Most Amazing Crash Recovery?
Dan Bailey
Okay, the whole spiel about the beautiful little bunnyhop got me
thinking...and we've already done the "worst crash" thread earlier this
year.
So what was your most spectacular recovery?
About two years ago, I was riding the Tour de Tav, a local race here in
Mankato, Minnesota. It had rained earlier in the morning and the roads
were still wet.
Anyway, about 10 miles in and the pace was starting to pick up a
bit...and we went over a set of traintracks that had those heavy rubber
platings on either side and in the middle of them...
I don't know what I did wrong, but all of a sudden my rear wheel slipped
about two feet to the left, like I was a jackknifing semi truck. I didn't
even think about what I was doing, but all of a sudden I was back, riding
straight and level in the pack...no crash by me or anyone around me.
By my reckoning, I think I torqued my handlebars laterally to
counteract the fact that the bike was starting to go over on its side and
pulled up on the clipless with my feet and yanked the bike back into a
straight line... People after the race was over said it was the damndest
thing they'd seen and had NO idea how I did it... Call it a Christmas
Miracle, about four moths later (or 8 early, depending on how you want to
look at it). My technical skills aren't the greatest, so it had to be a
miracle. :)
Anyone have anything more bizarre? I'd like to hear it.
-- Dan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Bailey supe...@krypton.mankato.msus.edu On IRC: Superdan
http://EEL2.cs.mankato.msus.edu/~superdan/
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John Laninga
Two of us were riding towards a "T" intersection. I was on the left, Scott
on the right. He turned left, I turned right. Won't work that way. We hit
shoulder to shoulder, bounced off, and did some serious corrective
maneuvers. Neither of us made the turn as planned, but we stayed up right.
Scott stopped, and I did have to do a U-turn as I was going the wrong
way....
Sure looked like a crash about to happen. Don't how we survived without
going down. Call it instinct, call it luck but I sure hope I have the same
karma next time something like this happens.
Eric Harvey
Dan Bailey (supe...@krypton.mankato.msus.edu) wrote:
: Okay, the whole spiel about the beautiful little bunnyhop got me
: thinking...and we've already done the "worst crash" thread earlier this
: year.
: So what was your most spectacular recovery?
It occurred during a road race in Canmore (near Banff) in 1996. The
course was a 18 km circuit and we were on the final lap and had just
absorbed the breakaway group with about 3 km to go. The finish was up a
1.5 km climb that was very steep (parts > 10%). The whole group (what was
left anyways) was descending on a fast road that curved gently to the left
at the bottom and rose slightly up an overpass where we took a 80* right
hander to head towards the finishing climb. We had been through this
corner 7 times already. It was a long hot day and I had been working hard
to bring back a break so I wasn't planning to be a big factor in the
finishing climb.
I had gone back in the pack a ways to start moving my team's best climber
forward for the bottom of the climb. On the way down the descent he and I
were to the left moving forward. As the group neared the bottom we
started to overtake a vehicle which had ignored the marshals and turned
out in front of us. Instead of stopping as we streamed by, the vehicle
proceeded almost into the apex of the 80* right corner. The pack was
forced a little wide and with my teammate and I already to the left we
were forced even further. Far enough that in the early part of the corner
I hit a patch of gravel that had not been a factor in this corner all day.
I had just started the turn when I hit it and was probably going about 45
km/h (I didn't look). My front wheel washed out slightly but in
anticipation I relaxed my grip and didn't fight it. The patch of gravel
was very short and the wheel hit bare pavement again. The front wheel
regained traction and I saved it. I honestly don't remember the exact
motions after passing through the gravel, just that the bike wanted to
snap up and 'high-side'.
Epilogue: My teammate missed the gravel but was so freaked out by my
near crash that he blew about 200 metres into the climb. The adrenalin
rush from my close call seemed to numb my fatigue, and I managed to
steadily pick off guys on the climb and slide into the top five.
To this day I'm not sure how I was able to save it on that corner but I do
know that my combined 26 years of motocross, BMX, motorcycle trials,
mountain biking, and road cycling all had some input to it.
Happy Holidays,
Eric.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Harvey email: eha...@med.phys.ualberta.ca
Dept. of Medical Physics phone: (403)432-8618
Cross Cancer Institute fax: (403)432-8615
11560 University Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 1Z2
Mike Madcharo
Towards the end of a training ride we were coming back into
town and were going to make a left hand turn. I was in
front of two other riders by 3 or 4 bike lengths. I had
been practicing countersteering my corners that year, and I
set myself up that way as I went into the corner. Did I
mention this corner hadn't had gravel in it when we rode it
the week before? It did this time.
I didn't see it until my momentum was carrying me into it.
I yelled to the guys behind me, so at least they wouldn't go
down. I straightened up and tried to avoid the shoulder
(grass and dirt, and with luck no sandburs, but down into a
ditch). I felt the back wheel sliding through the sand.
