Red Hook Crit 2016

Reading quite a few complaints from riders on the various social media platforms, only 2 riders per teams allowed in each qualifying group and Aldo Ilesic allegedly blocking off the group enabling Colin Strickland to build a massive gap. Also plenty of rumours flying round about the moto incident, some claiming sabotage... Can understand people may not be keen of big sponsors like Specialized getting involved but surely no one would sabotage a bike putting all the riders safety at risk? I don't know, either way. I hope the riders that went down are alright!

Re big sponsors getting involved, it's ok; the track crit at London Nocturne this year is sponsored by Mango.

Looking again, if the Moto had stalled or whatever, he would have been far enough ahead just about to freewheel it to the left allowing more if not all to pass on the right where the race line was.

Anyone I have seen moaning about Aldo maybe blocking the chasing group wasn't actually racing. It's not impossible to overtake.

It's perfectly allowed to tell him to fuck off and swamp him too if he is slowing the pace

What someone said earlier about the lack of racers doing anything re the motorbike was true too. It's now at the point where to even get in the final the racers have to have some experience, so that's not a relevant excuse any more, it just seems they lose all perspective and race like dickheads

What a mess

True, end of the day its bike racing. I do think Trimble needs to come out with a formal statement about it, events to suppress some of the rumours that have arisen. I feel that without that the incidents could end up being damaging to the reputation of the race and series, its success I feel has largely come from riders that sign up and race. Not the corporate sponsorship deals, would be interested to know what the rational was to not allowing more than two team mates per qualifying group. Seems like a weird decision to me!

Yeah definitely. They're posting enough on social media to maximise coverage but without some kind of statement it can come across like a bit of a white wash. Being in America I imagine they don't want to make any formal statements until they're sure they won't be sued.

I didn't know about the more than two team mates per qualifying, but I'm for it if it means teams are split up for qualifying and that the whole group 1 and 2 qualifiers don't basically get through automatically.

I guess you're right, although I would have thought that given all riders have to sign a waiver it shouldn't really be an issue. I guess it only takes one to try, that would cause enough havoc.

Why are people moaning about "corporate" sponsorship. It's a bike company (so highly relevant) and they TBF have thrown everything at it with team Allez Allez.

Granted they tried to trade mark “Roubaix” a few years ago…. :/

The fact there is no formal statement from race organisers about BIG crash / moto rumours, just shows how amateurish the whole RHC set up is, this Trimble guy is bare jokes…

Guess the afterparty was more important.

The fact there is no formal statement from race organisers about BIG crash / moto rumours, just shows how amateurish the whole RHC set up is, this Trimble guy is bare jokes…

With bigger sponsorship and more money comes more attention. I wonder if they're going to find it harder to get insurance next time ?
It's probably only a matter of time before brakes become compulsory.

You're gonna need a drink after that pile up...

Limiting the number of riders per team, per qualifying group eliminates the issue that arose last year where a team of 5 or 6 riders in qualifying groups 1 and 2, would simply throw down a fast team-time trial and all would qualify. Considering the number of well-organized, well-sponsored and well-funded teams that were starting to show, this left little chance of riders from early qualifying groups from making into the final. Limiting it to 2 riders per team pushes each rider to prove they can put down a fast lap of their own and make the final as a racer rather than a domestique. Of course, it's not a perfect system, there never will be a truly fair system unless you run everything through a National Governing Body and assign everyone a category and race them accordingly.
The beauty of Red Hook is that it's irrelevant of your "category" as seen by a governing body......simply put, if you're fast enough, you're in the final. Limiting qualifying to 2 per team just helped level that playing field a bit.

is there doping control at rhc?

Yes, they all have to get stoned afterwards.

Not a single one of the crashes I've seen in any Red Hook could have been avoided with a brake.

This'll be the revised official jersey for London!

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Why were some people racing wearing face masks, saw a couple in some highlights vid?

Motorbikes.

HTFU required....

Cold

I've never watched any other crit racing to compare to but the crashes at RHCs do seem to be pretty high impact, wouldn't brakes (and freewheels) mean that riders had more of a chance to slow down before hitting others/motos etc?

Some of the crashes seem to be due to riders clipping pedals or going into corners too fast, again possibly a product of the fixed, brakeless nature of the bikes?

People ride like cunts when they're racing on the track, I can only imagine how much worse the riding must be when the requirement to maintain a certain speed/trajectory in order to keep yourself upright is removed by being on flat ground.

Some people do clip their pedal and fall off or just lose grip and fall off, but I see it happening in equal amounts in road crits. Hell I've seen people fall off going in a straight line in road crits.

Most crashes give no time to respond for the person behind, just like in the any crashes in the pro peloton on TV, when you're that close together your only hope is to avoid the crash not stop before it.

Fair enough.

Just realised the last part of my post, about people riding like cunts, can be true irrespective of the type of bike they are on.