Kilmessan GP. Sunday, March 26th

Sarz91

InTheAttic wrote: »

There is a presentation before the season starts. There's also a personal assessment (mate of mine did his in phoenix park) to see which category you go into. But that assessment is not the same as riding in a bunch at high speed.

Also, I thought 1-day-open-racing-licenses had been done away with last year?

No I think 1 day licenses are still available up until the end of April.

InTheAttic

Sarz91 wrote: »

No I think 1 day licenses are still available up until the end of April.

Is that the same every year, where 1-day licenses are only available for the first few weeks of the season?

Sarz91

InTheAttic wrote: »

Is that the same every year, where 1-day licenses are only available for the first few weeks of the season?

It's the same the past two years. I'm not sure about previous years but I believe they were available all season at the discretion of the race day organisers. As still is the case. I'm not 100% on that though so someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Derrydingle

InTheAttic wrote:

Also, I thought 1-day-open-racing-licenses had been done away with last year?

They should be. Anyone who really wants to race have a full racing licence not just someone fancy giving it a go cos they watched it on eurosport last week. Also races should be limited to 100 reg on line that way no one is turned away that morning

Glass Prison 1214

Sarz91 wrote: »

No one was calling out obstacles or vehicles up the front of the bunch so some lads only saw the obstacle last second. I don't know what happened the first crash I just say a UCD rider down in the middle of the road.

The main crash, in which close to half the field was involved (not everyone came down but you know what I mean) was due to an oncoming car. Nothing to do with the driver or anything like that. Nothing was called out, some lads say it last second and tried to squeeze where there was no room. Ended in a massive pileup with some grim injuries from what I heard. Some lad ended up with a dislocated elbow apparently. Just about managed to avoid the crash myself and had to chase on for a bit.

There apparently was another up the climb to the finish on the second lap. I was in the break and didn't see it but I think it was a touch of wheels and a few lads went down.

There was Moto Marshall ahead and at intermittent stages a Marshall would shoot by us so I don't think it had anything to do with that. I think it was the number of riders. With one day licenses still available couples with the good weather it seemed as if everyone was out.

I am the UCD rider that crashed. I hit a bump in the road on the downhill section and it caused my hands to bounce off the handlebars for a split second and I went down. The bump wasn't very noticeable so it wasn't the fault of the riders in front of me, it was just one of those things.

Thankfully I didn't take anyone down with me, which was a minor miracle because I was in the centre of the road.

Weepsie

Glass Prison 1214 wrote: »

I am the UCD rider that crashed. I hit a bump in the road on the downhill section and it caused my hands to bounce off the handlebars for a split second and I went down. The bump wasn't very noticeable so it wasn't the fault of the riders in front of me, it was just one of those things.

Thankfully I didn't take anyone down with me, which was a minor miracle because I was in the centre of the road.

You won the most important race of the weekend too.

Glass Prison 1214

Weepsie wrote: »

You won the most important race of the weekend too.

Thats for sure

It partially makes up for the damage I did to myself and my stuff in the crash.

DKmac

Glass Prison 1214 wrote: »

I am the UCD rider that crashed. I hit a bump in the road on the downhill section and it caused my hands to bounce off the handlebars for a split second and I went down. The bump wasn't very noticeable so it wasn't the fault of the riders in front of me, it was just one of those things.

Thankfully I didn't take anyone down with me, which was a minor miracle because I was in the centre of the road.

Hands in the drops, should sort that out for ye.

dragratchet

Glass Prison 1214 wrote: »

I am the UCD rider that crashed. I hit a bump in the road on the downhill section and it caused my hands to bounce off the handlebars for a split second and I went down. The bump wasn't very noticeable so it wasn't the fault of the riders in front of me, it was just one of those things.

Thankfully I didn't take anyone down with me, which was a minor miracle because I was in the centre of the road.