I'm not sure how I kept it up, but I did and the back wheel
hit pavement again right on the edge of the road. I felt
the back wheel grab the road, and I was able to keep it
under control.
Coming out of the turn the other guys caught up with me and
we went up the a climb. I kept looking back to see if the
wheel came out of alignment when it hit the pavement, but it
seemed true. As we went up the hill, though, I could feel
it rubbing, but the rim looked true. Then BAM!--instant
flat. I had pulled the bead out and the tube was poking
through. Each time rotation of the tire pumped a little
more air into the "blister", until it went. So I did go
down, in a manner of speaking.
Mike Madcharo
Mike Madcharo
Towards the end of a training ride we were coming back into
of two other riders by 3 or 4 bike lengths. I had been
practicing countersteering my corners that year, and I set
myself up that way as I went into the corner. Did I mention
this corner hadn't had gravel in it when we rode it the week
before? It did this time.
I didn't see it until my momentum was carrying me into it.
I yelled to the guys behind me, so at least they wouldn't go
down. I straightened up and tried to avoid the shoulder
(grass and dirt, and with luck no sandburs, but down into a
ditch). I felt the back wheel sliding through the sand.
I'm not sure how I kept it up, but I did and the back wheel
hit pavement again right on the edge of the road. I felt
the back wheel grab the road, and I was able to keep it
under control.
Coming out of the turn the other guys caught up with me and
we kept going up a climb. I kept looking back to see if
the wheel came out of alignment when it hit the pavement,
but it seemed true. As we went up the hill, though, I could
feel it rubbing, but the rim looked true. Then
BAM!--instant flat. I had pulled the bead out and the tube
was poking through. Each rotation of the tire pumped a
little more air into the "blister", until it popped. So I
TedHas
In article <Pine.OSF.3.96.971223...@krypton.mankato.msus.edu>,
Dan Bailey <supe...@krypton.mankato.msus.edu> writes:
>Okay, the whole spiel about the beautiful little bunnyhop got
>me
>thinking...and we've already done the "worst crash" thread earlier
>this
>year.
>So what was your most spectacular recovery?
I can't claim this one for myself, but it's the most
spectacular crash avoidance maneuver I've seen.
At Oregon District Track Champs three years ago,
during the Keirin final a very experienced track rider
(for the life of me I'm blanking on his name right now,
but he's a Western Regional Coach here in Portland)
threw his chain just as the bunch got up to speed
after the motor pulled off. Shame on him, his
chain was on too loose, but we would have missed
a real heart stopper if he'd got it right to begin
with.
To avoid running up on wheels in front of him, he
had to ride down onto the apron in the back
straight. Unfortunately, there were still riders on
the track and he couldn't so he couldn't pull back
onto the straight before the turn. And at Alpenrose
Velodrome, it's way worse that problematic to get
onto the banking from the apron--there's an abrupt
angle rather than a transition.
So here's the options:
1. At 30+ mph barge back onto the track and
maybe cause a real nasty involving several
other riders and a dsq.
2. Hope you can steer through the flat apron
at 30+ mph (remember, no brakes to slow down,
and no chain to slow down w/back pressure)--
not likely. Probably lots of road rash and maybe
a slide into the other riders to top it off.
3. Hope you can negotiate a really rough transition
onto the banking after the other riders have (again
if your lucky) already gone by. A poor hope at best.
or, the winner and still amazing
4. Unclip (luckily not using toe clips) both feet, hop
off the saddle, and ski on his shoes/cleats halfway
through the turn before coming safely to a stop.
How he came up with this solution in the one or two
seconds available is a mystery to me. And how did
he know just how slick his cleat/shoe combination
was so that they didn't slide out from under him or stop
him so fast that he did a header? Was this a bail-out
option that he'd kept in his repertoire just in case?
How do you practice this one?
Anyway, it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen on
the track (other than a Bostick pursuit).
--Ted Haskell
Corey Hilliard
On Tue, 23 Dec 1997, Dan Bailey wrote:
> Okay, the whole spiel about the beautiful little bunnyhop got me
> thinking...and we've already done the "worst crash" thread earlier this
> year.
> So what was your most spectacular recovery?
I usually don't like to ride with others in my area because of
their poor bike handling skills and etiquette, (See above posting) but I
went with them anyway for an early season training ride, hoping to prepare
for the new season. The pace is pretty quick, it fluctuates between 27-32
mph, good for simulating race speeds and jumps.
The rider directly in front of me in the paceline moved from side
to side like a pendulum. It was impossible to see traffic in front of
the group or holes in the road. Just as it was my turn to take a pull Mr.
Pendulum swings into the relief line without warning me about a foot deep
and wide crater in the road.
It was too late to bunnyhop it. If I could have yelled, I would
have added a** to the "HOLE". I hit the road cavity full force. My
handlebars rotated twenty degrees, both rims were severely dented and my
tubes went flat. A miracle prevented me from going down in front of the
group of 40. I safely wobbled to a halt a few hundred meters down the
road.
