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Racing and crashes go together - i know this. But is just seemed a ridiculous crash.
i think there is more 'dodgy' riding than there has been previously in the B's. People taking unnecessary risks, surging pace, not looking past wheel in front and not holding their lines is becoming more common. Maybe it is just more obvious due to bigger bunch.
I remember politely asking a guy why he almost took me off the track on a saturday morning training session, when he just switched line without looking, and he just yelled at me :-)
i am all for doing anything we can to reduce risks, its super crappy to crash especially in low key fun races.
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Haven't ridden at HH for a couple of seasons but I was thinking about getting into racing again and decided the velodrome would be the place to be over Hillingdon, purely based on the frequency of crashes. This sounds quite horrific, but everyone seems to agree it was a freak accident, unlike at Hillingdon where 4th crashes are common
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We all fall off and there's lots to talk about. Whilst crashes are a part and parcel of racing, they do happen very infrequently and it is sad when people get hurt and I hope they're all back riding soon. But when we all ride safely, with some good hard good racing it seems nobody has anything to say.
What are your thoughts on Jason's comments about some of the B's riding the A's?. If you are a mid-place finisher in the B's would you ride with the C's? Maybe you're a C rider, would you want your races to be harder with a few more B's riding?
How did you get on in the Team Sprint?
Who was the brave rider who took off on his own in the B Devil only to die with just a few laps to go? And who forgot to drop out?
The A Points Race, points every 3 laps, except the judge blew the whistle after one, whilst we are waiting for Simon to change his wheel. Should the A's have waited for Simon?
The A and B 20km scratch wittled down to around 20 riders towards the end, how did you get on? Towards the end it was getting a bit dark, could the lights have been turned on? -
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That was a fun night! Nice to meet some new people and to feel a bit more competitive in the Cs. I was the chap in CS Grupetto kit.
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There was some good racing going on yesterday evening with young Kareem Akinnibi holding is own very well in the C Races I noticed. A couple of sandbaggers in the B's and C's and maybe a few who might want to consider riding in the C's.
Once again the old men, Simon Schmidt, Ralph Carter and Kia Apperley showing the younger riders that being over fifty they're strong enough to win and place well with Simon winning the A 3 lap dash, Ralph taking 5th in the 30 lap Points and me picking up a handful of points in the A Devil. Sorry Kia I did not see your results, but know you were putting the hammer down in the Points; I couldn't hold your wheel as you and three others road away to take some lap points, on more than one occasion I think.
The warm-up race is always a bit sketchy. No more so than yesterday with the pace in the first five laps yo-yoing. On two many occasions I found myself having to kick back. This didn't happen in the other races, so why in the warm up. It is a five lap warm up part for goodness sake.
Left to me, the warm up race would be 12 - 14 laps with the first 8 being through and off / rotation / chain-gang (whatever you want to call it) with the pace SLOWLY picking up each lap. If you can't do a couple of turns at the front in the warm up, then I would question whether you should be riding in the A&B's. I'd sacrifice 4 laps of the 20km scratch race to know riders are riding safer and in the right race.
And in doing this it would serve two purposes, as an extension of the Monday race training, encourage rider's track craft to improve as the pace picks up in a controlled manner and give a decent fair warm-up to everyone. Discuss!
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Left to me, the warm up race would be 12 - 14 laps with the first 8 being through and off / rotation / chain-gang (whatever you want to call it) with the pace SLOWLY picking up each lap. If you can't do a couple of turns at the front in the warm up, then I would question whether you should be riding in the A&B's. I'd sacrifice 4 laps of the 20km scratch race to know riders are riding safer and in the right race.
This sounds like a good idea to me. I'm kind of in between the C and B cats at the moment, though. I don't know if the A cat guys would go for it.
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I think it's a good shout as well, it could help riders gradually realise the pace that is involved in A Cat races and make a decision whether they should be in As and Bs.
I'm kind of stuck between categories as well at the moment. The first time I rode Cs, I won all the races and was advised on here that moving up would be more beneficial to my development. I moved up to Bs and got 4th in my first points race, and felt comfortable enough in the A&B races at the end of sessions, but after a few weeks out with illness my form and stamina has dropped again.
I raced Cs last week feeling very tired and managed a second place, without feeling like I was achieving much. Last night in the Bs I only managed a few turns in the devil, and got caught on every breakaway in the points race, but got 6th in the dash and feel I could have done better.
This is probably symptomatic of a lot of riders in those areas between groups - wanting to stay in the higher group and push on and learn more, and fearing being seen as a sandbagger and not getting that feeling of achievement in the lower group.
Personally I think when my fitness is back I can be more competitive in the Bs, and at the moment I'm happy to be occasionally spat out the back if it means I can compete in the sprints and carry on testing myself with the As in the longer races.
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and fearing being seen as a sandbagger
I had no fear of being seen as a Sandbagger last year. In fact I am proud to own the tag; Herne Hill TL Sandbagger 2012.
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Who do I whinge at about the Rider Ranking as well?
My 0.5 points from last week are shown in the results from that week, but haven't been added on to the total, which should read 5.2pts before last night's points are added.
Think they've now been updated.
I've gone from 133rd to 80th - go me!
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Who do I whinge at about the misspelling of my surname? Rudy's misspelling is funnier, though.
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Ha!
Wiesia
SamJT
dimi3
JC
laner
amey
𝔒𝕨𝖑𝘡
FixedCheese
deleted
tbc
pharoahsanders-
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About
2013 Herne Hill Track League (sponsored by Cycling Weekly)
Posted by
@colinsmith123
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.