I know that exact bump from yest, bars nearly went out of my hands as i hit it and about two wheels back i heard a lad go down from it. thought i was out of the woods till i hit the deck myself later in the race

boysinblack

Was involved in the big A4 crash. Not really sure what happened seemed to be a sudden stop to up front because of a jeep anyways it filtered back and I couldn't avoid the guy in front of me and end up breaking my collarbone. Sickening but guess that's racing ...

InTheAttic

boysinblack wrote: »

Was involved in the big A4 crash. Not really sure what happened seemed to be a sudden stop to up front because of a jeep anyways it filtered back and I couldn't avoid the guy in front of me and end up breaking my collarbone. Sickening but guess that's racing ...

Really sorry to hear that dude. Wish you a speedy recovery. Are you the bray wheelers lad who was lying to the left of the road? Bad crash in A3 as well where someone reached for their water bottle, swerved and took a few down. A bad day for a few riders it seems.

Stevieg2009

boysinblack wrote: »

Was involved in the big A4 crash. Not really sure what happened seemed to be a sudden stop to up front because of a jeep anyways it filtered back and I couldn't avoid the guy in front of me and end up breaking my collarbone. Sickening but guess that's racing ...

Sorry to hear that I was a couple of bike lengths behind you managed to avoid it with a quick swerve to the left you hit the ground some whack if it's any consolation there was sweet f-all you could do from what I saw no fault of yours

jalock20

InTheAttic wrote: »

Really sorry to hear that dude. Wish you a speedy recovery. Are you the bray wheelers lad who was lying to the left of the road? Bad crash in A3 as well where someone reached for their water bottle, swerved and took a few down. A bad day for a few riders it seems.

I mean if ya can't reach for a bottle without swerving and bringing riders down, you should probably take a break and practice basic bike handling skills. That is poor.

boysinblack

Stevieg2009 wrote: »

Sorry to hear that I was a couple of bike lengths behind you managed to avoid it with a quick swerve to the left you hit the ground some whack if it's any consolation there was sweet f-all you could do from what I saw no fault of yours

Possibly that wasn't me. Im not the poor bray wheelers guy he looked in a bad way. I was towards the back of the crash and ran over some lad who did a tumble on his bike in front of me. Lucky he was fine though. The parademic told me I was ok after the accident but unfourantely my shoulder was a lot worse than it looked

InTheAttic

boysinblack wrote: »

Possibly that wasn't me. Im not the poor bray wheelers guy he looked in a bad way. I was towards the back of the crash and ran over some lad who did a tumble on his bike in front of me. Lucky he was fine though. The parademic told me I was ok after the accident but unfourantely my shoulder was a lot worse than it looked

I saw you then. You were folded up on top of another lad. I dismounted and ran around yous and saw the bray lad off to the left and he was cut up bad. Someone was shouting "Now is not the place lads" so I don't know if somebody had a go at someone else over the spill. I hope not!

Big Mig

Daroxtar wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that the Vets have to do some kind of safety course before they are allowed race? Maybe something like that needs to be brought into the CI events. Theory test before getting the license

There was a crash in the Vets race on Sunday too!!
I think track accreditation before being let into an open race would help. Its all about observation and being aware of what's going on around you which can only be a good thing in an open race for someone new.

Tenzor07

Crash looked nasty alrite:

***Video deleted

Beasty

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Crash looked nasty alrite:

Whoever recorded that is breaking CI rules and by putting it up on YouTube leaving themselves open to further sanction

Harrybelafonte

On a YouTube account with their f'kin name on it?

Weepsie

Beasty wrote: »

Whoever recorded that is breaking CI rules and by putting it up on YouTube leaving themselves open to further sanction

What rules are being broken can I ask? I'd assume one for the camera. Is the fact that there seems to be loads of riders on either side of the road a problem too, considering they're open roads?

Beasty

Recording equipment on racing bikes is banned following some negative publicity arising from people putting such stuff up on social media and internet discussion sites...

EDIT: I know of at least one CI Commissaire with a Boards account

Beasty

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

On a YouTube account with their f'kin name on it?