Corey Hilliard
Jack Frost bites- Big potholes that develop in the roads under
the snow during the off-season in areas closer to the poles due to gnomes.
Glenn Butzlaff
That happened twice to me this year. Early in the season I went to a
club traing ride on
roads unfamiliar to me. Two of my teamates ride a tandem to stoke the
pace and they were
at the front. I was tucked in on the right and we had opened a gap on
the bunch, when they
turned right. I had no clue about the turn, and while there are a few
guys who call out turns,
they didnt. Once I realized they were turning on me I hit the brakes,
but to late, my front wheel was going perpendicular but I was still
going straight. I remember pushing their rear
wheel from the side as they were going around, and I ended kinda
shooting off to the left
diagonally after clearing their wheel. As I was preparing for the fall
mentally I suddenly
found myself snapped back upright, front wheel where it should be. The
rest of the bunch had
rounded the corner and I was going straight, so I had to turn around and
chase to get back on
with my bars now torqued about 15 degrees off normal! I got a lot of
"wow, nice save's"
but I honestly dont remember applying any technique there. I do
remember feeling really
relaxed tho and it seemed like slo-mo. The second was the the last crit
of the year on a
downhill, off-camber left-hand corner. I had a spare wheel on the rear
with a Conti
Giro glued on. We were really banging the corner hard and on one lap I
was the second
one thru, when I was suddenly sliding till friction took over and put me
upright and beyond.
I thought I was going to buy it, but I suddenly ended up going down the
road. I remember
my front wheel banging down like I had been airborn. Something was
flapping with every wheel rev in back now; I made it back for a wheel
change and found out after the race that
the tread was peeling off the tire casing all the way around (check
those Giro's if theyre
on your spare or training wheels).
Happy Holidays
Glenn Butzlaff
David Ryan
TedHas wrote:
>
> 4. Unclip (luckily not using toe clips) both feet, hop
> off the saddle, and ski on his shoes/cleats halfway
> through the turn before coming safely to a stop.
I saw a Shaklee rider (sorry don't know the name) do virtually the
same thing when he lost control in front half of a P/1/2 bunch sprint
in a criterium at Paducah (KY) last summer, except it was on the
straightaway into the finish, and in a second at well over 30mph
came out with both feet simultaneously and skidded, wobbling wildly
from side to side next to the curb, slowing enough to regain control
and remain upright and finish (near the back).
I was not nearly the only one totally amazed!
***********************************************************************
* David e /NO NO PACK TOO TIGHT NO CORNER , Fast *
* Ryan /<> /HILL oO@O)o_@ __e IS TOO e ',' Forward *
* aka '>(x)/THAT'S <>\<>>\<> ,\<> SHARP ,)> o Racing *
*_PACKMAN!_(x)/TOO_HIGH___(*)((*))(*)x)/(x)___=====_/'__->~\\_Team____*
c1997************ http://www.louisville.edu/~csmayh01 ************LouKY
Gene Bowen
I was on the front row, three abreast. A large white dog ran out from
the right. He missed the guy to my right. I tried to swerve right to
miss the dog, but hit him squarely in the hind quarters. The impact
knocked the dog into the air and past the guy on my left. It also
straightened my front wheel and I didn't go down.
We all looked at each other and said, "Wow, how did we not fall?"
Gene Bowen
Ian Penner
David Ryan wrote:
>
> TedHas wrote:
> >
> > 4. Unclip (luckily not using toe clips) both feet, hop
> > off the saddle, and ski on his shoes/cleats halfway
> > through the turn before coming safely to a stop.
>
> I saw a Shaklee rider (sorry don't know the name) do virtually the
> same thing when he lost control in front half of a P/1/2 bunch sprint
> in a criterium at Paducah (KY) last summer, except it was on the
> straightaway into the finish, and in a second at well over 30mph
> came out with both feet simultaneously and skidded, wobbling wildly
> from side to side next to the curb, slowing enough to regain control
> and remain upright and finish (near the back).
Saw a woman who was riding for Wesleyan (maybe) do the same thing when
one foot released during a sprint at the West Point stage race; she had
one foot pop out, followed by the other, and "skiied" across the line.
Gotta love blind reflexes.
-Ian
Andrew Albright
Corey Hilliard wrote:
> I usually don't like to ride with others in my area because of
> their poor bike handling skills and etiquette, (See above posting) but I
> went with them anyway for an early season training ride, hoping to prepare
> for the new season. The pace is pretty quick, it fluctuates between 27-32
> mph, good for simulating race speeds and jumps.
Corey is way too modest about both his own skills and how poor the
rider's skills are in his area.
Firstly, I have seen many an instance of these poor bike handling skills
and lack of etiquette. For example 40-50 riders will be stretched out
double-file, with only a handful of riders pulling through and off to
the left at the front. The prototype of the pbh that Corey describes,
will muck around in the middle and when they decide to occasionally come
to the front will always come up slowly and then always pull off to the
RIGHT, further complicating the fractured line.
