Nachoman

I belong to a large local club. It’s not uncommon for 100 cyclists to show up on Saturday morning. Many of the cyclists appear to be typical weekend warriors. Strong but lacking in skilz.

Over the years, I’ve seen, and heard about, a lot of accidents on these club rides. I’ve avoided many myself, simply by paying closer attention to squirrely riders.

I’d guess that there is one crash about every other month. That adds up quickly over the years.

Are there a lot of accidents on your group rides? Maybe this is all business as usual.

Urthwhyte

This is my first year riding, with a club or otherwise, and since March there have been two crashes that I know of. One was caused by someone not paying attention and riding straight into a traffic calming measure and only took out him. The other had someone come unclipped during a sprint and ended with four ambulances and five broken collarbones as well as quite a few damaged bikes.

Yaniel

i went about 8 months without seeing a single crash on my rides. In the past 2 months I've seen about 10 riders go down. in about 4 crashes and I've heard of many more. Maybe it's a summer thing.

Seattle Forrest

I haven't seen many crashes. The most recent was at a Critical Mass ride ( imagine that, right? ) when this girl's brakes failed on a winding descent. She bounced off the ground like it was nothing!

zstjohn

No crashes on my club rides for the past 2 months. except for someone who ran into my back wheel at 2 mph lol....

rm -rf

I've heard about a few dog-->collarbone crashes this year. Otherwise, the "B" level rides seem pretty safe.

robncircus

There have been 3 on rides I've been on with the club. The first was maybe a year ago when a rider hit a trash can. The folks up front called it out, those ni the middle did not, by the time he saw it he was on top of it.

There were two last week on the Thursday ride. First was someone who didn't know the route and missed a turn thus causing another to go down. The other one the guy was turning but swung wide and took someone out.

Overall though our rides are fairly safe.

redtires

While I haven't ridden in a club in quite some time, when I did...we were pretty safe. Crashes happened, but not with regularity or for dumb reasons. I guess I was pretty lucky though...in both clubs I rode with. Most of us knew each other pretty well and each other's riding habits. And, quite honestly, if someone started showing up doing something stupid. We simply ignored them until they went away. Sometimes it was one ride, others it took a couple of weeks before they didn't come back.

MajorMantra

In all the riding I've done with my current club (not counting races), the only time I've been present at the scene of a crash was when it was me eating asphalt.

Luckily I didn't take anyone out as I went down.

Phil85207

I just don't do club rides any more, either there is someone on the ride who thinks everyone needs his knowledge or there is someone who likes to run lights and zips though cars and takes a lane when not necessary, you know the type. Then they seem to all turn into a race, and maybe I am on a recovery ride, or want to stop to take a picture or something. I just find it easer to do my own thing and just do events with a group.

GP

I'm surprised you guys don't have any deaths from pulling onto 101 from the coffee stop in Solana Beach.

robertkat

They trickle out one at a time and regroup at the light? I've never seen nor heard of any crashes in our club. There is, however, a certain local club that seems to be pretty good at crashing, regardless of the size of the group.

GP

who?

Oh, wait. I know.

BarryJo

We've had a couple on our tuesday night ride.
Mostly by guys riding up on the left of the wheel in front of them, touching said wheel, and going down.
But I've only seen that twice in the past 4 years.
Other than that it's mostly riders falling over when not being able to unclip fast enough when the ride suddenly slows/ stops. (yes, that'd be me on a couple of occasions)

leooooo

Why not educate them instead?

agoodale

I'm not one to name names but does that team's name rhyme with EssDeeBeeSee?

roccobike

Wrecks are rare here. I ride with three clubs, two during the week, one on the weekends.
I've been with the weekend club for four years. They typically have 40-60 riders and all are extremely disciplined. They've had one wreck due to crossing a rear wheel (no damage or injuries) and one wreck due to a dog coming out of nowhere and charging a double pace line and that's all.
I've only ridden with the THursday club for two years, but no wrecks with a group of about 25 bikes. The Tuesday group only has a dozen bikes, so far no wrecks.

Yaniel

well group rides aren't really the place to do a recovery ride or stop and take pictures. both of those rides should always be done solo.

Yaniel

many people react badly to "being educated" because sadly many people think they already know everything.

robertkat

I was thinking about the other one that starts with an "s" and is based a bit more north.

leooooo

Good point.
Sad point.
True point.

Nachoman

There's really not much margin for error right there.

OldLog

Usually it is the so called educator that think they know it all. best not to give advice unless asked.

enjoi07

so...i am assuming this is what helped to set this thread off because i discussed it with nacho. i was contemplating this ride since i had my first saturday off in forever. i posted a little invite on facebook to see who wanted to come along and i got a few "be very, very careful" responses. another response was "matter of fact, forget that ride and do the ride 'that starts with an "s" and is based a bit more up north' ".

these are some of the safest and well organized rides...pro's including horner were raised on the rides with this club and in fact he came out last season to join in. there are of course crashes...but when your group ride becomes synonymous with crashes as EssDeeBeeSee has become...i think it is a problem

what is the difference between the two?

a) the "s" group rides safer roads.
b) the "s" group is a lot harder/faster which gives them a more c) elitist reputation and discourages riders who may not be up to par.

so this is how things go...

weekend warrior: "hey i think i'm going to try out the "s" ride"
seasoned vet: "i dont know man, it's known as one of the toughest group rides in the nation, they are fast, you will be dropped. you should go for the EssDeeBeeSee "B" ride, they are nice guys!"

now, in this case being "nice" pretty much means that group does not do too much talking...including yelling, which as we all know is necessary for group rides

the "s" riders have no problem telling you whats up, as they know it is in the best interest of the group.

Nachoman

Good call. You are exactly right.