Another cycling tragedy.
Watching the descents on some of the stages is scary. Not sure if more can be done about safety.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/06/sport/andre-drege-dies-tour-of-austria-spt-intl/index.html
Tragic. Another young man gone too soon. It doesn’t make it any better for his colleagues or loved ones, but there’s worse ways to go than doing what you love.
And I agree, I think the safety ship has sailed on safe descending in the WT.
Descending is a required skill for sure, but i don’t think there should be downhill finishes i.e. TdF stage 4. Not sure what the stage this happened on was like, but I get the impression it was a downhill finish as well. Adds extra tension to an already dangerous situation
Has to be one of the most dangerous sports going. As impressive as these athletes are, the #1 quality is a willingness to put your life on the line.
Descending is a required skill for sure, but i don’t think there should be downhill finishes i.e. TdF stage 4. Not sure what the stage this happened on was like, but I get the impression it was a downhill finish as well. Adds extra tension to an already dangerous situation
Was an uphill finish. Final downhill was about 30 miles from the finish. Just tragic.
Has to be one of the most dangerous sports going. As impressive as these athletes are, the #1 quality is a willingness to put your life on the line.
Dangerous?
Most motor sports feature massively significant higher speeds, sure the protection is better, but snapping a neck is still comparatively easy (even in diving or gymnastics, etc.)
Has to be one of the most dangerous sports going. As impressive as these athletes are, the #1 quality is a willingness to put your life on the line.
Dangerous?
Most motor sports feature massively significant higher speeds, sure the protection is better, but snapping a neck is still comparatively easy (even in diving or gymnastics, etc.)
I know right, what idiot would think cycling is dangerous
Another cycling tragedy.Watching the descents on some of the stages is scary. Not sure if more can be done about safety.
I have never descended like this (and most of us never will), but I have always questioned the single disc brake applying torque to only one fork blade. In hard braking at high speeds, in addition to slowing the bike, does the asymmetrical flexing of the forks “steer” the bike as well?
When motorcycles first switched from drum to single disc brakes, all kinds of inverted “U” shaped contraptions became available to stiffen the paired forks and try to transmit the torque equally, but high performance bikes ultimately ended up with dual discs - one on each forkblade.
Another cycling tragedy.Watching the descents on some of the stages is scary. Not sure if more can be done about safety.
I have never descended like this (and most of us never will), but I have always questioned the single disc brake applying torque to only one fork blade. In hard braking at high speeds, in addition to slowing the bike, does the asymmetrical flexing of the forks “steer” the bike as well?
When motorcycles first switched from drum to single disc brakes, all kinds of inverted “U” shaped contraptions became available to stiffen the paired forks and try to transmit the torque equally, but high performance bikes ultimately ended up with dual discs - one on each forkblade.
Excellent synopsis re: history of single disc & motorcycles. I forgot about that. On a bike perhaps that flexing is significant only at the extreme - of course, that’s when stability, or lack thereof exudes a higher price, unfortunately.
I have never descended like this (and most of us never will), but I have always questioned the single disc brake applying torque to only one fork blade. In hard braking at high speeds, in addition to slowing the bike, does the asymmetrical flexing of the forks “steer” the bike as well?
In MTB/gravel/road disc braking I can’t say that I’ve ever “felt” any instability or any hint of rotational torque.
Has to be one of the most dangerous sports going. As impressive as these athletes are, the #1 quality is a willingness to put your life on the line.
Dangerous?
Most motor sports feature massively significant higher speeds, sure the protection is better, but snapping a neck is still comparatively easy (even in diving or gymnastics, etc.)
“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”
If Hemingway was more familiar with cycling he probably would have included it as a sport as well.
Hello All,
https://www.villages-news.com/2017/05/18/bicycling-dangerous-professional-sport/
https://www.thesportster.com/entertainment/top-15-sports-with-the-highest-body-counts/
.
Hello All,
https://www.villages-news.com/…-professional-sport/
https://www.thesportster.com/entertainment/top-15-sports-with-the-highest-body-counts/
Fair point from the first link that it sure seems like - without my having done any math at all - that a significant percentage of pro cycling carnage happens in training.
For races, it sure seems like technical full gas descending is a huge part of the risk. I don’t know how to mitigate that - I’ve seen a lot more signage and barriers put up on high risk corners. But there’s just no practical way to make every corner safe.