The pbh prototype will also occasionally decide to make sudden,
unexpected turns into parking lots and small streets.(frequently on
small circuits such as criteriums)
And to many, Corey is just a soft-spoken down-to-earth guy. But very
few realize that he is on his way to being one of the East's BEST riders
in this NEW season.
> The rider directly in front of me in the paceline moved from side
> to side like a pendulum. It was impossible to see traffic in front of
> the group or holes in the road. Just as it was my turn to take a pull Mr.
> Pendulum swings into the relief line without warning me about a foot deep
> and wide crater in the road.
>
> It was too late to bunnyhop it. If I could have yelled, I would
> have added a** to the "HOLE". I hit the road cavity full force. My
> handlebars rotated twenty degrees, both rims were severely dented and my
> tubes went flat. A miracle prevented me from going down in front of the
> group of 40. I safely wobbled to a halt a few hundred meters down the
> road.
This may sound unfortunate, but it is really good training for the
Philly crit season. There are courses that rely on potholes and craters
for separating the men from boys. How else are you going to do it on a
flat circuit with no turns?
Andrew Albright
Mark Slone
Dan Bailey wrote:
> Okay, the whole spiel about the beautiful little bunnyhop got me
> thinking...and we've already done the "worst crash" thread earlier this
> year.
>
> So what was your most spectacular recovery?
A few years ago I was out riding with a friend when a small dog raced
out to harass us. He chased my friend, and then let up. Apparently he
hadn't noticed me, because he stopped suddenly just in front of me. It
happened so fast I simply road over him, in the rib section. He ran off
very quickly afterwards, so he wasn't seriously hurt. When we stopped at
a store later in the ride, I found dog hair wedged in one of my cleats.
-Mark Slone sl...@hiwaay.net
Tim McNamara
Mine was just a week or two ago. I was out on a ride with some other
members of the club and we came up to our usual town line sprint. Nobody
seemed to be paying any attention, so I launched off the back towards the
line and caught everyone by surprise. I was pretty pleased with myself
(foolishly, as it turns out) when my left foot came out of the pedal as it
was going over the top- this is the first time I've ever pulled a foot
anywhere but at the bottom/beginning of the upstroke. I was out of the
saddle and ended up stepping down onto the pavement in front of the bottom
bracket. My toe caught, my foot rolled under (I had a scuff mark and tear
on my bootie about three inches back from the toe) and the crank arm
slammed into the back of my ankle. The impact apparently lifted the rear
wheel but must also have pulled my foot off the ground too, because
everything settled back down and I was able to get my foot back in. Like
most such situations it was basically blind luck that prevented a 30 mph
faceplant.
My other good crash recovery was also luck. I was in a crit in 1996,
caught a pedal, popped the rear wheel off the ground and was headed
sideways for the for the outside of the turn. The rear wheel landed,
caught and I stayed upright- pure luck! Behind me I heard a loud
Australian accent holler "BLOODY 'ELL!" That about summed it up, I
thought.
Usually when I *try* to save it, it's gone.
--
What do you want me to do, to do for you while you're sleeping?
Then please don't be surprised when you find me dreaming too.
-Robert Hunter
Brad Anders
Two incidents I've had:
Dave probably knows the road at the upper end of Stevens Canyon. This area
is perpetually damp and there are two one-lane bridges with wood surfaces,
that have planks that go the length of the bridge that are aligned to a
car's track. The goal when riding these is to stay centered on a plank.
I was on a fast group ride and we were coming back down the canyon. At the
end of the first bridge I slipped off the plank and my front wheel
jacknifed. In wrenching my bars to try to regain control, I pulled my right
foot out of the pedal. My knee crashed hard into the bar, knocking my wheel
straight. The guy behind me said it was the most amazing recovery he'd
ever seen! I was just happy not to have face-planted into the wooden guardrail.
Second incident: I was at a Fremont twilight crit in 1995. A car was parked on
the finish straight, and cones were around it to keep the riders away (right!).
I was in the 1/2/3 race, and as I stood on the line, I remarked to my
teammate, "Watch some idiot run into those cones during the race". About
three laps into the race, I was sitting on another teammates wheel when he
abruptly moved to the right. Blammo, I slam into one of those huge cones, and
it wedges up under my front wheel and down tube. I'm thrown forward and
I'm hanging over the bars, when the cone pops out and I somehow get back on
the saddle without falling (we were going about 30 mph at the time). I've
got Vince Gee next to me screaming "YOU GODDAMN IDIOT, DIDN'T YOU SEE THE
CONES!!??!!". I can only weakly reply, "Yes, Vince, I saw them...."
--
******************************
* Brad Anders / Phoenix, AZ *
* ban...@netcom.com *
******************************
Tom Kunich
In article <34A0A8...@hiwaay.net>,
When I first returned to riding I was coming off of an overpass
and had to make a right turn. I made the turn with the right pedal
down and sure enough, when the pedal hit I went down at about 25 and
was sliding into a car in the other lane coming at me.
