The march of technology means that racing incidents such as crashes that once upon a time would have been spoken about in the bar afterwards can now be caught on film, uploaded to social media, and watched by thousands of people worldwide – and here’s a prime example from a Category 3 race in Southern California.
Uploaded to Facebook by the Impact Racing powered by 1 on1 Financial team, it shows the moment a rider coming through on the inside leans on another to his left, setting in motion a domino effect that results in several riders hitting the deck.
The crash happened during a support race at this weekend’s Roger Milikan Memorial Criterium, and opinion among those watching the video on Facebook is split over who actually caused the crash.
Is it the guy in the light blue jersey who brings down the riders to his right, or is it the guy to his right – identified as riding in the white jersey of UCLA – who causes the crash by coming through the corner on the wrong line?
Let us know what you think in the comments.
32 thoughts on “Video: Spectacular ‘domino effect’ crash at Category 3 race – but who caused it?”
The guy in blue who elbows
The UCLA guy in white nudging the guy in blue (who is also coming in too wide and so elbows the fella to his left) is clearly the cause of the crash as he’s coming in hot and going wide. I hate it when riders come up your inside for gaps that aren’t there and corners they can’t hold their line through.
I’m going with UCLA man.
I’m going with UCLA man.
Yorkshire wallet wrote:
Yup. Poor bastard in blue had nowhere to go other than into someone else with no say of his own.
Guy in blue over-lapped
Guy in blue over-lapped wheels going into the corner to move up the inside taking the UCLA rider’s ill-advised line. Both to blame and both got away with it, unlike the poor unfortunates on the outside.
Take inside line, that’s
Take inside line, that’s terrible idea . . . you risk yourself and other to go down altogether
If this video will be use for find person for responsibility, I think UCLA guy that’s it . . . clearly his fault
On reflection, the UCLA guy
On reflection, the UCLA guy wasn’t on any line. he pretty much straight lined it into the chap in blue… and the rest was inevitable.
That said, the fall should have been avoidable for all… The chap in black has a bit of a panic moment and over-reacts to hitting the chap on his left. if he hadn’t done that, all would have stayed up.
I’ve always been amused when in these situations as to how hard it is to fall down… its like the riders around you are literally holding you up. Good effort all!
It’s a category three race
It’s a category three race
Look at the kerb: the guy in
Look at the kerb: the guy in black cuts right across and gets an elbow from the guy in blue who tries to push him back onto black’s line. Blue finishes what black started and closes the gap to the kerb. White then has nowhere to go and so ends up on the line of least resistance which leads to the tumbles. Black gets what he deserved – it’s the ones to his left that get a raw deal.
Amateurs……oh wait.
Amateurs……oh wait.
The UCLA Rider took the bad
The UCLA Rider took the bad line and forced the issues/results. I believe the gent in blue would have made it without a crash and everyone unscathed had the UCLA Rider not pushed him that far off his line. Since the UCLA Rider took that bad line, he could have bunny-hopped the curb and maybe precluded the crash altogether….
The UCLA rider should’ve
The UCLA rider should’ve hopped the curb and gone over the sidewalk if he was that desperate to cut in front.
I have to agree with nnif –
I have to agree with nnif – the one is black is the one who comes off his line and then gets sent flying
nice use of the elbow though
All looks to start because
All looks to start because the guy in black enters the corner slower than the rest of the bunch (see how much ground he loses on the rider in front of him). That causes blue to overlap on his right and that’s when white comes into the picture.
Can’t really tell if white was going way too fast into the corner and diving up the inside or how much space was left after blue overlaps black. I’d argue that blue was probably blameless though even though he overlaps wheels going into the corner.
racingcondor wrote:
I suspect part of this is due to the camera position which makes it look as if the rider in white tries to steam up the inside – I think they actually go into the corner 5 abreast, and the radius makes it look like those outside are losing position
Looks like too much
Looks like too much inexperience, tactical ineptitude, testosterone and zero teamwork. Unless it is a crit or approaching the final, which it doesn’t look like given the lack of urgency and/or chatter, little point going in that bunched and hemmed.
Hang back, pick your own apex (idealy innermost ‘kerb clip’) and treat it like a descent with sensible gaps front, side and rear. You won’t win anything here but you could lose everything (especially on that nasty opposite high kerb – Rio Olympics springs to mind).
