Not to crash...

TriBarbie,

Can you be more specific. I have only found myself in the about to crash spot one time in many years. A guy went down in front of me on a rainy criterium and I tried to bunny hop him. Sounds wild, but I had nowhere else to go.

If you're in a pack, you have to constantly be aware of what others are doing in front of and around you. Don't overlap your wheels. If you do and the other person makes a sudden move, you will go down.

Just keep your eyes open. Watch for possible problems, Pot holes, cars in driveways, intersections, or friendly pets in a yard. If you know you are going to hit something, the best thing to do is just relax. My Judo coach taught me this. Two people are hit by a car, one of them is drunk. Who gets hurt? The one that is not drunk, because he knows what is going on. The drunk stays relaxed and does not get hurt. A stiff arm will break, while a relaxed one will fold up. Good luck, and keep your helmut on.

If you know you are going to fall, try to remember to keep your body in a ball. Don't stick out anything like a hand, a knee, leg or arm. Try to pull everything in and "roll with it". That said -- good luck in remembering this during a quick splat. Practicing on grass would be good.

On the road, especially commuting in heavy traffic, always be aware of traffic around you and what lies ahead. Don't try to avoid that pothole or manhole when your are already on them and pull out into traffic. Learn to look ahead and plan your avoidance moves ahead of time and signal your intent to drivers. In a race, it is unavoidable...you will crash at some point no matter how good a rider you are. It just happens too quickly sometimes. When it does happne, "tuck and roll".

when you are riding you need to concider two things - the people in front of you & avoiding a crash situation; and the people behind you and aviod causing a crash situation for them.

For those in front:
Stay aware of the situations in front of you further up the road and to the rider in front. cycling is very much like driving - losing concentration for a few seconds can be all it takes. Scan the road for hazards ie: cars anaimals etc and communicate with the bunch accordingly. Generally the last rider calls "car back" and the front rider calls "pothole", "car up", etc.
Maintain a safe distance from the rider in front and as said above DO NOT OVER LAP WHEELS - riders in front are not overly concerned by your position behind them, this is your job not theirs. you can get quite close to riders in front ei: within a few cm, but keep into concideration the people you ride with - for example I ride open A grade every saturday, with the bunch keeping quite tight. one saturday we had a combined race with D grade - i sat on a wheel, the D grader thought a break was about to happen, jumped, then slammed on his brakes, I, in the middle of the pack went down (also a situation where the bunny hop comes in handy just dont land on me!).
Do not make a situation dangerous for others to improve your positition in the race! this is bad ettiquette and you will be looked lowly upon for the rest of your cycling life. in one race i was sprinting to the line with another A grader, when a rider on my wheel thought he might just pip us at the post if he forced his way through a gap between us that just wasnt there. He litterally pushed me off the road and into the gravel at 65km/H. i was 15 at the time. The rider who pushed me off the road hasnt riden with the club two years on - I can tell you now he wouldnt want to after the verbal flogging he got by every one after the race

For the people behind:
Stay predictable, dont make sudden movements (know where everyone is if you want to break away out the side, dont swerve).
Keep the pace smooth, dont jump to the front when it is your turn, simply keep the pace to pass the leader, then peel off to the side and shield riders from wind on your way to the back. Jumping will cause an elastic band effect, which can result in a crash.
As said above, stay relaxed and try to stay calm if you hear that all-too-well-known sound of grinding metal and collision with the ground ahead - your actions will affect those behind you. If you need to brake try to use the front brake, do it slowly and do not lock your back brake or you will skid. if you need to swerve out of the way, do so only as much as you need to and try to know where the people are behind you and concider the impact on them.
Rolling is definately better than skidding and sliding
The only other thing to take into concideration here is the jinx factor - dont say you think you will crash before a race because you will.

Dont let crashing detere you from cycling, it happens only on rare occassions and its not really all that bad - you get some pretty cool scars and stories to tell

Is my bike ok?
aidan

umbach....can you explain "overlapping wheels"?

thanks.

nt

its when your front wheel comes up along side the wheel of the rider in front - be it 1cm or the whole wheel, the rider in front cant see that you are there, thus, if he were to move slightly to the side, wheels would make contact, and the rider behind has few options other than the ground. The event of this crash is made famous by the zipping of the wheels just before a rider goes down.

aidan

Thanks for the great info- Alway great to be prepared!

I don't really expect to pass anyone in the race, but could you go over that again about how to pass someone.... it went over my head. Thx!