I'm going to be honest, you kinda make it sound like it was (at least partially) your fault based on how you described it in your blog (did not hold your line).

Some general tips for finishing mass sprints:

- For the love of God, please do not sprint for position if you're not in the top 10 or have a shot at points/prizes.

- When you decide to unleash your sprint, give it 100% all the way to the line. Trying to jump on other's wheels after your (way too) early sprint fizzles is an impossible task if you truly gave your first sprint everything you had. Pro's usually jump between 2-300m from the line based on wind/road grade/etc.. Any farther than that and you're not really sprinting, you're trying to break away pre-sprint.

- HOLD YOUR LINE. Sure, Mark Cavendish doesn't always hold his line, but you/we're not pros and even he gets shit and causes crashes for it. Once you start sprinting, your only movements should be as directly forward as possible.

- Be in your drops. Not only is it more aero, its more stable b/c of the lower center of gravity and its a shorter way to fall to the ground when (not if) your numbers up and you get tangled in a sprint crash.

- Generally, if you're in the top 2-4 riders with 1k to go you're too far up. NOW is the time to sink back a few riders and grab another wheel. Holding 2nd wheel and realizing you're suddenly first wheel in the wind with 500m to go is possibly the very worst position to be in (besides off the back) for mass finish sprints. Without teammates it turns into a guessing game but thats cycling. Before you even get to this point in the race you need to figure out who is going to be crossing that line first, get on his wheel in that last 1-2k, and ride it like your favorite hooker until you jump off it at the perfect moment for glorious CAT 5 victory.

- o yeah, and for the LOVE OF GOD please don't sprint if you're not in the top ~10 going into the Finale

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http://cyclussports.com/ - #ZeroPositive #CyclusSports
http://app.strava.com/athletes/355549
https://twitter.com/ryanAjoyce

It's a sprint. Hold your line.

it's funny seeing you up in NY still being able to wear long sleeve jerseys... Houston here, and I haven't been able to since february haha :)

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-Jason
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Is that all you've got? Are you sure?

- o yeah, and for the LOVE OF GOD please don't sprint if you're not in the top ~10 going into the Finale

BINGO!

Read this over and over and over, please.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

From the sounds of it, the best way to avoiding crashes is to avoid races that you're in!

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Steve

"If you ain't first, you're last." Reese Bobby Talladega Nights

Ever done an Omnium? Point races?

I also paid for the race so I'm going to race and not just roll in. I completely disagree with that (and from all the races I've done pretty much the entire field seems to disagree with that).

Which is why there are so many crashes during the sprint....

 

I appreciate your candor in your race report, L2T, but you could have crashed out the whole field. In my far-from-expert opinion, it was entirely your fault.

The road rash photos were not nearly as disturbing as the spot where you wrote about trying to jump into someone's slipstream after he passed you in the final sprint.

Hold your line, a/k/a "Holdja' line!" as they say in the park races. If you don't hold your line, the Cat4s will be no safer than the 5s.

I wish you and your fellow racers a speedy recovery. Be safe out there.

You might also want to try to hook up with some local riders or a club to practice pacelining and sprinting during workouts, so that you're more comfortable in the drops at full speed. If you practice it while training and not just at the end of a race (when you are presumably already cross-eyed form the effort), it will become more natural for you.

I've never done a race weekend where it was not based on overall time OR points were only awarded to top 5-10 per event or so. No need to sprint for S.T. and any race that gives points for every position that is set up for a mass sprint finish is a sign of a shit race director and i would say that to his/her face. BTW, feel free to read my whole sentence next time too! I did specify that there is reason to sprint if you have a shot at POINTS or prizes (although again, if you're getting points for 20th place, choose a different race next time)

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http://cyclussports.com/ - #ZeroPositive #CyclusSports
http://app.strava.com/athletes/355549
https://twitter.com/ryanAjoyce

Always make sure the hole you are trying to occupy is a hole. You crashed because you moved over on someone.

sounds like you gotta look around more. never move laterally unless you know nobody is there.

impossible to avoid forever, sorry about the crash, but sounds like you have come a long way from getting dropped on the hill every time!

I often abort cat4 or cat5 sprints if its too crowded and I'm not in a position to win, crashes are very very common there.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

+ a zillion. No need to mix it up as being far back and blowing up also poses risk to others.