RTB wrote:
The crash happened during a support race at this weekend’s Roger Milikan Memorial Criterium
Can we just for once put the
Can we just for once put the whole ‘You should be in a race’ business to rest. There are people (generally ex amateur racers) who love to bleat this out when anyone talks about sportives or audax or strava; that these are not serious or competetive. I don’t want to race because it is actually more dangerous and stupid than a few guys going too fast in a sportive. I’d rather mix it with a few numpties on the road than a whole pack of them. Sure these guys are fast and mean and want to win, but that is a recipe for crashes. If you want to do Cat racing you are guarenteed to be in crashes eventually.
Sure I have crashed a few times because of my own mistakes (mud/ice/bird shite) but not because someone else crashed into me. I’d rather take a bruised arse and ego than a broken leg. I don’t have money to waste on cracked frames. I take my events seriously and play the long game, I ride long and at my own speed. if this is the kind of muppetry you think is a ‘proper’ race I’ll stick to my sportives.
race
reɪs/
noun
1.
a competition between runners, horses, vehicles, etc. to see which is the fastest in covering a set course.
ergo a sportive is a race. Just not the kind of race you like.
Leviathan wrote:
although no one actually said it…
we were just all thinking it!
Leviathan wrote:
I think I get your point, but largely disagree…
The whole ‘is it a race?’ thing is usually a retort to people gloating that they just got a strava KOM or nth place in a sportive. It’s banter. A sportive, by your definition, might be a type of race – the fun run type – but more dangerous than a fun run, because bikes. Most sportive riders take it like a fun run (IME) so bragging that you got nth place is a bit hollow, no? It literally wasn’t a race, because not everyone treated it like one. If everyone took sportives as races they’d be full of no-skill crashes and finished as events.
It is what it is: there are actual races available when you get to the necessary fitness/skill-level*
If you want proper kudos or respect like you just won a race, enter an actual race… Until then, I suspect the banter-laden kudos you’ll get will be appropriate to bombing it on a fun run or getting the lights/wind/traffic just right on a 500m bit of road that you ride every day (this is ‘you’ in the figurative sense – as in ‘one’ – I’m not suggesting this is what you do).
* Disclosure: on a bike, I’ve only ever really ‘raced’ time trials and CX. I’ve done a couple of Cat4s at Oulton Park and that taught me that on anything other than a closed circuit designed for cars, my handling ‘skills’ would be a total danger to everyone. CX is OK because it’s slow and everyone’s going sideways, mostly in mud. Only ever treated sportives as a quickish matey ride.
Leviathan wrote:
Egg and spoon and sack races are also races. No one treats those seriously either.
rct wrote:
Au contraire – if you speak with anyone who’s ever been to school sports day, they are treated very, very seriously.
Leviathan wrote:
1.
a competition between runners, horses, vehicles, etc. to see which is the fastest in covering a set course.
ergo a sportive is a race. Just not the kind of race you like.— Leviathan
Interesting use of the definition of a race – a correct definition but I’m afraid that neither sportives nor audax events are races even by your interpretation of the definition.
But no we can’t put the “you should be in a race” argument to rest so easily.
It is a very clear rule in sportives on open roads here in the UK that they are not competetive and it is for that reason alone that they are allowed to take place on the roads. Audax events actually restrict the speed at which the distance can be completed and cannot be defined as a race either.
You may be correct in applying the definition of race to Strava but clearly that is akin to a time trial race rather than a massed start event and the skill set is very different.
The incident shown in the video was most likely the result of riders who were fit but inexperienced and unable to cope with a pretty simple turn when one of the group made a very foolish move up the inside – that stuff happens especially with inexperienced competitors.
I won’t say anyone should or should not be in a race but I will happily state that neither sportives nor audax events are races.
Shittest article of the month
Shittest article of the month award.
The London Marathon must just
The London Marathon must just be a fun run then. No Kudos for winning that.
Leviathan wrote:
well if you win the pro race kudos, but beating many people whos goal is just to finish and some are evn wearing costumes, not so much.
same with ride london, win the pro race kudos, overtake 1000s of people who are not racing – mp kudos.
Leviathan wrote:
The reason they let elites out at the front of a running race with people wearing windmills in the same field, is that if a non-elite chancer makes a dash and leads for a couple of miles (like the fella in the Boston? Marathon who was in front after putting in a couple of 4.30ish miles), he’s not going to wipe the elites out by running out of skill.
That’s exactly the reason for race categorisation in cycling, and that’s exactly the reason that sportives are not ‘proper’ races.
