After 30+ triathlons I experienced my first major bike crash last week at the Boise 70.3. It was not a good outcome...seven broken ribs, broken scapula, broken collar bone, one cracked vertebrae. My only goal here is to hopefully keep somebody else from making the same mistakes as me. Sure, the additional days spent in the Boise hospital unexpectedly extended my vacation, but I'm quite sure there would have been better uses of that time off.
I essentially got thrown after hitting a storm water drainage channel that was built into the road. Picture an inverse speed bump...a short but somewhat severe dip designed to channel water all the way across the road in one place during a torrential downpour that desert areas often get. I really can't blame my crash on the race organizers. We were warned about the dip in the pre-race briefing. Maybe the hazard could have been better marked, but I'm not aware of any other racers crashing there, so I think that's a pretty clear indication of a mistake on my part rather than something they failed to do.
So here were my key mistakes:
1) It was around mile 52 and I was getting tired...I was riding too much in a "head down" versus head up position. I would consistently look up to check position, look for other riders, hazards, etc. but late in the bike ride I'm sure I was spending too much time looking down versus looking ahead. As a result, I was essentially looking down at my front tire on a flat, straight section of road when I got to the hazard.
2) I was trying to stay loose so I wasn't really gripping my aero bars. Combine that with the head down position and I didn't see the dip until I hit it. The impact wrenched my wheel out of my hands to the side and I was airborne.
3) I was thinking about the run. With four miles to go, that's where my mind was versus finishing the bike ride. So, my concentration on the task at hand was probably diminished. Never stop thinking about the bike until it's parked.
In retrospect, there were a few scary downhills on the Boise course thanks to a nasty cross wind. When I see what a crash at 23 did to me it's quite frightening to think what could have happened at 40+.
The key takeaway is any amount of time lost by putting safety first, riding the brakes a little more is ultimately irrelevant. Based on my swim time and bike computer up to the crash with a decent run I was well positioned for a top 5 AG finish and a decent shot at top 3. Big fucking deal. If placing is that important then I better suck it up on the swim and run because the payoff for taking any risks on the bike just aren't worth it.
I think the other key lesson for me is in the future I will be more selective in which triathlons I enter. This IS NOT a knock on Boise as my experience was the race was very well run, well controlled on the bike course and stocked with plenty of volunteers....including the off duty EMT's that were there for me immediately after my crash. I'm really speaking about many of the local and regional tri's I've done over the years. The risks are simply too high to enter any race which can't afford solid traffic control, broad lanes for cyclists with plenty of volunteers. And there are a lot of races out there that fail this test.
End of rant. Stay safe. The alternative sucks.
I essentially got thrown after hitting a storm water drainage channel that was built into the road. Picture an inverse speed bump...a short but somewhat severe dip designed to channel water all the way across the road in one place during a torrential downpour that desert areas often get. I really can't blame my crash on the race organizers. We were warned about the dip in the pre-race briefing. Maybe the hazard could have been better marked, but I'm not aware of any other racers crashing there, so I think that's a pretty clear indication of a mistake on my part rather than something they failed to do.
So here were my key mistakes:
1) It was around mile 52 and I was getting tired...I was riding too much in a "head down" versus head up position. I would consistently look up to check position, look for other riders, hazards, etc. but late in the bike ride I'm sure I was spending too much time looking down versus looking ahead. As a result, I was essentially looking down at my front tire on a flat, straight section of road when I got to the hazard.
2) I was trying to stay loose so I wasn't really gripping my aero bars. Combine that with the head down position and I didn't see the dip until I hit it. The impact wrenched my wheel out of my hands to the side and I was airborne.
3) I was thinking about the run. With four miles to go, that's where my mind was versus finishing the bike ride. So, my concentration on the task at hand was probably diminished. Never stop thinking about the bike until it's parked.
In retrospect, there were a few scary downhills on the Boise course thanks to a nasty cross wind. When I see what a crash at 23 did to me it's quite frightening to think what could have happened at 40+.
The key takeaway is any amount of time lost by putting safety first, riding the brakes a little more is ultimately irrelevant. Based on my swim time and bike computer up to the crash with a decent run I was well positioned for a top 5 AG finish and a decent shot at top 3. Big fucking deal. If placing is that important then I better suck it up on the swim and run because the payoff for taking any risks on the bike just aren't worth it.
I think the other key lesson for me is in the future I will be more selective in which triathlons I enter. This IS NOT a knock on Boise as my experience was the race was very well run, well controlled on the bike course and stocked with plenty of volunteers....including the off duty EMT's that were there for me immediately after my crash. I'm really speaking about many of the local and regional tri's I've done over the years. The risks are simply too high to enter any race which can't afford solid traffic control, broad lanes for cyclists with plenty of volunteers. And there are a lot of races out there that fail this test.
End of rant. Stay safe. The alternative sucks.