I lifted the right pedal, turned the wheel SHARPLY to the right, the
wheel got traction and threw the bike back up on it's wheels, going
in the correct direction and looking just like nothing happened.
I have done this quite a bit on an off-road motorcycle and it didn't
occur to me that you couldn't do it on a bicycle. But I've never
tried it on a bicycle again and Jobst has expressed disbelief on
several occasions that such a thing could happen. So I can only
assume that it is a rarity and that the conditions must have been
perfect for the recovery.
-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
Mike Gladu
> out to harass us. He chased my friend, and then let up. Apparently he
> hadn't noticed me, because he stopped suddenly just in front of me. It
> happened so fast I simply road over him, in the rib section. He ran off
> very quickly afterwards, so he wasn't seriously hurt. When we stopped at
> a store later in the ride, I found dog hair wedged in one of my cleats.
I did virtually the same thing on a cobweb-clearing road ride following
the Junior Natz at the West Point Military Academy in NY. The ride
followed the Natz crit circuit around a football practice field and
running track down by the Hudson river. Closed circuit, no traffic. There
are joggers jogging, frisbee's frised, you know - idyllic setting -
everyone's outdoors on a nice day.
Each time round the circuit there's a 90 corner followed by a short steep
climb to the finish line behind the football stands. I come off the corner
as fast as I'm able to get a pretty good run at the wall. Just as I hit
the first signs of an incline, I see a full-grown barking, snarling Chow
vectoring toward me from the left like a wire-guided foot-seeking
poofy-haired missile. I'm doing my best to hold my speed, but the hill is
taking too much away regardless. He must have planned this. Good strategy.
Just as he's about to connect, he says to himself ("...this is the dog
talking now people..." - F. Zappa), "I can't attack from the left, I'm
right-handed (footed? pawed?). I better change sides!"
Rather than yield to through traffic, slow down, swap sides and approach
again from behind, the dog opts to accelerate and swap sides in front of
me. Only problem is, he misjudges the buffer distance necessary for a
clean pass and leaves himself perfectly posed for a T-bone collision.
I tag him good, right in the ribs.
I'm now doing what would be classified as a "Flying W" (...nose-wheelie,
hands locked on the bars, butt off the saddle, both feet unclipped and
legs akimbo...). An extra large distorted YIPE! comes out of him as all
the air in his lungs is expelled. Just the kind of 'SOMEONE'S BEATING OUR
DOG' alarm you don't like to hear if the owner (probably an ARMY
Ranger-in-training) is close by. Somehow, I managed to land, regain
control of the bike and keep enough speed to not fall on the incline. I
had clicked back in, made the pedals turn again and gathered my composure
while looking around for an owner about to pounce on me in reaction to the
alarm. Noone's even looking.
I'm too adrenalized to feel any pain (yet) and the bike seems OK.
I clear the top of the hill slowly and roll around for another lap to look
for owners. Out on the track I see a M/F pair looking over the limping,
cowering dog. They are waving politely. They speak up, "sorry - we're
trying to break him of that habit". I yell back, "this should go a long
way toward that goal".
Putting the bike on the roof rack later on I notice four spoke nipples on
the front wheel each have about ten hairs embedded where the threads go
in. A few are still there today. For luck.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Gladu - Cycling Photojournalist Infinite HangTime Photography
mgl...@blkbox.com - http://www.htcomp.net/gladu/'drome
"It never got fast enough for me." Hunter S. Thompson's proposed epitaph
========================================================================
Visit the 'drome - the track-only website! Now in pre-rollout testing
========================================================================
David M Anthony
In article <67q4ij$5ol$0...@204.179.92.99>,
Andrew Albright <alb...@mail.meed.upenn.edu> wrote:
>
>This may sound unfortunate, but it is really good training for the
>Philly crit season. There are courses that rely on potholes and craters
>for separating the men from boys. How else are you going to do it on a
>flat circuit with no turns?
No turns!? Sounds like a real drag race. Or the first 240km
(of 260) of the Quebec City-to-Montreal Road Race. Same type
of pavement, too.
Dave
--
Dave Anthony
Carlsun
>I have done this quite a bit on an off-road motorcycle
I'll use this to digress into general 2 wheeled incidents and say that Randy
Mamola's 100 mph high side-front tire nose scraping-handlebar riding-sidesaddle
(500cc GP motorcycles) recovery is the best I've ever seen, even if it was on
video.
Can't believe we haven't heard any MTB stories yet.
Bret Wade
The most remarkable recovery I've see was a teammate of mine who blew a tire
in the middle of a downhill off-camber turn. The tire rolled and the bike
was sideways, sliding on the rear rim. I was on his wheel at the time and
thought we were both going down. Instead he straightened it out and threaded
his way out of the pack without any problems. The most remarkable part
of the recovery, was that although the incident happened with four laps
to go, and he didn't finish the criterium, he managed to talk himself into
getting pack time, so he could continue the stage race (Telluride).
