Sounds like the Pro bike scene is not any better see news link: http://www.procycling.com/news_main.asp?newsId=5369
- You wonder what would have happened if they Dave Miller hadn’t have stopped?
I get to see both sides of the issue there Being a triathlete and a cop.
It seems the two favorite lines of the irate motorists are:
-
I live (or work) down there and I don’t know any other way to get there.
Reply: This is your lucky day because you get to learn a new way to get one block to your house and expand your knowledge of the city you have lived in for 20 years. -
Don’t you have anything beter to do? Or shouldn’t you be out catching criminals?
Reply: No. Isn’t it great to be in a city where crime is low and you can feel safe?
I work our local marathon every year directing traffic and get these same questions/comments every year. And yes, it does get warm wearing dark blue and vests!
Good point. The last race I did was a sprint where they started in ‘reverse’ order. My age group (30-34) was the second to last wave to go, so I spent the bike passing a TON of people. Several of the top finishers would have been in the back of the overall pack but posting the fastest times.
I guess the point is that the safety of an injured racer (or any other emergency for that matter), takes precedence over the finish times of a bunch of AMATEUR athletes. I guess if you were looking at a paycheck at the end of your race, I could see why you’d be upset about getting slowed down.
Finally, I have all the respect in the world for anyone who toes the start line and crosses the finish line, no matter what their time. I just get a little upset when people act like they’re Tim DeBoom going for #3 when they’re really just trying to break 2 hours in a sprint. We’re supposed to be doing this for fun aren’t we?
Chris
wow, that is pretty scary - I didn’t realize Millar actually stopped to check it out and radio it in. Makes me wonder about that carbon fork of mine…
Back to the main theme, I’m quite appalled at the people who blatantly ignored the signs to slow down. I sometimes take the local bike path to get to more open roads to do sets, and I see people spriting or going well over 30km/h when there are 5 year old toddlers on their plastic bikes. Seriously people, what are you thinking?
A big thank you to all the volunteers who keep our races going and put our safety above all else.
A certain curve on the California IM course at Camp Pendleton comes to mind. . . You and I may be fine at high speeds while others may need serious braking.
You’re joking, right? The reason they’re so aggressive about slowing people down on that corner is that Perry Rendina crashed and died there in '01. He was a good cyclist, he was just going too fast. If the best bike handler in the world goes through a corner too fast, they will go down. Its that simple.
Man, yesterday was the first time I was a spectactor and it was an eye opener. Standing at the finish, I saw so many people sprint though the finishing chute, only to tumble ass over crown, twist an ankle, or heave. Mind you, these people were all over 3:15 in an Oly. What is that all about? I just didn’t get it.
The best finish I saw was a woman who was clapping her hands, jumping in the air, and totally expressing pure joy over her finish. It brought a smile to my face and we all couldn’t help but cheer her loudly, caught up in her enthusiasm. You could just see that, no matter what her time was, it was a total triumph for her. She made me want to race again (I’ve been in kind of a slump).
Leigh
No, I wasn’t joking. I was using that curve as an example PRECISELY because I know Perry died there. Officials warned folks plenty, and folks should have been taking that curve at a level commensurate with their abilities. In an offhand way, I was remarking exactly as you were, that I don’t give a damn how good someone thinks they are, you’ve got to know exactly what you are doing if you are going to ignore race officials’ cautions on the course. That curve, again, is a good example. I’ve been there (I’m a Marine). I know about it. And I would NEVER joke about a situation that resulted in someone’s death.
Just a general comment/idea about corners:
How about using a system similar to that in SCCA ProRally? A general classification of corners/hazards with signs set up and identified with a certain number of exclamation symbols. Single caution (!), double caution (!!) and triple caution (!!!). Then, the participant can judge their own abilities and decide on the appropriate speed/action.
Again, just a thought.
Brett
On rereading my original post, I can understand how you might have misread what I was intending to say. . .suffice to say. . .my point was that course cautions are a different situation than emergency cautions. Cyclists should heed them according to their own abilities, and in the absence of course recon to the contrary, should probably heed them for good reason. In the case of the curve on IM Cal course, disregarding the cautions can and probably WILL lead to at least a good case of road rash, at most. . .well. . .we all know what happened. Emergency situations, however, should be heeded at ALL times by ALL racers, pro or not.
Again, I am not making light of Perry’s crash, and not accusing him of disregarding the course cautions. Any representation to the contrary was unintended and due to my poor choice of words.
Perry tried to avoid a cyclist who was either blocking or stopped completely on the course at the base of the hill. As he swerved he lost control and hit a guardrail head on, killing him instantly. This was on the same hill where a cyclist was critically injured the year before.
It really pisses me off when I’m racing and come around a corner or down a hill and someone is hanging left all the way to the center line. It absolutely drives me nuts when I’m driving and people sit in the left lane. They actually outlawed that behavior on Illinois highways last year!
Several years later Perry’s wife is still unable to move on. I don’t know if she ever recovered his bike from IMNA. Last I heard it had been well over a year and she still couldn’t get it back from them.
"1. I live (or work) down there and I don’t know any other way to get there.
Reply: This is your lucky day because you get to learn a new way to get one block to your house and expand your knowledge of the city you have lived in for 20 years.
- Don’t you have anything beter to do? Or shouldn’t you be out catching criminals?
Reply: No. Isn’t it great to be in a city where crime is low and you can feel safe?
Good answers! Have you tried “Go ahead, make my day?” You know, just a little something to see if people are paying attention. How about jotting down their license plate number and saying, “we’ll be in touch…”?
“And yes, it does get warm wearing dark blue and vests!”
-
- Don’t I know it. You guys get to bake while we’re having fun, and then you get to take crap from pinheads on top of it! Thanks for being cool enough to keep coming back.
“You guys get to bake while we’re having fun, and then you get to take crap from pinheads on top of it! Thanks for being cool enough to keep coming back.”
you said it all. i have nothing more to add. thanks, jaj.
after reading this post I’m wondering how much time yuor really losing by slowing down for up to a half mile max. if a cop/course marshall say slow down and there are emergency vechicles up ahead it takes a real dumbass not to heed caution. Yeah, i’ve heard the i might lose a qualifing spot argument and to me it holds no credibility.