/\ /\ This is real. You can avoid a lot of trouble by being in the right place ALL THE TIME (you get better at it). You have to actively avoid sketchy riders and always know your next move. You can eliminate much of the trouble in the lower cats by being up near the front (I always liked to sit about 8 or 9) but you need to be aware that the group can envelop you at times if the guys at the front slow (like approaching the 180 degree turn at the CCNS Kremis), so you always need to be on your guard. You are constantly moving around relative to other riders. You are always asking yourself, "where is the wind," "am I working too much," "who is next to me right now," "what it he going to do," "what am I going to do," "if he does x, what will I do," "where is the wind..."

Honestly, it's a ton of fun... maybe I'll go back...

If you want to get a lesson in how to race crits watch this guy's videos and read his blog http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.com/...au_=iVVH5PLqZnjWV4vF and read up on the posts here https://www.bikeforums.net/33-road-bike-racing/.

Speaking as a medic, you only get one brain. You want to play with your grand kids or you want them wiping your drool? Don't push your luck.

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Be Uncommon

And you can do all of the above and still be taken out by some stupid chick who gets bumped, freaks out, and then loses her wheel and takes out your front wheel in the blink of an eye at 25+ mph. Then you end up spending the entire day and half the night at Stanford urgent care and miss the Super Bowl and a work trip and later knee surgery and then eventually, a knee replacement. Helmet was toast but at least the bike was fine.

OPer - with your history of concussion - JUST SAY NO. The suggestion for cyclocross is a good one.

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

No doubt.

High FTP is fine, but doesn't mean anything in a crit. You can sit at 5w/kg on the front and give the rest of the group a free ride and get dumped during the last 2 laps when it gets more tactical and not a ftp test.

Dangerous? Could be, a bunch of newbs on a confined road having to turn with others turning around them- it happens.

More strategy than anything the higher up you get. Of course-the course profile makes a difference as well. Perhaps the most important is having teammates.

Maybe I was just lucky but I raced a lot for a number of years and never had a bad crash. I don't think I ever loss any skin. My "crashes" were basically coming to a stop and falling over onto a pile of bodies and bikes.

I had been doing fondo road races and a lot of group riding for ten years without as much as a scratch - then crashed twice within twelve months.

First time during a fondo at ~20 mph and second time at a crit race at +30 mph. Neither instance was my own fault and I would even say that I was perfectly placed at the crit from a safety point of view when two other guys messed up.

Didn’t concuss at either crash but banged my head pretty hard and ended up at the ER with fractures both times.

I would not be scared to continue but have agreed to stay off group rides/races for safety reasons out of respect for my wife (who is a doctor and maybe has a more realistic appreciation of the risks) and kids. Next time I will maybe not be as “lucky” as I have been.

However, if I had a concussion background, I would never have considered crit racing in the first place. The risk/reward ratio is simply not worth it. And even if you don’t get a concussion at every crash, you are likely to bang your head in the ground when you go down. Which you will do at some point.

Also never been hit by a car, and I can only recall ever having one crash (with no consequence) on a group ride. Never crashed on my own. I like to think I'm doing something right, but probably just lucky.

Now mountain biking is another story.

This is my experience as well. A lot of crashes, mostly around corners, most don't result in head injury, but the risk is always there.

And personally, I think the idea of fixed gear crits are quite reckless (poor braking, higher chance of pedal strike, the list goes on...). Most definitely stay away from those if you are concerned of crashing. It's said that fixed gear crits eliminate equipment as a factor, I believe fixed gear crits are designed to create carnage (which is why they are so popular). Otherwise, single speed bikes would achieve the same goal of eliminating gear as a variance while maintaining a reasonable level of safety.

Thanks to all the insight and replies!

I linked my gf to the thread. Her response? NO CRITS FOR YOU. Obviously, somewhat joking, but having already woken up on a stretcher, I don't want to have a higher than needed risk of it happening again. I'm 29 right now, but spent a lot of money on my education and to fry the brain box at this point would, at the least, be a hard financial pill to swallow.

BUT, I'm going to go to some cross races and see if it's something I could get involved with. Plus, TTs would be fun. I just have to find some end of the year ones.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

i'm 52 now. raced through most of my late teens through mid-20s. haven't raced since but continued to ride. never had any accidents nearly as nasty as those that i had racing crits. which, i never crashed in a crit, came darn close, but always crashed on training rides. why back then we had a loop we trained on that was an up and coming industrial/business park. beautiful roads, nice sweeping turns, no traffic. the roads had been poured but the market tanked so no buildings were built for years. we'd train twice a week so i spent a lot of time in the crit realm even though they were training rides and not a true, sanctioned race.

crits are fun as shit. you are jacked on adrenaline the whole time, as long as youre in the front or middle of the pack. but consequences can be high.

in your situation, stay away. not worth it. learn to fly aerobatics in a high performance plane, i.e. pitts, eagle, edge, you'll get the same rush and it's safer.

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ΜΟΛΩΝ-ΛΑΒΕ
we're doomed

You're going to crash in cross too. They'll be less gory, but remember that the issue with concussion isn't actually impact, but forces acting upon your brain as it floats calmly in its little brain bath. If you haven't yet, you might want to talk to a Neuro who specializes in concussion and CTE and get some baseline assessments done. Now, having said that, I probably should too given my history, but ....