Bret Wade
Boulder, CO
Scott Miloro
Dan Bailey wrote:
>
> Okay, the whole spiel about the beautiful little bunnyhop got me
> thinking...and we've already done the "worst crash" thread earlier this
> year.
>
>
In the summer of '94 I was riding in the Enchanted Mountain Stage race in
Olean, NY. The race is (was?) a three-day event, with a road race on the
second day, a Saturday.
I'll have to say that the road course is one of the more memorable I've done.
It was the longest race I'd done as a IV, and I was revelling in all the hill
action. It's also a great course, in that once you've gotten over the last
hill you have something like 20km to the finish, all mostly flat or downhill.
Invariably there is a smallish group that streaks away to glory at this point
of the race.
I was in that group, as the runup the the finish began. Imagine about 15 cat
IVs, in varying degress of repair, and with varying bikehandling skill,
hurtling along at near-sonic speed. There were numerous close-calls as our
merry band approached the outer marker and got configured for the landing.
But somehow, we made it to the last klick.
It was here that the REAL excitement begins. As I recall, the last maybe 800m
of the race are straight-in, and slightly downhill to flat.
I seem to remember my speed as being well over 50kph. Things were starting to
get pretty mad, as there were now about 3-4 splinters developing across the
road. I was stuck in the middle, but in very good position for the final
sprint. Then some yahoo goes for a spill DIRECTLY BLOODY IN FRONT OF ME.
It is at moments like this that we all experience those moments where
everything slows down, and the situation crystallizes. I had just about
enough time to realize that a.) something very nasty was going to occur and
b.) I had basically 2 choices of how to deal with it.
These two choices were: 1. prepare for crash, and attempt to make it as
survivable as possible (e.g. lay the bike down) or 2. Go all-or-nothing and
try to jump over that dude.
Obviously, option 2 would have been by far the worse if things didn't go as planned.
But, I jumped the guy. I was so stoked to have avoided certain doom that I
lost all interest in the race, and gave a triumphal one-armed salute "I'm
ALIVE I'M ALIVE" etc. I was a frazzled tangle for quite a while after.
The next day, while lining up at the crit start, I saw this chap whose arms
were COVERED with road rash. He was wearing the leader's jersey.
I asked him what happened, and he said that he crashed inside the final klick,
and that some guy jumped over him. :)
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| Scott M. Miloro * |
| Computer Support Coordinator * Public key |
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Roger Hughes
On Tue, 23 Dec 1997 20:30:23 -0500, David Ryan <David...@adware.com>
wrote:
>TedHas wrote:
>>
>> 4. Unclip (luckily not using toe clips) both feet, hop
>> off the saddle, and ski on his shoes/cleats halfway
>> through the turn before coming safely to a stop.
>
>I saw a Shaklee rider (sorry don't know the name) do virtually the
>same thing when he lost control in front half of a P/1/2 bunch sprint
>in a criterium at Paducah (KY) last summer, except it was on the
>straightaway into the finish, and in a second at well over 30mph
>came out with both feet simultaneously and skidded, wobbling wildly
>from side to side next to the curb, slowing enough to regain control
>and remain upright and finish (near the back).
Didn't Damien Nazon do something similar in a crit stage of the Tour
of China in 95 or 96?
Roger
Roger Hughes, Brussels
http://users.skynet.be/rohughes/index.htm
Jerry Brown
Mark Slone <sl...@hiwaay.net> wrote in article <34A0A8...@hiwaay.net>...
: Dan Bailey wrote:
:
: > Okay, the whole spiel about the beautiful little bunnyhop got me
: > thinking...and we've already done the "worst crash" thread earlier this
: > year.
: >
: > So what was your most spectacular recovery?
During a Cat 4/5 crit this last summer I had a rear blowout at the start of
a 90 degree left hand corner. The pace was very fast and I was very close
to the front. We had taken this corner several time already, sometimes
three abreast. Knowing that if I tried to make the corner I was history
along with a few behind me. I started yelling "FLAT" and slowly applied the
brakes shooting through the corner at a tangent line. All I could think of
is, someone's not paying attention and is going to T-bone me. Its a strange
feeling to shoot through a Large pack of racers when your going close to 90
degrees to their direction. Dumb ass luck.
So I pitted, made the wheel change and rode hard. Setting myself up for the
final some rider in front of me went down and I T-boned him. I guess you
only get one save per race?
