2013 Herne Hill Track League (sponsored by Cycling Weekly)

I got dizzy trying to watch that.

I'm guessing only experienced riders will be doing that?

Looking forward to the Derny racing. Though how much time all of this takes out of the evening's racing I don't know. A bit too much waiting around with the pursuits last week.

What happened to results from week 18?

Apparently lost, wasn't that the one that got rained off after a couple of races though?

No, that was week 17. Week 18 we did Keirin.

No, this http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone/archief/MG_sportnieuws/MG_wielrennen/1.914393 looks awesome and terrifying in equal measure.

I think you will have to qualify for the derny races by doing well in the first race of the night.

No, that was week 17. Week 18 we did Keirin.

Tits. I won stuff that week. Not that it really matters - c cat sandbagger

I was going to give the dernys a swerve this week but seeing as I've lost 170 points from week 18 I'm going to be grasping for every last point I can tonight.

^ ouch

Hehe, the one night I won a race and they lose the results :) YOLO!

You only lose once?

Surely there aren't enough dernys and derny riders for everyone to have a go at this tonight?
Nevermind, saw Cooky's post.

I hope all the riders who were in that crash make a quick and speedy recovery.

Ouch. That was a mess.

On a more positive note, I really enjoyed watching the derny racing. Symon's win was quite spectacular.

Still in quite a lot of pain today but I don't think anything is broken- maybe one finger. Some good gash and bruising action going on. Thank you helmet - you served me well.

Shit, you were actually involved this time...What happened?
Shouldn't you have been in the pub with John?

Heal up soon.

Jason said before the start, 'there's a lot of riders, so take care of one another.'

Sadly this was not the case and with the riders at the front having a noce chat, riding 4 to 5 abreast, flicking their bikes about, not holding the line, and kicking back I was fearful of the outcome and was bellowing at the riders.

Those riders who touched wheels and then brought others down, was the effect. The cause of the crash was happening over the previous 4-5 laps.

It is often the case, the ones who cause the crash are not the victims. Simply put, these riders were more intent on dicking about, than racing. And I make no apology for this.

I was 2-3 bike lengths back as the carnage happened and was very lucky not to come off. If it was not for the excellent riding skills of Maurice Burton's young lad, (sorry forgotten first name) who was in front of me, somehow found a path through the falling riders I would've been off.

I left the track promptly, so I do not know who the casualties were. I hope nobody was too seriously injured.

Big ABC race with a huge field - lots of inexperienced people doing their first Wednesday who I have seen struggling a bit on Monday nights in the slower group. The pace kept changing and there was lots of shouting and kicking back. I wasn't really feeling it and felt a bit apprehensive about being in a such a big bunch at the end of the night, so just decided to hang back and use it as a bit of a workout. Glad I did now.

Touch of wheels about a third of the way through the bunch as we hit the banking, doing a decent pace - people started going down like domino's, almost the whole field got done. I think there were over 40 people on the track and maybe 30-35 on the floor afterwards. I managed to shout out, scrub off a bit of speed and make it to the top of the banking. I almost made it through but eventually ran out of options and got cleaned out by someone coming into the back of me - went down hard over the bars, someone landed on me and we skidded for a few meters on my helmet.

Hands are a bit of a mess and have a few tasty gashes on my legs - shoulder and ribs are complaining a lot today but Ok for the most part. Don't know how my bike is but noticed after that my back rim is totally fucked.

Big thanks to Tibbs and the other volunteers who were quick on the scene and also to the ambulances who got there quickly.

Not sure what happened to my comment, but generally agree with colin.

The crash description provided by dan is spot on. I was riding inside the redline for the provious three laps, staying near the back as it just felt like something was going to happen. Pace was ok, but was starting to vary a bit too much. Going through finish line I heard the bang and saw bodies going everywhere. Quick calculation and decided to head for the grass (luckily for me no spectators there) and rode through the grass behind a VCL girl who took the same route. What sticks in mind is that as I rode through the grass, 5 seconds after hearing the first impact, I could still hear bodies going down for another 5 seconds. Worse was the smell of burning rubber. Went back to lend a hand. Lots of shoulder and collar bone injuries. Nobody with major cuts or blood loss. One guy complaining about his teeth. Helped put a few bikes away safely and left near 9pm as the unlucky few were heading to x-ray. Hope everyone heals up. Great track and great organisers. Have organised events myself and it's tough on the organisers when this happens. I rode as a c when I started back a few weeks ago and have progreesed to A's. I would say that the C's are great for those starting back and newbies, but you should only let C's promote when they win a few races. A lot lack the power to adapt to the high speed of the A's, so when the A's kick off, the weaker c's are a liability on the track.

^ yeah that was my impression from the back. It happened so far ahead of me that my first reaction was "get out of the way and you'll be ok" but people just kept going down and I think that a lot of people stopped looking for escape routes and just ploughed into each other. I ran out of clear track in the end.

FWIW I don't think c's were promoting themselves. The race was billed as B+C scratch race, but obviously all the A's who hadn't made it through the derny heats were in there sandbagging too.
I know it's a struggle to run a good programme of events for everyone, but really that was poor planning - especially since most people had been sitting about for the previous hour and were either chomping at the bit, or tired and not well warmed up.

^ yeah that was my impression from the back. It happened so far ahead of me thatmy first reaction was "get out of the way and you'll be ok" but people just kept going down and** I think that a lot of people stopped looking for escape routes** and just ploughed into each other. I ran out of clear track in the end.

This was pretty much it, an initial crash, about a 1 second lull then a loud bang. Seems like the first few people avoided it but then people ran out of places to dodge. There was just too large a group of mixed ability in my opinion.