How's your Friday afternoon going? Anyway, hide that spreadsheet and have a look at these two vids from Fly6 that we've been discussing in the office, which both end up with a bike and rider flying off in an unplanned direction.
Wipeout 1
Some fast-paced group riding on a fairly narrow cyclepath shared with pedestrians here, which in itself probably isn't all that advisable. But anyway, a botched overtake means that one chap is lucky not to end up in Hooger-land impaled on a fence. And also lucky not to break his neck, by the look of things. But should he have checked back before he changed line? or does the shout from the charging rider in red come too late? We've had people arguing both corners. Have a look, and get your blame in.
Wipeout 2
This one involves a bit of wood that ends up in a rider's spokes. We've watched the video a bunch of times and it's still not clear how; our best guess is that the first rider catches the very end of it with his wheel and it somehow flicks up and ends up in the next man's wheel, which you'd have to concede is pretty unlucky.
Obviously the guy riding in the front of the video isn't front of the line: there's at least one more bike (the one the camera is attached to) and possibly more. So the hazard may have been spotted and the message not passed back properly, or it's possible that no-one saw it. In any case, the chap in shot is busy waving to a tandem on the other side of the road when he rides over the debris, so he's not 100% focused. But then, we're all guilty of that on a club run. It seems fair to assume that since he ran over it, he didn't see it. What do you think?
Have a safe weekend's riding!
33 thoughts on “Friday wipeouts: you’re the (club run) referee”
Wipeout 1, the guy overtaking
Wipeout 1, the guy overtaking I’d say. His warning is far too late (as he’s past the guy).
Wipeout 2, the guy waving at the tandems fault, fuck other cyclists, riding in a bunch is about trust, especially in the guys in front of you to be your eyes at times, if you’re more bothered about waving at people than taking the bunch seriously, go ride on your own.
glynr36 wrote:Wipeout 1, the
Yepp, totally agree with both.
Outside of racing, if you overtake you need to ensure that the person being overtaken is aware of that.
If you ride on the front of a group you accept that you are the eyes for all the folks following. You may miss the odd risk (we are all human) but missing a risk because of waving at totty is piss poor.
50:50 in the first one (so I
50:50 in the first one (so I can’t vote). The overtaker should have made his prescence known and the overtakee should have glanced behind before changing lines.
Second video, I can’t see jack! So no comment.
don simon wrote:50:50 in the
ditto.
In the second one if the guy crashes because of riding over what looks like a piece of patched rode then he needs to get some bike handling skills.
If the chap in wipeout 2 had
If the chap in wipeout 2 had been more concerned with looking ahead and the road in front of him, and not waving at cyclists on the other side of the road, he wouldn’t have slightly veered off his original line to his left, and right over the bit of wood and it then flipped into the wheel of the fella behind him – that’s the sort of hazard you definitely don’t want to be riding over
Video 1: 50/50 both at
Video 1: 50/50 both at fault.
Video 2: The waving guy (was she cute?)
#1 – both at fault. Overtaker
#1 – both at fault. Overtaker should have been aware of upcoming pedestrian making overtakees likely to move out. Overtakee should have checked.
#2. Hmmm. Personally I’d go with “neither” (actually none of the 3 – there’s a second wipeout as victim #1 goes down…), yes #1 should have been more aware and warned people, but ultimately you are your own ride boss as well…
Everyone involved needs a big
Everyone involved needs a big slap with a wet fish, and then should all learn to pay attention when riding with others. Too much bumbling along with not enough concentration on the road ahead, or what’s coming up alongside.
Tight focussed paceline/chaingang style riding is far safer than that sorry display.
The overtaking vehicle is
The overtaking vehicle is ALWAYS responsible for a safe pass. Always. Applies in all forms of racing. In this case club riding…
Even if the rider ahead comes off his line, the rider passing needs to account for that possibility. Needs to strongly call his presence out, be more aware and have better handling skills.
Yes, but rubbin’ is racing…
Yes, but rubbin’ is racing… 😉
(This, along with the drops are for descending thing comes to me from the Svenness series of cyclocross videos; worth a watch.)
#1 is my new definition for
#1 is my new definition for MAMIL.
Where is the poll option ‘both of them for playing silly buggers on a shared use path’.
1. I’m amazed he didn’t
1. I’m amazed he didn’t register the fact that the guy in front was drifting across to the right hand lane before he even went past the third placed rider half a dozen or so bike lengths back.
2. I thought it inferred that the guy in front waving was the issue until I realised that the guy who came down had been waving as well!
OK. Just full screened the
OK. Just full screened the 2nd one and I can now see it’s a lump of wood that has him off. Must have caught just at the wrong angle. Riders in front should have warned of the hazard but I’m sure we’ve all had moments were we’ve only seen pot holes, or objects at the last moment and so no time to warn our friends.
1: Overtaker’s fault.
1: Overtaker’s fault. Everyone is responsible of their own front wheel, not the rear.
2: I can’t see it either, but the waving chap probably didn’t see anything as a threat (or didn’t see anything whatsoever) and went ahead with waving at the cyclists coming the other way.
#1 – the overtaker. They’d
#1 – the overtaker. They’d just passed one jogger and they’re coming up to another and the guy reckons that that’s his big stealth overtaking opportunity. The guy at the front does change direction a bit sharpish, but all the same…
#2 – unlucky. Hard to apportion blame on the basis that you couldn’t replicate it if you tried. If you insist, someone further up the line…..
