (can't ride with my hands off the handlebars for long and can't do a track stand)

Anyway, Saturdays I do a group ride that is semi peloton style in the sense that it is about a 54 mile ride with three designated areas for increasing speed. The first section is "the warehouse" which is three laps with a sprint finish and everyone who gets dropped within the three laps waits at the finish. The second is section is a long straight and the third is loop called "el hueco" which consists of another 3 laps with a sprint finish.

I decided to conserve my energy for the "el hueco" section and at least give a strong leadout (the fast guys usually pass me right at the end anyway.)
Anyway, on the last lap, on the last straight away, I'm moving up the field quickly holding a wheel and waiting for an opening so I can empty the tank.
We are taking the right side of one driving lane and a rider from the center of the same lane saw that my train was pulling through and he merged into me hitting me on my body and handlebars sending me flying to the curb. I didn't want to overcompensate and fly back into the group and take out 20+ guys so I ended up in the swale instead. Damage done was a slightly damaged tire, wheel a bit out of true and the braking surface on the front wheel was scuffed (can it be fixed) (and some mulch stain on my Danny Shane jersey I'm not to happy about.) After popping the chain back on i was able to finish the ride back to the car. As for my health, I'm a little sore but if my bike were available I'd be out there this afternoon on a recovery ride. I was lucky.

I was completely blindsided, I never saw the guy coming. I try to stay away from overlapping wheels and I'll stick a hand out and gently pat someone that might be coming up on me and at the point of impact I was vocal, communicating with the rider in front of me that I was going to Go! Maybe I could of yelled "on your right" but I thought that redundant during a bunch sprint. I had to see the video at home to find out who hit me. Looking at the video, the guy came back but never apologized or mentioned it was him.

I'm here for advice and opinions and I want to make this a learning experience and want to be able to avoid or prevent this from happening again. Next time I might not be so lucky with a nice cushy grass swale to land in.

Here is the video, the crash happens just after the 37 minute mark (don't expect anyone to watch the whole video)

Thanks for your time.


https://youtu.be/oWDa1gtir_o?t=37m

ColaJacket

A cheap pump in his spokes on the next ride should show him what you think of him.



GH

Elvo

Why is everyone squirreling all over the place?

RPK79

That was my take away, too.

Andy Somnifac 

Cinzano!

alfredoR

I have no idea. There are usually better guys up front. I guess fatigue. I was disappointed because I felt like I had some in the tank to really push the pace, we were halfway there.

asiantrick

It seems like no one is staying on their lines, everyone squirreling around everywhere. There are so many dangerous maneuvers in this group ride. I would find another group if I were you.

BTW, nice jersey bro, I have the same one lol

Deontologist

Why is the group taking up the space of two lanes? Why are most of the riders in the center turn lane of all lanes?!

Find a better group to ride with.

ETA - I noticed further in the video that some riders were even in the opposing lane. Wow. A group that takes all 3 lanes on a roadway. I definitely say find a better group of riders and not a bunch of posers with Cosmics and Madones.

rms13

Super crazy crosswinds??? But yeah, not one person seems to be able to keep their line. Find a new group

alfredoR

Thanks. I've built up a sweet Damny Shane collection. Have 10 jerseys and 2 bibs for weekend only rides.

Definelty need to find another ride in south Florida. Any recommendations?
As for the lanes, its a warehouse type area little no traffic (although out of habit I stay out of oncoming lanes)

TenSpeedV2

What kind of bike is the gentleman right in front of you on? He has a blue jersey with the high viz socks and helmet. Hard to get a good look at it.

hack

Looks like mr Bike World liked the wheel you were on and decided he'd take it. As a learning tool, you could pull a few of those guys aside and practice some bumping drills. In your video, you're basically in a race scenario and bumping drills go a long way in staying safe in a race. Take three of your good best bike riding buddies (wear shoddy kits), go out to a nice big grassy area and while riding slowly at first, bump eachother. Bump shoulders, hips, bars, etc. You will crash doing this, so do it on grass. Get comfortable making contact and reacting to contact, learning how to counter balance your weight, and so on. With that level of comfort, as mr Bike World comes into you, you'd have have the ability to lean back in on him to not only preserve you spot on that wheel, but also keep yourself from hitting the deck.

edit: search posts by @carpediemracing as he'll have plenty of stuff (writeups and video) on contact comfort.

banerjek

I'm with the others here -- those guys are lunatics. Riding close and fast is safe enough, but when people move about like a swarm of bees, it's time to drop back if you don't want to crash on a regular basis.

alfredoR

If you pause it at 37:25, the fork looks like a Pinarello or Chinarello I guess. No decals

alfredoR

Thanks for the direction. I'm working on my bike control during the week. No hands, communication, close quarters, bumping shoulder to shoulder with friends. I'm really good about being aware of my surroundings and not taking someones spot and holding my line, almost to a fault because some people like to take your wheel. I wasn't prepared to be pushed so hard from my spot. I've been nudged before and have put my shoulder out to absorb a nudge but I have to see it coming. But like I said I'm nowhere near race level, I just wanted to push myself safely in a spirited sprint.. I really hope he didn't do that on purpose and he just forgot to check his side. I can handle a nudge-like incidental contact but not that. If he would have accelerated into the spot in stride I would have seen him coming and conceded the spot but I was surprised.

Deontologist

If you want to keep riding with this group I would stick in the back. Behind everyone​.

hack

It probably wasn't intentional on their part, just an accidental swerve/lean/whatever. Looked like their speed was dropping/dropped considerably and at worst they were looking to jump into your faster moving train and didn't check for oncoming traffic. The more you do the drills the more comfortable you'll get and it will become a natural reaction when you're not expecting contact.

FIVE ONE SIX

that's one of the most dangerous groups of riders i've ever seen...

motorthings

or maybe far ahead?

alfredoR

Yeah, looking back it is rather sketchy. I need to find a group with a nice pace line to practice in.

Here is a clip from last month of the same last turn and straightaway but with better riders up front. I led some guys that I know up to the front and was able to give it my all that time. There was a headwind in this video.

https://youtu.be/mj-uxS4lfAY?t=31m50s Does it still look as squirrelly? For comparison, does anyone have a video of their group ride with intermittent max efforts should look like? Aside from charity rides and my weekly training rides, this is all I've experienced.

alfredoR

I'm not fast enough.

DinoShepherd

Dig it. There is so much stupid going on there it hurts.

To the OP. Here is your lesson for the day: always leave yourself an out. Trying to pass next to the curb is stupid.

Doesn't seem like the dude who clipped you even knew you were there. Remember, if someone else has your bars, they own your @ss.

gregf83 

Here's a real race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ6LBWv_jbI

Jiggle

Wow, just wow. What a bunch of squirrely ****ers. This is a training film for what not to do.

fastk9dad

I agree with everyone else that it looks like a dangerous group ride. Seems like there are a lot of different abilities out there and less experienced are the cause of all the squirrellyness. It almost look as the guy that hit you was moving over because someone else might have been moving over on him.

People need to be predictable in groups like that or accidents will happen. The only thing predictable from what I saw was that it was mostly unpredictable. Passing on the right like that is a bad idea, if your hole closes... well you know what happens.