Anther death on a dangerous decent

[Woz]

The safe cycling future unless we forget exactly what these grand tours are about.



And if you think I'm being funny...... what a surprise.



Just like Bell helmets, get the advertising and lobbying to sell a product. The competitive and recreational cycling world will be very sad. As far as I'm concerned, Zwift can officially my with this kind of disgusting fear factor marketing.

 

[Aech]

This is a huge issue in american football where young athletes get brain injuries from the position they play: cte. Ditto for boxing. Need to find a solution that preserves the sport without damaging young people.

If you don't like the risks do something else, it's not like these athletes couldn't hold down a job at McDonalds flipping burgers...

 

[eri]

If you don't like the risks do something else, it's not like these athletes couldn't hold down a job at McDonalds flipping burgers...

Yeah I guess that is the thing for me. These athletes are idiot male young adults and they have about as much self control as a trained fighting dog. I was immortal at that age. No free will I was in thrall to testosterone.

I understand the joy of competition but these kids need actual, official help to be safe. F1 somehow managed it. I'm not against some road rash but going into a light pole/fire hydrant at 50mph will change that young person's life before they got to live it.

Solo/Private risks: fine, have at it. It is the official and monetary encouragement of risk that I disagree with.

 

[Frankenorange]

Yeah I guess that is the thing for me. These athletes are idiot male young adults and they have about as much self control as a trained fighting dog. I was immortal at that age. No free will I was in thrall to testosterone.

I understand the joy of competition but these kids need actual, official help to be safe. F1 somehow managed it. I'm not against some road rash but going into a light pole/fire hydrant at 50mph will change that young person's life before they got to live it.

Solo/Private risks: fine, have at it. It is the official and monetary encouragement of risk that I disagree with.

Of course they show self control.

That is what stops 99.9% of junior, U23, world tour, pro and continental male and female cyclists braining themselves during their careers. The monetary encouragement to have a go in the first place is also what is in the mind of the riders when they are pushing on. They want consistent wages, and a long career with those wages, and this is what will cause a rider to dial it back a bit.
The risk, even pushing it to the absolute limit, of serious injury/death is factually VERY small when you factor in the millions of miles/hours they collectively spend on the bikes, racing and training, at speeds alot of us can only dream of. Added to the miles, time and speeds you also have to factor in the amount of cyclist we are talking about. Worldwide there are sooooooooooo many riding everyday in all weathers between all manner of obstacles.
Heart issues are a way bigger problem and even then it is still a very small number, affected. The heart thing is still better in cycling, though, than alot of other sports like football(soccer) and american football.
This is a fact. More of these cyclists we are talking about have been very seriously injured/killed in training by getting hit by lorries/cars whilst minding their own business, or getting an ice cream for thier kids in one tragic example, or have been killed by cartel members in the last couple of years, than in racing.

 

[greencat]

I agree with a lot of what's been posted. I rode like a loon in my 20s - always pushing harder and faster, partly to find my and the bike's limits. Some of my friends in their 50s still push it as hard as possible as they are relatively new to the sport. After a couple of memorable, but thankfully not too injurious, crashes in my 20s I dialled it back a bit.

We should use every bad crash/sad tragedy as an opportunity to learn how the things could be done more safely. Sometimes, perhaps oftentimes, there will be nothing that needs doing and that's OK too.

 

[Aech]

I agree with a lot of what's been posted. I rode like a loon in my 20s - always pushing harder and faster, partly to find my and the bike's limits.

Same here, as a youngster I got such a kick from overtaking cars going down hill, I clearly remember the absolute look of disbelief on one driver's face was priceless as I went past at 50+ mph

Later I switched to mountain biking and I had far more crashes than I ever did on my road bike, but I walked away from every crash with nothing broken. The bike lost a few rear mechs and the fair few rims but other than that everything survived.

Say what you will but I never wore a helmet and used to hammer it down gnarly trails on a rigid bike and only ever walked away with cuts and bruises, a friend who had a full suspension bike wasn't any faster than me (although he tried to be) wore helmet, shin pads, elbow pads etc etc broke both his arms and one of his legs over the course of a few years.

I think he thought he was invincible because of his "better" bike and the safety kit he wore and as a result had more serious accidents.

 

[greencat]

Same here, as a youngster I got such a kick from overtaking cars going down hill, I clearly remember the absolute look of disbelief on one driver's face was priceless as I went past at 50+ mph

That was one of my party tricks too. Often on narrow steep roads in N. Wales. I don't think I ever went quite that fast though. Once I had to slam on the anchors behind a car at the bottom of a hill, and "I thought that's an unusual view of the boot". I'd nearly gone over the handlebars when stopping and was looking down upon said car boot. Didn't help that I had a housemate, sadly no longer with us, who was even nuttier. I remember seeing him overtaking a car bent over in a mock aero position, hands firmly clasped behind his back - on a box of bits Diamond Back.

Edit: Thank you that's revived a fond memory.

 

[Sir Neil d'Menture]

I was doing the long extinct Porthole Grand Prix - a time trial once round Windermere.
Mid March but still plenty of grockles about. I had the red mist and was only a couple of miles from the finish. Grandad in front of me doing 15mph on twisty roads.
I overtook him. Then Henry Iddon overtook me. We had a good laugh afterwards but no doubt it was stoopid. We were young and immortal. But we both won a prize!

 

[pigman]

I was doing the long extinct Porthole Grand Prix - a time trial once round Windermere.
Mid March but still plenty of grockles about. I had the red mist and was only a couple of miles from the finish. Grandad in front of me doing 15mph on twisty roads.
I overtook him. Then Henry Iddon overtook me. We had a good laugh afterwards but no doubt it was stoopid. We were young and immortal. But we both won a prize!

Couple of things ....
WTF is a grockle?

Then the Henry story. I remember riding the viking trophy race at the IOM and was on Henrys wheel on the descent. At the big sweeping right hander where the pub is, he hammered into the corner, me on his wheel and I remember catching sight of his lean angle, sideways like a Moto GP rider and I just backed off and bottled it. Caught him somewhere near the grandstand after the descent to start lap 2. I still sometimes think of that lean angle

 

[Aech]

WTF is a grockle?

Slang for a tourist, it's a derogatory term for them as they usually dawdle along getting in your way.