Couple of weeks ago I posted this:
Got a lot off great advice and was excited to get back out there. Next race, I crashed again. This time I think it was truly bad luck, but I nonetheless submit myself to the judgement of the TrainerRoad forum jury:
What do people think this time?
Mostly wrong place, wrong timeâŚ.sometimes bad schitt happens no matter what.
That said, it looks like you may have had some radar-lock on there. You appear to be fixated on the crash vs. looking for a way out. You will always go where you are lookingâŚand if you are locked onto the crash, that is where you are going. It appears there was some room to move to the left and avoid it, but you gotta start looking for the bailout immediately and not watch the crash.
But this is as much a skill as good corneringâŚ.it takes time to develop. Like I said, mostly wrong place, wrong time.
You are definitely on a bad luck streakâŚhope that is the end for you.
Yeah, 100%, I think this is right. In the moment, I was on the breaks hard and kind of skidding into the crash, but was definitely staring right at it and it felt like the pile-up had a gravitational pull to it.
Yup, classic âtarget fixationâ and something that is hard to avoid in a tense situation like that. Agree with the above being bad luck for the most part here.
Iâm with @mcneese.chad
I just crashed tonight riding to a ride! LOL Watch that gravel and sand in the corners. Going pretty slow but, sometimes those are the worst. Check out the hematoma on my right hip. Ballooned up almost instantlyâŚ
Ouch, that looks brutal. Hope it heals up quickly!
My face went into a guys chainring, but thankfully oversized sunglasses are fashionable these days so only a few concentric cuts. Hands were pretty cut up, and have some nasty bruising on my right hip and shoulder (but not nearly as bad as yours).
To make matters worse, the guys drivetrain was absolutely filthy so my jersey looks like a shop rag now.
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Actually, you canât steer if youâre hard on the brakes. Doesnât matter where youâre looking, youâre going straight forward.
In order to have swung left to avoid the pileup, you wouldâve had to make a split second decision to let off the brakes entirely. This type skill is more likely to be developed through mountain biking. Beginner mountain bikers eat a lot of sh*t because their panic reactions are to grab brake.
Skills aside, your positioning in both crashes was far right. I think maybe you need to forget about getting the best possible draft or quickest line, and instead give yourself some suitable exits.
Give yourself time to heal. It takes more energy than I think we think it doesâŚbut yeah hands cut up is annoying. My right hand is ooozing a lot right now. Not sure how this will work with workâŚlol!
First things first, I hope youâre ok and heal quickly.
Rather than critique you, better to look at a good example of what to doâŚ.check out the guy in blue with white sock/shoes (just ahead and to the left whoâs right behind the crash), watch as he brakes but then steers around it as the gap opensâŚ.
Not sure how much of that is instinct or experience or if itâs trainableâŚbut the second you lock youâre brakes you lose the ability to steer which is often your best form of âescapeâ (same in your car btw!)
I take it your the camera man if so it was mainly you were in the wrong place at the wrong time (bad luck). The actual event might have occurred far enough ahead that you might have had a chance to avoid it, but hindsight is a wonderful thing donât beat yourself up about it and heal fast!
In theory, it was maybe avoidable (as others have said, by instantly heading left). In practice? Iâm not so sure. This looks mainly like bad luck to me. I think we can all suppose âwhat if?â but actually doing it in that split second is very, very hard.
It seems this second time there was enough time to brake enough to get to a stop, however, many times people brake too long and dont look at where to go to avoid the crash but instead, look at the thing they dont want to run into, and therefore, keep riding directly towards it.
that is such a split second decision and trying to even judge if you can get over to the left without compounding things by causing a bigger crash is tough. So yeah, in theory, maybe he could have gotten over but I think that would be risky.
Basically agree with the others that it is mostly wrong place wrong time, but it was an avoidable crash from where you were.
You were still pedaling/moving up as the crash was happening - better attention to the group in front of you couldâve given you an extra second to figure things out.
Given the curb to your right and enough prior experience I think you couldâve better prepared for this and thus avoided it. Subconsciously âknowing your outâ wouldâve meant you instinctively went left or immediately went hard right and hopped the curb, instead of trying to react to the crash
I am coming to the same conclusion as well. The other contributing factors here was a significant drop in confidence having crashed in the previous race, was overreacting (grabbing breaks hard) to any sign of troubleâŚ
So i went back and looked at the video again and did some analysisâŚat :04" the crash has begun and the rider w/ a light blue jersey is starting to fall over to the right into the grass. Just after that (still showing :04" on the timeline, thoughâŚwhich shows how fast this stuff can happen), two riders are in the grass and the rider in front of you is heading towards them (also probably radar-locked).
At :05", the rider in front of you is sideways and half into the grassâŚbut the lane to the left is wide open. That was probably your window to avoid the crash (actually a bit before it, but it is most visible at this time). Plus, you need to think about the âmomentum of the crashââŚIOW, which way will the wreckage travel based on the direction of the race / course. Easiest example to understand is a crash in a cornerâŚthe momentum of the crash will be towards the outside of the turn and your âoutâ is usually to the inside as a result.
Again, this is a skill / experience thingâŚit is really hard to not focus on a crash when it happens right in front of you. It is totally natural to do that. Someone above mentioned âknowing where your out isââŚthis is a critical racing skill. It is a constant observational skill that gets enhanced the more you race.
In the case of this crash, your âoutâ was always gonna be to your leftâŚyou were up against the right edge and the momentum of the crash was going to the right. The only option you had to avoid the crash was to go left.
But as most of us have said, this was primarily wrong place, wrong time. You definitely didnât do anything wrong, but in the future, you can perhaps do some things âbetterâ (if that makes sense).
Did you end up getting banged up at all in the crash? Bike OK?
Thanks for the detailed analysis! I have to imagine this is something that, with experience, is going to become more intuitive than explicit.
I think I was starting to build this experience through 2019, but after the 2020 race hiatus it feels like starting from scratch.
Novice âracerâ (want to have a go at Cat 4 shortly) here so just trying to take as much analysis from this as possibleâŚ
A lot of folks suggest there is an âoutâ to the left at some point once the crash has started. Are those people just pulling left at the first opportunity or have they âcheckedâ left first for other riders?
I guess the good riders âjust knowâ if someone is on their left shoulder but if they are does this change your decision to pull left?
If there is any doubt as to the safety of going left are you still doing it rather than taking the crash?
To me Iâd be so scared of putting someone else in danger by making an âerraticâ move left to avoid the crash that I would probably just accept my fate and look for my safest way to crash into the pile-up⌠but maybe that is something I need to change in my thinking?
A few thoughtsâŚ.