Edit: it was Boston. http://www.runnersworld.com/races/who-was-the-dad-leading-the-boston-marathon-at-mile-one
So, sportives: races for
So, sportives: races for people scared of (or too shit for) real races…
That’s the thing I took umbrage with about Leviathan’s post ^. Sure, you don’t want to surround yourself with faster, or stronger, or crazier , or less skillful riders who might think nothing of snapping a carbon frame or clavicle. But at least in actual races, everyone knows the score: everyone is racing.
If you then go and ‘race’ a sportive, you’re being exactly the type of wally you’re trying to avoid, to people just out to get a decent run in with some mates, or do their first 50/100. They’re really not racing, and neither was I when I did them.
davel wrote:
This is exactly the kind of snide remark I am complaining about. For once I am in agreement with Python; there are wallies in all types of events. Last year I did Ride London 100 in 5.5hours. Leading amateurs were doing it in about 4 hours, very much faster than me. Do you think they are all being unsafe? How fast is too fast for a sportive? There is no speed limit. Faster riders are going to tend to get to the front. Organisers need to make this clearer.
The crashes in these events tend to be people overcooking bends and hitting trees and curbs/kerbs, not crashing into each other. There seems to be a faux elitism for those doing Cat racing; like they think they are on the ladder towards being a Pro (only maybe true if you’re still 17.) You are in the Vauxhall Conference not the Champions league, but you still like to look down on those saying they scored a goal playing 5-a-side. It’s puerile rubbish and needs to be called out.
It’s clear the fella on the
It’s clear the fella on the inside out of control, causes the chain of events, however playing devils advocate, it looks to me, very briefly, like there may have been a drain which he was trying to avoid.. anyone else see something there?
It’s a mesmerising clip.
@Leviathan:
@Leviathan:
Totally understand that numpties who shouldn’t really be riding a bike quickly round bends in events are best off not riding a bike quickly round bends in events. I’m one of them, I learned that pretty quickly – I mistook Cat2 fitness/power/straight line speed for even being able to race Cat4s properly, as I suspect many do, comically powering past people on the straights and almost being dropped on the bends.
Now I only really go fast on a bike in straight-ish lines under ‘no drafting’ rules, often sandwiched between a swim and run, or, more slowly, in mud. I’ve found my niche, without crashing once (if you count one or two offs per CX race as ‘slides’ not ‘crashes’).
But you admitted yourself up there^ that you don’t want to actually race where everyone is racing because it’s too mental and potentially costly: you prefer to race in an event that is a lot safer for precisely the reason that it isn’t a race! It’s the lack of ‘proper’ racing in it that makes it a more pleasant environment – if everyone took it balls out it’d be over at the first bend. Sorry for interpreting that as you being too scared to mix with the bigger boys where daft shit happens and preferring to be one of the bigger boys in a safer event.
At least Cat4 plodders have the balls to plod/be unfit/run out of skills in an environment where everybody accepts that it’s a race and shit happens.
So yeah, if you want to race, get yourself to a real race. Doesn’t have to be a crit – plenty of TTs and CXs about.
Coming from a cycle speedway
Coming from a cycle speedway background I would look upon the move by the rider in blue as a great overtaking manoeuvre and the rider in black as being a bit soft, however, in a road racing context it would have to be seen in a different context. All of the three main protagonists here make mistakes, but isn’t that what racing a a lower level all about? Surely one of the main reasons for having a categorisation system is so that riders can make mistakes like this and learn then move up, or as some have suggested decide that it’s not for them and move on to something else.
I think this argument is
I think this argument is certainly 50/50. Racers may come across as arrogant or feeling superior, but I think in many cases thats because they are reacting to a sportive rider’s boasting around athletic / racing prowess.
I’ve certainly found myself goaded into calling out sportive riders in the past as it was impossible to stand back and be slagged off and belittled by their ‘racing’ achievements.
if you want to compete with other people, put a number on and enter a race. If you are happy competing with yourself, then ride sportives and race yourself. but be under no illusion that you are only racing yourself.
Truth is, actual racing is pretty safe. In 20 years of racing I can count the amount of crashes I have had on my hands. It does happen, but with an infrequency and lack of seriousness that it is a non-event in my eyes.
Another truth… if you do something, and practice something a lot, you generally get better at it. Not always, but the average response is to become accustomed and more skilled with repitition. This is the way with racing. If you race around corners in a competitive bunch a lot, you will become better at racing around corners in a bunch.
The best racing cyclists are competent at cornering and bunch craft, not because their natural ability to get around a corner is better than others, its because they have a learned skill.
My point being is this. When a competitive racer says to a non-competitive rider that you need to have racing experience to understand a situation, its probably because unless you’ve been in that situation, you are unlikely to understand it.