In #1 the over taker is doing
In #1 the over taker is doing something that I think is one of the most a**hole things to do on a multi-use path: trying to pass somebody who is maneuvering to pass a pedestrian (see the guy at the very end of the video). He passes at least 3 cyclists (in their lane) and almost the 2nd pedestrian and camera bike without showing any concern for the situation on the road. To his credit he is as far right as possible unlike the other losers who didn’t show much concern for the pedestrians (the camera operator seems to be riding down the middle of the path buzzing the poor walkers).
1. Other’s here have said it
1. Other’s here have said it already, but that whole group in video 1 looked a bit of a mess. They were all over the place, and they really shouldn’t be riding like that on a cycle path anyway. I hope the poor guy was OK, it looks like he came down hard.
2. What a freak accident. Looks like the stick got ‘sprung’ up by the first bike, and maybe the bike behind moved slightly sidewards and got it in the spokes. Waving guy should have spotted it, but we all hit things on the road from time to time, it just happens.
Number 1 – overtaking rider
Number 1 – overtaking rider needs to take more care. Overtaking is a privilege, not a right.
Number 2 – who knows. But if you’re in a chain gang you don’t cross wheels and you keep your eyes on the road.
The first one is both, but
The first one is both, but the poll has no option for this. Second one, can’t see.
First one – the overtaking
First one – the overtaking guy was being a dick and far too aggressive on a shared use path with pedestrians around.
1. That is not a place to
1. That is not a place to race, they are all as bad as each other. (therefore it is funny)
2. A freak occurrence, although the bloke on the front isn’t taking it seriously enough. Cycling shouldn’t be fun, wind in your hair and care free… Oh :S
I’m just amazed at the lack
I’m just amazed at the lack of communication in the bunch on both videos. Video #1: The guy in green indicates that they are moving over for a hazard but no other bugger does. On the second video, there’s no pointing out a potential problem. Safe bunch riding is all about communication.
Both videos just reinforce my
Both videos just reinforce my opinion that there are too many people riding too fast for the level of skills and awareness that they possess.
Shared paths are not an appropriate place for riding fast and riders in any kind of group (hardly looks like a proper chain gang) need to look after themselves and not just blindly follow the rider in front.
Sometimes I despair.
Other times I wonder how we can ever educate these people.
Rant over (for now)
Glad I watched this. I’ve my
Glad I watched this. I’ve my first Group ride on sunday and I thought my only worry was if I could get up in time, and whether I could keep up. But there seems a lot more to it than I’d really thought about.
Accidents happen, especially
Accidents happen, especially when you think everyone knows what they are doing.
In video 1 the guy comes from
In video 1 the guy comes from way back in the line, accelerating past, without appearing to communicate to anyone? it doesn’t seem as if the rider who crashed checked before moving out he followed the wheel in front?
50/50 ? Hope the guy who crashed was OK
Video 1 – Everyone was going
Video 1 – Everyone was going a bit too fast. They were playing at being Tour riders and ended up with a Tour-style chute.
Could we vote for planners who think that these narrow shared used paths are acceptable though?
Bristolbybike wrote:
Could we
There’s not a thing wrong with that sort of path if people use some sense.
Well in the first one to me
Well in the first one to me it is the overtaking cyclist since by natures design his eyes were pointing in the right direction thus he has to take responsibility for overtaking.
The second one is just odd.
First one has to be the
First one has to be the overtaking cyclist, people seem to have a dislike of calling out ‘coming through’.
Second was just a freak accident.
1) if that really is a shared
1) if that really is a shared path, every one of the arseholes wants a slap, what the hell is that all about, away and play on the road. Idiots.
2) I doesn’t look like a close bunch to me, therefore less diligence/ no ones fault in the video, if it was closer, basically everyone up front who didn’t shout it out.
You watched the video ‘a
You watched the video ‘a bunch of times’ wtf is that supposed to mean?
#1 – lets just see what is
#1 – lets just see what is actually happening here in chronological order – the cam guy and our victim seem to be freewheeling for a bit before passing the old lady, while the guy in yellow/green indicates ‘obstacle’. Red/white guy can be seen too. Victim passing lady on the middle of the right lane – not much space to overtake on his right, or a very very close one if. Red probably didn’t see this.
Bunch sticks closer.
All but the red guy stick back to the left side or the middle divider after the pass. Red guy starts sprinting.
Red guy passing yellow/green and getting right behind the victim, while victim rides the middle divider (some 5cm to the right from it, I say its middle).
Victim appears to get too close to the camera guy, maybe trying to pass on the right, swerving right into the path of red sprinter, to the middle of the right lane. The shout makes victim shit himself and screwing up what got to be an emergency slow down with a slight turn back to his left avoiding camera guy rear wheel. Instead he probably touches reds rear wheel.
All this happens way behind the 2nd pedestrian. I blame our front flip MAMIL w4nk6r here. He doesn’t appear to think that he might be overtaken, which you should consider if you are aware of other riders behind you, or not to block your right, or at least look behind. Would be good to know if or how many more riders were in front of cam guy.
#2 is a weird one. The 1st guy behind the cam narrowly misses the wood. With the 2nd one it doesn’t seem to get stuck in the wheel, or any debris breaking off, which could happen, or more likely the piece of wood flying up some distance in the air.
The guy is still waving with his left hand and I think he runs right at the edge of that piece of wood at a wrong angle which makes his front wheel slip off and with the weight on his right hand he just jack-knives the front wheel.
We don’t know if the guy at very front did indicate any hazard on the road and the followers just ignored it.