A
Andrew Swan
Guest
Hi all,
I've just been moved up a grade at my club. In my old grade,
the pace was fairly consistent and people either took turns
at the front or stayed near the back. Even though there were
some newish riders, it never felt unsafe and in fact I never
saw any crashes.
In my first race in the higher grade (held on the same
course and in the same usual wind conditions), I noticed
that the pace changes much more - one minute everyone's
strung out single file, the next everyone's on the anchors
trying desperately not to get to the front (at one point,
some riders were braking so hard, I could hear their brake
blocks squealing). People weren't doing smooth turns, then
peeling off to be replaced by the next in line - instead
people would come forward from the back, people would jump
to get on their wheel, then the lead rider would slow down,
nobody would come past, then it would be the big concertina
again until someone else got sick of it and went to the
front again, when the whole cycle would repeat.
In these conditions a crash was inevitable, and sadly it was
me who went down, my front wheel trapped as the rider next
to me tried to get around a slower rider in front (the bunch
being about four riders wide at this point). This was around
the half-way mark of the race, so it's not like the sprint
was about to start or anything, and it wasn't even in a
corner. In the short term, I'm annoyed having to buy a new
helmet and regrow some skin, but my long-term concern is
having a relatively safe grade to race in.
Speaking to some of the other riders in the bunch
afterwards, they expressed their fear and loathing of the
grade in question and said that it was *always* like that in
this bunch (although not in the next grade up, they said).
Apparently there are some people that try a half-hearted
break every week, and every week it doesn't work.
One of my sources described the front of the bunch as
"constipated", being full of people who want to be near the
front, but don't want to do a turn, and who fight madly to
get on the wheel of anyone going past a bit faster than
their current wheel.
So my questions are:
- how normal does this sound? Are there bunches like this
everywhere?
- why does it happen in this one grade and not the ones
above and below it (esp. considering the lower one goes
almost as fast)?
- what can I do about it (assuming I'm not allowed in
the lower grade and would get rapidly dropped by the
higher grade)?
- what can/should the club or the commissaires do to make
this bunch safer, if it's as dangerous as I've been told?
Thanks for any advice,
&roo
I've just been moved up a grade at my club. In my old grade,
the pace was fairly consistent and people either took turns
at the front or stayed near the back. Even though there were
some newish riders, it never felt unsafe and in fact I never
saw any crashes.
In my first race in the higher grade (held on the same
course and in the same usual wind conditions), I noticed
that the pace changes much more - one minute everyone's
strung out single file, the next everyone's on the anchors
trying desperately not to get to the front (at one point,
some riders were braking so hard, I could hear their brake
blocks squealing). People weren't doing smooth turns, then
peeling off to be replaced by the next in line - instead
people would come forward from the back, people would jump
to get on their wheel, then the lead rider would slow down,
nobody would come past, then it would be the big concertina
again until someone else got sick of it and went to the
front again, when the whole cycle would repeat.
In these conditions a crash was inevitable, and sadly it was
me who went down, my front wheel trapped as the rider next
to me tried to get around a slower rider in front (the bunch
being about four riders wide at this point). This was around
the half-way mark of the race, so it's not like the sprint
was about to start or anything, and it wasn't even in a
corner. In the short term, I'm annoyed having to buy a new
helmet and regrow some skin, but my long-term concern is
having a relatively safe grade to race in.
Speaking to some of the other riders in the bunch
afterwards, they expressed their fear and loathing of the
grade in question and said that it was *always* like that in
this bunch (although not in the next grade up, they said).
Apparently there are some people that try a half-hearted
break every week, and every week it doesn't work.
One of my sources described the front of the bunch as
"constipated", being full of people who want to be near the
front, but don't want to do a turn, and who fight madly to
get on the wheel of anyone going past a bit faster than
their current wheel.
So my questions are:
- how normal does this sound? Are there bunches like this
everywhere?
- why does it happen in this one grade and not the ones
above and below it (esp. considering the lower one goes
almost as fast)?
- what can I do about it (assuming I'm not allowed in
the lower grade and would get rapidly dropped by the
higher grade)?
- what can/should the club or the commissaires do to make
this bunch safer, if it's as dangerous as I've been told?
Thanks for any advice,
&roo