I prefer to sprint from further out, say with 15 minutes left, and see how much rope the pack is willing to give me.




nothing wrong with wanting to get the most out of your entrance fees, but there are less risky ways of going about it.. lets see how glib you'll be when you are the one with a broken clavicle or a punctured lung. Most U-35 racers who haven't been involved in serious crashes think of themselves as invincible and are willing to take stupidly high risks.

At the Tour of Lititz yesterday, the last corner in the crit was a downhill that required restraint as it can be easily overcooked. The cat-5 field overcooked it and a few people crashed. The cat-4 field also overcooked it, and a friend of a friend ended up in the hospital.

At the beginning of the cat-3 rider, the importance of not overcooking the turn was reiterated. Come the last corner, the first rider had a gap on the field and would have been the winner had he stayed up, but still managed to crash himself out by overcooking the turn. Afterwards, a friend asked why he did it, to which he responded "i thought i could." Famous last words of people with a false sense of invincibility.

Just re-read the post. You should count your lucky stars that you didn't come out worse. Why? Because you were gassed from your effort and were probably not making the best decisions. It's not your fault, per se, but people often make less-than-optimal decisions when most of the oxygen is diverted to the muscles.

I've been in attacks OTF where i was reeled in.

Race 1: reeled in with 500m to go. Foolishly decided that position was somehow important and tried to finish as high as possible, even if it's a 15th place (stupid mentality coming from running background). End result: crashed out, spent a night at the hospital, and spent the next year getting my teeth fixed.

Race 2: attacked with 2 miles left and reeled in with 200m to go. Went to the side of the road where few riders were (i was a slow moving hazard at that time) and coasted to 7th place.

Race 3: attacked with 15 minutes left, someone bridged up to me and dropped me. Was reeled in with 2 laps to go. I realized that my legs no longer had it, and just sat up to roll in as the last person to finish ST with the leader. Maybe the referee was generous, but there was a good 50m gap between me and the rider who crossed before I did.

Pretty much what everyone else said. And stay out of it if you don't know what you're doing.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Did it look something like that ^

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I got nothing.

I'll second what everyone else is saying.

Unless it's an omnium and I'm close to the front at the end of a road race or crit, I will not get mixed up in the sprint.

In the last road race I did, I was the last person out of what was left of the main pack to cross the finish line. Guess what? I got the same time as 42 out of 45 of us that survived in the main field.

In Cat 5, there is really no reason to get involved in the sprint. Might as weak sit in and watch it all unfold. I've avoided two serious crashes when I was in Cat 5 by just sitting mid-pack in the run up to the sprint finish. And I learned a lot about where to position and more importantly where NOT to be when the speeds are ramping up.

Anyway, good luck in your future racing. It'll all come together.

I think the poster was referring to this one:

http://www.youtube.com/...youtube_gdata_player

+1 You are better off learning at this stage than pursuing imagined glory.

As Echappist said 'Let's see how glib you are when you are the one with the broken clavicle or punctured lung'
A good buddy of mine was taken out a few years back in a bad crash. It took him a long time to get healthy.

that was a nasty corner, saw the cat 5 crash and the cat 4 (after I was pulled, ugh)

You mean this one: http://www.youtube.com/...ed&v=t5PZfEDnvzM

I actually also was having Litiz in my mind when I posted the "ever raced Omniums" because they give 1pt to the winner 2points to 2nd etc... And whoever has lowest points wins. It's apparently pretty common in Track cycling omniums (google Internation style omnium).
Did you race the 4 or 3?

Edit: And this would be the Cat3 racer you mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEEUm_edf2k .

That's how I read it too. Livetotri, is this what happened?

raced neither, but heard about the carnage from two friends: one (cat-4) who went to Lancaster General to look after a friend of his who crashed in the cat-4 race and another (cat-3) who spoke to the rider who crashed in the Cat3 field before hand. Actually, my friend mentioned that before the race, he mentioned to the cat-3 rider who crashed that the inside line was a bad line to take if one comes in hot, to which the rider who crashed mentioned that he can do it.

i know the Cat3 rider in question and have raced with him on a few occasions. In fact, he won the race in which i took a solo flyer and finished 7th.




and guess which field didn't crash? The 40+ master's field. They have way too much other stuff outside of cycling to want to partake in any sort of silliness

This story was actually on Deadspin today.

http://deadspin.com/...he-pavement-splatter

People love carnage, apparently.