JB
Jeheiser
The most bizarre I have witnessed occured while a friend of mine was
freewheeling at about 25mph down a descent in Chamonix. We were talking and he
was not paying attention to the road. Suddenly, realizing he was about to run
into a streetlight, he stuck out his hand and straight-armed the pole. He tore
out of his toe clips (yes, this happened about 17 yrs ago) and landed on his
feet, running down the hill, while his bike continued ahead of him. It was
truly amazing.
mike
Here are a couple:
1.Riding home after a race in Belgium and it starts to rain(again,
spring of course) so I decide to put on my rain jacket while riding no
hands through a corner. Cut the apex a little to sharp an the front
tire goes into a groove at the curve (perfectly tire sized, as all
Belgian concrete roads are made. Must be made by the same guy who
makes sewer grates in the US.). Wheel starts that sickening skipping
action at too sharp an angle, then suddenly pops out and recovers. I'd
already planned to to go down and was only wondering how bad it would
be at that point since arms were stuck inside of my rain jacket.
2.Time taking a drink in the bunch with right hand on brake hood and a
crash happend in front. Couldn't slow down quick enough with rear
brake and still holding bottle and now handlebar with left hand, so
unintentionally use rider in front as airbag. Crash him from behind
(which was another thread on R.B.R awhile ago) but stayed up.
3. Training on track and as we sprint to line my friend thinks has
beaten us by a good distance but doesn't realize how fast I am coming
up on outside. He crosses the line and begins to swing up, not aware I
was even with his back wheel to my front, and we get locked together
as wheel go up the banking, breaking my front spokes and ripping some
nipple and all through the holes. Some how we get down to the apron
but I've reduced my front wheel's spokes by a third.
4. In Mtn biking crash recovery is a continuous part of the ride.
There is only amazing crashes. If you don't find yourself riding the
bike superman style (hands on bars, stomach on seat) once in a while,
you aren't going fast enough.
Mike
Joseph Jankovsky
I didn't see this, but a few friends lived to talk about it. At the cat 3 crit at
Killington this year a crash dislodged a haybale on the course. Several riders come up
on it and tried to dodge it, but this one guy had no choice to bunny hop it, which he
did successfully. Apparently he was the talk of the peleton for the rest of the race.
Any eye witness out there?
Joe
Scott Miloro wrote:
> Dan Bailey wrote:
> >
> > Okay, the whole spiel about the beautiful little bunnyhop got me
> > thinking...and we've already done the "worst crash" thread earlier this
> > year.
> >
> > So what was your most spectacular recovery?
> >
>
Gene Bowen
Acouple of weeks ago, I was leading as we approached a right turn onto a
highway. I yelled "Car left!" and came to a stop. The rider behind me
thought I said "Clear left." He hit me while accelerating through the
turn.
His bike stopped immediately. Somehow, he leapt over the bars and landed
on his feet, running. The only damage was to his cleats and his bars
were twisted.
Bet he couldn't do it again.
Gene Bowen
Jim Burlant
>The most remarkable recovery I've see was a teammate of mine who blew a tire
>in the middle of a downhill off-camber turn. The tire rolled and the bike
>was sideways, sliding on the rear rim. ]
Sounds like something I once saw at a crit in Wayne, NJ. I had just
finished the Sr IV's race and was watching the Sr III's. The course
was a 0.5-mile circuit with 9 (no typo) turns. The third turn was a
left from a false downhill into a full-out downhill. One of the 3's
rolled his front tubular while in the middle of this turn...and DID
NOT go down. I have no idea how he didn't; he pulled into the pit at
the end of the lap having ridden on the rim.
As for my own story, this one was in the road stage of the '97 Valley
of the Sun stage race. We were about 1/3 of the way up the one big
hill (3 miles) on the course, and the race was going full out, single
file on the shallower slopes of the hill. (A quick glance at the
Avocet showed 24 mph). I was 7th down the line and apparently, this
guy came up and just decided to bump me out of my place by pushing me
out of the way. I was concentrating so deeply on the wheel in front
of me that I didn't know what was going on and only found out what
later what happened from teammates who were behind me. All I knew was
that I was suddenly lurching herky-jerky and heading right for the
"shoulder". I use the term "shoulder" loosely because the shoulder
was nothing but sand and sharp, jagged, rocks. Out of nowhere, I
somehow straightened it out and got back in...only to get dropped when
we hit the steeps. :-( But it was enough for me that I didn't go
down.
A teammate who saw the whole thing (and also happens to be an expert
class mountain biker) said he thought it was very impressive that I
didn't go down.
A postscript--the guy who did this to me tried the same thing to some
other racers at the next day's crit and wound up getting dq'd.
Jim Burlant
Cycling is like church--many attend, but few understand.
Rod Lawson
In article <19971224190...@ladder02.news.aol.com>, car...@aol.com
(Carlsun) writes:
>I'll use this to digress into general 2 wheeled incidents and say that Randy
>Mamola's 100 mph high side-front tire nose scraping-handlebar
>riding-sidesaddle
>(500cc GP motorcycles) recovery is the best I've ever seen, even if it was on
>video.