Good luck and enjoy!

The Littleton crit is probably the most crash prone on the Colorado calendar. Being of very average skill it's one I avoid. I went down and watched the cat 3 crit and there far more crashes than one might expect.

You should try the Wednesday night training crits at CSP. They're a blast. Tuesday Night thunder at Pearl Izumi is getting popular - with a couple of tricky corners. There's a Tuesday and Thursday group who do Meridian, but I haven't done it personally.

With your power you should have no problem staying near the front and out of trouble. Well worth the extra effort. Things can get sketchy on the last lap so decide whether it's worth going for the sprint or attacking with half a lap to go.

Almost every crash at cat 4/5 level is due to inexperience. Half are due to overlapping wheels and most of the rest due to overreacting when riders make contact. At cat 3 level more crashes are due to over- aggression or over-optimism, with a bit of lack of concentration thrown in. But I'm starting to see crashes in the masters 3s now that one only saw in the 4s a few years ago.

Open masters races are smoother and a blast to ride, unfortunately Colorado is blessed with former Olympians and pros and the races are ridiculously fast at times.

I would recommend running wider tires. Roads are not maintained well and 28mm tires can make all the difference. Bannock st has a lot of problems with ruts and bumps on what should be otherwise a very safe and enjoyable course.

Any spirited weekend group rides you would suggest?

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

It really depends from race to race, region to region. Some races are just too technical for the average rider, and some regions don't have a big community, so you get a lot of racers blindly signing up.

Although I've never went down, I've had a few close calls, including being hit in the face with a wheel after a guy went down. For me the two big things are to watch out for sketchy riders, and always try to have an out. I hate riding in the middle, on the inside and out you can react faster (which saved me more than once) but when you're in the middle and something happens you're at the mercy of the riders around you.

IMO, the biggest issue with crits in the lower categories (and bike racing in general) is speed. When things get laughably slow people bunch and wheels get crossed. When its faster there are more washouts, which isn't all that preventable but that speed also sorts out the field in a safer manner.

those could actually be worse than crits

people of all abilities in terms of handling and physiology mixed in together, with no rule (and sometimes no regard for rules of the road). recipe for disaster

I agree on the above.

When I hear there's a triathlete in the crit field, I stay as far away from him as possible ^_^ ...

Louis :-)

either that or jump on his wheel when he attacks. willing worker and perhaps someone with a subpar sprint

then again, I always joked that I had the physiology of a triathlete but was afflicted with inclination toward bike racing. Couldn't sprint out of a bag if my life depended on it... TT efforts were always more of my forté

well that's exactly what cat5 and cat4 crits can be composed of...

With your FTP and size just do some flat bike TT's.

Crits are a waste of time for someone who has had that many concussions.

Or just do running races...or just do swimming races.

I raced crits and road 30ish years ago. Crashed twice. At 136 lbs at the time, there were very few road races in the part of Canada where I lived that were favourable (in other words no races with 20-50 min climbs), and crits are just a stupid format for someone with my size given that its all about placement and you never have a hope of generating enough top line power for 10 seconds to be a factor in those race. At least timed races, like running, swim, tris, bike TT's you can compete against your own times..

Best of luck.

Dev

With a history of concussions and a real concern about getting another one. . . it's unfortunately a discipline you should likely avoid. You can hit the deck many times without getting one, but it only takes one nasty crash. Someone suggested you see a concussion specialist first if you really want to give it a go and that's probably some really good advice. Others have said cyclocross could be a good alternative, and while I think that's a fair assessment compared to crit racing, you can't entirely mitigate the risk. 95% of crashes are slow and relatively harmless, but I've had some hard falls and had my bell rung a couple times.

I made a transition back in 2013 to road/crit and now race cat 1 crit's. I have had one serious concussion and a lot of hard crashes. Lately the crashing is bad enough it is giving me second thoughts about how responsible this "hobby" is given i have a family and kids. CX/Gravel i have way fewer issues but in the last two years, it might just be perception, but a lot of really bad crashes at some of the big races have made me reconsider.

Some of the smaller races tend to be more predictable and if you stay in the front you are fine. The big crit's like twilight, tulsa tough, etc are total clusters and it is simply a matter of when not if you crash.

Yeah i wouldn't bother. I wouldn't call it dangerous, but there's a reasonable chance of you taking a stack. I mean you can hang back and avoid the drama if you want, might be you're not as competitive, but at least you race?

I've only done a few and only found it got fruity the last 800m of the last lap.

 
yeah i question the idea that gravel is safer. anecdotally, in the gravel races i've done, i've seen some incredibly dangerous behaviour and some bad crashes. and it stands to reason, non-closed courses, unknown surfaces, and high speeds.

cross, otoh, does seem safer, though i've banged myself up pretty bad, i never worried about serious injury.

If you want all the fun of crit racing with significantly less severe crash risk, cyclocross. Started last year, so much fun, tons of technical skills to be learned, and much softer landing surfaces for crashing, and crashes at lower speed :)

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