sgtdirt

during the 'Miss and Out' race tonight, i caused an accident. i feel terrible. nobody was seriously injured but none the less, people got hurt. i was in the sprinters lane and was boxed in. going into the finish line we where going hot and i miss judged my speed and ended up on the apron going into turn one. i got a little confused and not wanting to crash on the infield asphalt, i attempted to ride it out on the apron. this is where it went real bad. instead of going around the turn, i rode up which basically cut the group in half. the rider went down and the race was postponed. the guy i took out was able to walk away and will probably finish out the nights omnium. i left with my head in a not to good place.

what is the protocol for this situation? i apologized to everyone and didn't race the rest of the evening. as a matter of fact, i left as soon as knew the guy was was ok.

will i always be know as "that guy"? will other racers not want to race with me?

this is my third year of track racing and my first Cat4 race.

1incpa

I think we've all been "that guy" once in our racing careers. I know I have.
As long as you learn from your mistakes, you'll be ok. It's the guys that repeatedly do stupid, unsafe things that get a bad rep.
It sounds like you did the right thing by owning your mistake. My advice is to always remember how that felt and don't repeat it.
Try not to be so hard on yourself, we all do stupid stuff on occasion.
PI

colnago62

1incpa

Two other things to remember:
1) The miss and out is a relatively dangerous event. The guys at the front are sprinting through turns 3 and 4 and slow up as they cross the line, the guys in the back are sprinting into the back of that.
Add the fact that people at the back are trying to fit into holes that aren't there and you have a race that will teach you handling skills in a hurry.
2) I don't know if all tracks have the same rules, but at T-Town, if you go onto the blue band during a miss and out, you're out. It doesn't matter why. If the refs see it, you're out.
Hope this helps.
PI

carleton

The miss-n-out is a risky race in general.


I personally think that a personal warm apology is adequate.

Understand that others, not just those who went down or were even in the race, will feel a bit cautious about your riding skills for a while. This is natural and normal. It's not personal. To deal with this simply continue to show up. Warm up with everyone and race. Maybe just sit in for a race night or two and don't contest any sprints. Just show them that you indeed do have good bike handling skills. That will give them confidence in riding with you and sprinting alongside you.

Basically, for the next few race nights, show up and take it easy.

Morelock

^ agree, always apologize in person as soon as appropriate. You've earned the "sketchy guy" rep, the only way to get past that is to get back in the races and let your riding speak up that you aren't sketchy.

Maybe practice the fixie skid for next time

tobukog

Since you're probably going to have to ride the miss-and-out again, here's a word of advice since you're probably going to be sketched out for a while. Ride it from the front from the very beginning. Even if you're not aerobically strong, you should be able to make it to at least mid-race. You just ride a strong aerobic tempo and surge a little in turn 3-4 when you feel someone on your outside. If one or 2 riders come over the top and drop in the lane in front of you, immediately ride on the hip of the lead rider (in 2nd position) -- also a very safe place. This is a super safe way to ride a miss and out that avoids the chaos of being 3 or 4 back on the inside.