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Post by aj1152 on Jul 12, 2009 6:36:30 GMT -8
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Post by timothyw on Jul 12, 2009 8:27:54 GMT -8
He lined up at the start of the race and was probably lapped immediately. The crash happened when people were trying to dodge around him... this happened at lap 2.
subsequent pictures showed a guy carrying a bike with a folded front wheel.
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Post by aj1152 on Jul 12, 2009 10:29:40 GMT -8
Where were the officials in this?! I can understand a dude thinking, "hey, I've got the money for the entry fee so I'll sign up!" and approaching it with total innocence to the danger he poses. But the officials are supposed to look over the whole pack before "Go!" to make sure it's a legal pack. And mountain bike bars are totally illegal in a road race (the concern being a handlebar puncturing someone's body in an accident. That's why bar ends are also a requirement for a road race.)
And don't think that they don't look. In my race, the one official told a rider he had to redo his number because he'd folded the edges to make it smaller, mentioning a $25 fine if he does it again. So a folded number sticks out, but a guy in khaki shorts, a t-shirt, and a mountain bike goes unnoticed?!
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Post by Tom M on Jul 12, 2009 12:51:06 GMT -8
Wow. I wouldn't want to be the race's coordinator right now. Were any of our expeditionary party hurt (or their bikes, for that matter)?
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Post by Mike S on Jul 12, 2009 14:51:36 GMT -8
Where were the officials in this?! I can understand a dude thinking, "hey, I've got the money for the entry fee so I'll sign up!" and approaching it with total innocence to the danger he poses. But the officials are supposed to look over the whole pack before "Go!" to make sure it's a legal pack. And mountain bike bars are totally illegal in a road race (the concern being a handlebar puncturing someone's body in an accident. That's why bar ends are also a requirement for a road race.) And don't think that they don't look. In my race, the one official told a rider he had to redo his number because he'd folded the edges to make it smaller, mentioning a $25 fine if he does it again. So a folded number sticks out, but a guy in khaki shorts, a t-shirt, and a mountain bike goes unnoticed?! I wasn't there and don't know the whole story, but it sounds like the issue at hand was that this rider was not pulled before getting lapped. Additionally it sounds like he was riding erratically, which is also grounds for removal, technically. This seems to be a common issue in cat4/5 crits, and one that is commonly discussed on the official's forums. There is some grey area about when a rider should be pulled from a crit: Typically in a Cat 4/5 crit, officials are more hesitant to pull riders that are about to be lapped. This is because it's considered a beginners race for people just entering the sport; it would not be good for the sport to sign up a bunch of people to race, take their money, and then promptly pull half of them from the race within the first 10 minutes (in a cat 4/5 crit with a large field, indeed half the field gets dropped and then lapped). The other side of the argument is just what Alan was alluding to. Leaving slow or inexperienced riders in the race is a danger to the rest of the field. Regarding the use of a mountain bike: I'm am unfamiliar with a rule that regulates against flat bars for road races and crits. I guess maybe it wouldn't be considered a "mass start" bicycle, but I don't know? There are rules regulating the type of bikes that may enter, but I don't see where a flat bar is specifically banned. There are rules against flat bars for elite cyclocross. Even so, I don't know why a mountain bike in an of itself is a danger. If a rider on mountain bike is dangerous, I would say it's more of a rider issue than a bike issue. If you're dumb enough to enter a crit with a mountain bike, I don't feel sorry for you for getting dropped. Similarly there isn't a rule against baggy shorts and cotton T's (but they can't be sleeveless). Again, if you're that ignorant, you're beyond help. |
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Post by timothyw on Jul 13, 2009 19:20:06 GMT -8
So I found this on youtube...mountain bike racing a crit? really?
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