You are reading a single comment by @rpm and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@rpm
Got to be careful with too many riders dishing out 'advice'. As Rickard says there are plenty of experienced people who ride poorly at times. You'll get too many conflicting views supported by ego and anecdote.
It's not rocket science, just leave yourself 'space to race' in big bunches and look ahead/past the rider in front to read the race. Scratches points and devils often ease right up on turn 1 so expect it. Same thing happened in 08/09 when the a/b warm up went down en-masse, exactly the same place and similar number of injuries.
It doesn't matter how experienced you are, if you're still making the same mistakes. Being right on a wheel with no space in the rear half of a massive, choppy bunch and someone in the front touches, you are very likely coming down anyway. Especially if you're on a big gear (which seems the fashion these days) which makes it difficult to control your reaction speed.
It is important to put into perspective that there will always be accidents in all forms of bike racing, the risks at HHV are still pretty minimal considering the figures.
Up until this crash, I'd not heard anyone voicing concerns about dangerous riding, from noobs or old hats. If we think action needs to be taken and will help in future we will be discussing this week.