CRASHES happen.

Crashes happen, its part of racing, and going hard. If you ride smart and are aware of whats going on around you, they are often avoidable. However poor judgement will put you into a situation with possibility of negative outcome. This was the case last night when I found my self sitting mid pack in a local training ride. I had decided to go out and get an hour in on the bike, by sitting in, on this ride which takes place on a 2.5 mile circuit. This ride has been fairly safe all year with only a couple minor incidents, usually solo crashes due to operator error. Last night was different. Over the last couple of weeks more and more people have been showing up for the ride, bringing out some people who need to work on their bike handling skills, and overall fitness. Sometimes when people are riding at there limit and their judgement is out the window which may have been case last night. It was extremely windy, and riding in the wind means working harder. As the peloton turned into the cross wind last night, the guys not in the eschelon began to get thrown into the gutter, someone panicked and which caused the group to swerve to the right, into the wind. I was on the right side of the group attempting to bring forth a second eschelon when the group swerve occurred. Someone went down to the left of us and the guy directly in front of me completely locked up his brakes. I rode directly into him and down I went. Luckily I came out of it with very very minor road rash on my elbow, and a nice baseball sized hip pointer, but no rash there. Amazing! My bike ended up with a bent derailleur hanger, and two out of true wheels. My helmet has a nice ding in the top. Its ironic that just the previous lap I had thought to my self, that I shouldn't be so far back in the pack. I never ride back there for just that reason. Initially, after the crash I was pretty pissed, but I kept my cool, just rode off, and headed back home.

Now that I have cooled down and the soreness has set in, I can reflect on what happened. I made one critical error. I was in the wrong place. I never ride in the rear with the gear because I know that's where the majority of these types of events occur. I was lazy, and my poor judgement put me in a precarious position. I cannot blame anyone else but myself for my crash.
The guys that went down causing the swerve, and resultant pile up were just out there trying to get better at doing what they love to do, and that's race bikes. This stuff happens no worries.
Skin and bones heal, bikes can be fixed, and most importantly no one died. So, it was a good day. See you out there Thursday.