I’m willing to entertain the idea of finding some way to completely neutralize some descents. I don’t know how to do that without utterly changing the nature of a road race. But it’s worth talking about.
Hello All,
https://www.villages-news.com/…-professional-sport/
https://www.thesportster.com/entertainment/top-15-sports-with-the-highest-body-counts/
Fair point from the first link that it sure seems like - without my having done any math at all - that a significant percentage of pro cycling carnage happens in training.
For races, it sure seems like technical full gas descending is a huge part of the risk. I don’t know how to mitigate that - I’ve seen a lot more signage and barriers put up on high risk corners. But there’s just no practical way to make every corner safe.
I’m willing to entertain the idea of finding some way to completely neutralize some descents. I don’t know how to do that without utterly changing the nature of a road race. But it’s worth talking about.
If they start routinely neutralizing descents I’m done following professional cycling. I long for the days of Tchmil, Tafi and Musseuw pounding over the muddy cobbles in cycling caps. Now they get stages neutralized for dodgy weather, it’s gone soft.
Descending is a required skill for sure, but i don’t think there should be downhill finishes i.e. TdF stage 4. Not sure what the stage this happened on was like, but I get the impression it was a downhill finish as well. Adds extra tension to an already dangerous situation
The best part of Milan-San Remo is the descent off the Poggio in the finale.
Hello All,
https://www.villages-news.com/…-professional-sport/
https://www.thesportster.com/entertainment/top-15-sports-with-the-highest-body-counts/
Fair point from the first link that it sure seems like - without my having done any math at all - that a significant percentage of pro cycling carnage happens in training.
For races, it sure seems like technical full gas descending is a huge part of the risk. I don’t know how to mitigate that - I’ve seen a lot more signage and barriers put up on high risk corners. But there’s just no practical way to make every corner safe.
I’m willing to entertain the idea of finding some way to completely neutralize some descents. I don’t know how to do that without utterly changing the nature of a road race. But it’s worth talking about.
That number seems pretty big to me unless cyclingnews hasn’t been reporting a lot of deaths over the last couple of decades. I wonder if it also includes riders dying from cardiac arrests, which is an inherent risk of any endurance sport, as opposed to crashing?
Not to mention, have there really been 14 professional football players killed playing? Sure you get spinal cord injuries every few years but deaths in professional football. I admit I stopped following it a decade or so ago, but I don’t remember any players being killed when I didn follow it?
Hello All,
https://www.villages-news.com/…-professional-sport/
https://www.thesportster.com/entertainment/top-15-sports-with-the-highest-body-counts/
Fair point from the first link that it sure seems like - without my having done any math at all - that a significant percentage of pro cycling carnage happens in training.
For races, it sure seems like technical full gas descending is a huge part of the risk. I don’t know how to mitigate that - I’ve seen a lot more signage and barriers put up on high risk corners. But there’s just no practical way to make every corner safe.
I’m willing to entertain the idea of finding some way to completely neutralize some descents. I don’t know how to do that without utterly changing the nature of a road race. But it’s worth talking about.
If they start routinely neutralizing descents I’m done following professional cycling. I long for the days of Tchmil, Tafi and Musseuw pounding over the muddy cobbles in cycling caps. Now they get stages neutralized for dodgy weather, it’s gone soft.
With respect to the family of Drege, cycling has to have risk up to and including risk of death. Life is not without risk and we can’t manage it away entirely. Organizers should do what they need to do to make safe course, but what is the part of aero bikes, fast tires, fast wheels, fast helmets, all resulting in more kinetic enerty into EVERY corner. The additional kinetic energy associated with all that is part of the risk profile going up. I don’t know what to do, but pros in every sport are inherently exposed to risk and if people don’t want that high risk profession there are other options provided organizers are doing things to reduce risk, but the riders themselves taking risk, riding the rivet of their own control to win is part of the competition.
I would be curious to know worldwide deaths in cycling crashes Cat3 to pro (in competition only) relative to triathlon swim deaths. Deaths in competition suck, but the risk of falling and losing control is part of what makes watching cycling exciting (we can also outlaw sprint finishes to reduce risk of crashes, but that would be stupid).
I think downhill finishes are fine provided organizers are doing their homework and there are no decreasing radius turns with washboard/pitted pavement/reverse camber at the apex.