I was hoping the message would get back to the individual giving them chance to take it down before it gets reported

Beasty

Weepsie wrote: »

Is the fact that there seems to be loads of riders on either side of the road a problem too, considering they're open roads?

That's exactly the sort of stuff people were putting up a couple of years ago which resulted in CI banning cameras

Harrybelafonte

Pity he didn't record the hilarious start of the race where about a quarter of the bunch struggled to clip in or threw gears.

It's gone now

Daroxtar

Beasty wrote: »

Recording equipment on racing bikes is banned following some negative publicity arising from people putting such stuff up on social media and internet discussion sites...

Isn't that some crock of horse's shíte?!! Rather than use the footage to address the issue of careless/dangerous riding and hand out penalties to offenders we'll ban cameras so no one can prove anything.
It'd make more sense to have multiple cameras fitted to random bikes before the race starts and commisares reviewing footage afterwards.

Weepsie

A camera is another piece of equipment that can come off a bike and cause issues too though ( i discovered this on the Sally gap at the weekend)

benneca1

Cant see it any more pity heard it was bad

happyhappy

Daroxtar wrote: »

Isn't that some crock of horse's shíte?!! Rather than use the footage to address the issue of careless/dangerous riding and hand out penalties to offenders we'll ban cameras so no one can prove anything.
It'd make more sense to have multiple cameras fitted to random bikes before the race starts and commisares reviewing footage afterwards.

Yep, shooting the messanger is easier than fixing the actually issues.

I have a club mate who was injured last Sunday as a result of the crash (he's in the vid lying on the ground in a bad way) which has made me think about this.

Racing crashes happen - I was injured myself last year and missed most of the season but it occurred in a sprint and couldn't have been foreseen, it was just one of those things. However, The crash on the video where the car is coming against the bunch was totally avoidable.

This isn't a go at Skane Wheelers at all who are a great club - it's widespread in loads of races - why do we insist on putting 100+ Racing cyclists down a narrow open country road with cars coming against them and simply say 'stay on your own side of the road'. It's impossible. That video shows it.

Another example: The starter at race a few weeks back started the A4 race with an oncoming vehicle 50 metres away instead of waiting 15 seconds for it to clear. The bunch was squeezed and split and it was a mess. 200 metres up the road there was a massive puddle wit a car in it which forced everyone out again into oncoming traffic. What other sport would do this??


Last year another race went thru a temporary set of traffic lights on a fast part of the course. If a car had come thru on a legitimate green the opposite way there would have been carnage. I pointed it out to the comms prior to the race who told me that the civil defence would control the lights. As we passed there was a young civil defence lad who looked no more than 14 standing stopping the traffic at a green traffic light. Fair play to him but 450 odd cyclist came thru that red light at speed several times and there was huge potential for an accident. Again, what other sport who tolerate this lads.

I accept all the bad behaviour of riders, and some of it is shocking, but when are we going to start to get realistic above running these races without hoping for the best and properly fully risk assessing them.

Beasty

Daroxtar wrote: »

Isn't that some crock of horse's shíte?!! Rather than use the footage to address the issue of careless/dangerous riding and hand out penalties to offenders we'll ban cameras so no one can prove anything.
It'd make more sense to have multiple cameras fitted to random bikes before the race starts and commisares reviewing footage afterwards.

The issue is the media get hold of it and use it against cycling in general and racing in particular. Then you potentially influence the attitude of AGS, particularly when the general public submit links along with their complaints about cyclists going over the white line and riding 3, 4 or 5 abreast. So yes - go ahead and publicise it as much as you want!

07Lapierre

Daroxtar wrote: »

Isn't that some crock of horse's shíte?!! Rather than use the footage to address the issue of careless/dangerous riding and hand out penalties to offenders we'll ban cameras so no one can prove anything.
It'd make more sense to have multiple cameras fitted to random bikes before the race starts and commisares reviewing footage afterwards.

the Commisares using cameras is a good idea...posting the footage online and making it public is a Bad idea!

I think if riders knew that there every move was recorded and could result in sanctions it would definitly help make riders behave better.