Crash on tonight's group ride

[Mr. SR500]

We have Tues/Thurs night group rides, Tues is usually the most popular, but with the season winding down we only started with 13 riders. We went on a very scenic seldom used route, but had good roads. Pace was a little slow, as we did some regrouping and a fair bit of climbing. At about mile 12 the roads flattened and I took off. I had a great jump and pushed like heck for almost a mile. The group usually reels me in fast, but today I had a great jump and felt strong.

Another ride had broke away late, and right when he catches me he yells crash! We turn back and it was a mess, 4 riders down. No apparent broken bones, but plenty of road rash and 3 cracked helmets. Called 911, so some volunteer firemen showed up first, followed by the EMT's, fire truck, and a police car. Two guys took the ambulance to the ER, the 3rd got a ride to the ER with his wife, and my wife bandaged up the 4th.

Looks like everyone is going to be ok. Plenty of broken bike bits, and lots of lycra will hit the trash, but nothing life threatening, or of a serious nature. It's a great group of people, so wishing all a speedy recover.

As for what happened, who knows. Just an accident. It was a fast stretch, and guys were close, wheels touch and boom. Just be careful.

[Blueberry]

Glad there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage!

CA

[jesvetmed]

That shakes you up no matter what.
Hoping all heal up fast. Glad no one was more seriously hurt.

[salsabike]

You know what? For some reason I can't exactly articulate, I'm glad you checked in with us. And glad you're okay, and that everyone else will be as well.

[Jiffer]

My friend went down a few weeks ago from avoiding a tire in front of her. She was drafting someone who barely started to slow for a red light that was a little ways ahead. No brakes or anything, just stopped pedaling. My friend was obviously too close to begin with. I was directly behind her and am surprised I didn't go down with her. Somehow I managed to get around her left while she fell to the right. She hit her head pretty hard and was knocked unconscious for a minute or two. Very scary. Went to the hospital in an ambulance, but was ultimately fine other than a concussion and some pretty good road rash.

I hear bumping tires is a common cause of crashes. We have tried to be so careful since then to not only stay a safe distance from the rider in front (even while drafting), but to always let the rider behind know when they are slowing or of any dangers in the road.

On a side note, during my last club ride, a rider went down in the midst of a big group from hitting a rock about an inch or so in diameter. I don't know if no one pointed it out to her or if she just didn't notice them pointing it out. Luckily she didn't hit her head. Just tore her shorts and was able to finish the ride.

It's amazing how easily a crash can happen and one person falling can take out so many others. Hearing these stories reminds us to always be on our guard. So glad to hear your friends are all okay. (And yay for you for feeling so strong that day!!! I love those days! )

[Mr. Bloom]

Wow! Glad you were ahead of the group. Was SR on the ride or did she come up afterward for medical assistance?

I was on a slow group ride last night. No wrecks, but we started with 10 and ended with 5 on a "no drop" 20 mile ride. It was weird...and this was the OWLS group (Older Wiser Less Speedy).

[blueskies]

It does shake you up, doesn't it? One moment you're out on a great ride, the next moment someone's life can be changed. It's good to hear that it sounds like everyone is ok.

It's such a reminder to each of us to appreciate each moment that we have, and like you said, let's all be careful out there.

[7rider]

Ouch. Touching wheels is such a bad thing. I'm sure a lot of us can recount similar accidents or near-accidents. Glad you guys are okay and that there was no serious damage.

[arielmoon]

OMG! So glad everyone is relatively ok!

We had a wreck on my monday group ride with only one rider going down. We were climbing a hill and everyone was drafting to the left due to a strong cross wind. The rider in front gave way and broke off to the left and there was a chain reaction as everyone behind had to swerve. Luckily, I think only the guy's computer was broken.

[Susan126]

Thank God everyone was not seriously hurt! But still! I hate to hear about anyone crashing! I crashed 4 years ago and I still get a little freaked out on occasion. My daughter crashed about 2 years ago and that was even scary for me.

Glad to hear everyone is going to be okay!

[Misandal]

This seems like a good place for me to ask everyone to do a "fork check." My bike is only 4 months old with about 2000 miles on it. I took it to the shop because I had ridden in the rain for a few days and just wanted it gone through more thoroughly than I can do myself. While they had it, they discovered the fork was cracked. When the mechanic told me that, I kept visualizing the 7-mile descent we had at the end of the last day of our Parkway tour. THAT could have been ugly!

(Just a note: I'm only about 110 lbs. and I've never ridden in any sort of conditions that would explain this happening. Defective, I guess.)

So I'm without my bike until Trek finds a fork to match my paint job. All these ride reports are really making me miss my bike. But thank goodness for the rain or I wouldn't have taken it in for service right now, and I probably wouldn't have seen it. This is a reminder to me that, even when they're brand new, our bikes should be inspected regularly.

I'm glad everyone in the accident described above is going to be ok.

[Mr. SR500]

Thanks everyone!

Everyone is home today, and the guys are very sore, but nothing serious. The bikes are in the shop being worked on. Some badly scraped shifters, at least one maybe 3 taco-ed wheels, but all in all not bad.

It looks like the first guy to go down may have been in his aero-bars. Our group has been a little lax in using them. I would say about 1/3 have them, and for the most part only use them on the open road. I don't have them on my Madone, so not an issue. Just be careful if you do. I think we'll firm up on when it is ok and not ok to use aero bars on the group rides.

Thanks again - scary stuff.

[Eden]

Unless you are doing or practicing for a team time trial it is never OK to use aeros in a group.....