There was an Italin chap in 250's last year who lost the back end temporarily,
and nearly high sided. He went up in the air and in slow motion you could see
he was almost horizontal in mid-air, but still holding the bars. This induced a
bit of
rotation into his fall, so he came down head first into his screen and smashed
it with
his helmet, before the rest of him followed down onto the bike, he settled in
the seat
and carried on for an eventual 2nd. This was all at around 80-90 mph, I think.
Rod.
Disclaimer; the opinions expressed above are not necessarily yours.
John Clifford Wilke
Many moons ago...criterium on Fondulac, WI. Typical
4 corners, .6 miles per lap. I'm trying to bridge the gap
to the break and am riding all alone. As I approach turn 3 in full pursuit,
a woman steps into the road from the apex of the corner. She gets
about 2 steps into the road and I yell "STOP!! DON"T MOVE!!" I figure
she'll keep walking so I'll duck in behind her (oh did I mention that
she's carrying a red and white cane? yup...blind) Unfortunately she
stops and takes a step *backwards* just as I'm hitting the apex.
WHUMP! I gave her the good 'ol hip check, sending her flying and
me flying sideways too. Staying up, I keep chasing but with a lot less
speed.
Next lap she's standing on the sidewalk, people checking her
over..."IS SHE OKAY?" I yelled out...and she spins around and gives me
this scowl like it was MY fault!! (recognized my voice?) So that was my
claim to fame that season...the guy who hit a BLIND WOMAN during a race.
:^]
jw
--
====================================================
John C. Wilke, BA, BSN, RN (j...@alpha1.csd.uwm.edu)
Ride the fast parts fast, slow parts slow, sometimes
the slow parts fast...but NEVER ride the fast parts slow!
====================================================
ComutrBob
I'm going a bit out of context here. My crash happened. The amazing part is
my amazing recovery. I was told by the docs that I wouldn't walk for six
months and wouldn't ride for a year. I was riding in three months and came
within a few seconds of a personal best in a time trial at four months. (I
still couldn't walk very well, but I could ride).
I crashed Memorial Day weekend on the second day of a back-to-back century
weekend. I was second in a paceline as we came to some RR tracks. It was
raining. The tracks crossed the road at a steep angle and the guy in front
didn't judge it very well. He hit the tracks and his wheels cut loose
instantly. I had given him plenty of room so I didn't run over him, but I had
to make an evasive maneuver to the left which steepened the angle into the
tracks. They grabbed my wheel and I went down squarely on my kneecap. Broke
it cleanly in two. The top half was pulled by the tendon and was half way up
my thigh. After about three minutes of excruciating pain I think I basically
went into shock 'cuz it didn't hurt that much any more. We were in the middle
of nowhere. It took 45 minutes to get an ambulance.
I worked very hard in rehab and pushed the docs to let me do more every step of
the way in my recovery. I pushed, but I tried not to be stupid.
I had to have another surgery on the knee in October to remove the hardware
that was used to rebuild the kneecap. I was off two weeks, then did 500 miles
indoors in November. In early December, on only my second ride outside, I did
a 40 mile ride alone over fairly hilly terrain and came in with a 19.8 mph
average. For me, that was awfully good. I just started my winter weight
training this morning. Still can't walk too good, but I'm determined I'm gonna
ride well again!
VoiD
I didn't think I had a story of the 'Amazing' calibre until I remembered
my learn to race clinic I took years ago. We were lined up at the top of
a hill, ready to practise our descending. One by one we took off, with
the coach near the bottom to watch our form. The hill was steep and
straight down for about 200 metres, then took a rather sharp left turn
with a metal guardrail on the outside. I was heading down, tucking into
the wind and set up perfectly for the turn. At the last moment I saw sand
right in the line and, not having much experience at the time, I tried
changing my line past the point of no return. I managed to avoid the
sand but was thrown to the outside of the turn and slammed sideways into
the guardrail. My momentum started carrying me over the rail, as I was
sliding along it on my calf. I looked down and about 30 feet below me was
a dried up creek bed, with sharp stones and large rocks. Feeling my tires
start to slip on the shoulder, I looked away and wrenched my body
upright, pushing off the guardrail with my leg, and continued on.
Apparently, it's the closest the coach came to ever shitting his pants.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Kyle Legate (leg...@fhs.mcmaster.ca)
Tower of Tongues -- 10:30-midnight Saturday nights on 93.3 CFMU
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Dark literature set to brooding ambience
John Fitzgerald
Best one I ever saw was in the last crit of the season. One of my
friends was setting fourth into the last turn and was setting up to
launch his sprint. Since he rides track, he probably would have won,
but, in the middle of the turn, his tire flatted, and rolled off the
zipp rim. Somehow, he managed to stay up, although he ground a fair
amount of carbon off the rim. He did have the good sense to pull off
to the side, though, and walk across the finish line--he figured since
he wasn't going to place, he might as well save the rim!
John Fitzgerald
La Verne, CA
jf...@primenet.com
To know what you know,
and to know what you don't know,
Is to Know. -unknown