Cycling: I made a mistake today...

bjdw_1977
bjdw_1977 Posts: 442 Member
edited December 20 in Fitness and Exercise
The club I ride with has two start times, the slower guys start half an hour before the faster group. With the change of seasons the start times are changing so the early group doesn't start in the dark. I thought this week that was happening. It didn't. So I missed the slower group that I normally ride with and went out with the faster group. I was a little worried about being able to keep up but I had been thinking about changing groups anyway, you've got to push yourself to improve, right?

Anyway, all is going okay until the first big descent. It's a big one that I've not done before. I'm a slow descender anyway and fell back some then we went into a heavy fog bank and my glasses misted up and I was near blind. I fell way back. The guys slowed down and waited, they didn't seem to be bothered. Okay cool.

Maybe 10km further along the front guy peeled off to let the pack move forward. As he was coming back down the line someone called, "Car back" to let us know a car is coming up behind. The guy who was out in the road started to merge back into the line between me and the guy in front of me. This is where I effed up. Thinking he was going to cut me off I panicked a little and grabbed my brakes. Only for a second. But it was enough. The guy on my wheel yelled out, and not being able to swerve out (there's a car coming up behind) he went in, hit some gravel and went down. The guy behind him clipped him, stayed on his bike but lost a spoke.

The guy who went down wasn't hurt badly, a bit of lost skin and some stone chips in his helmet, but his front wheel was damaged and his ride was over. Same for the guy that lost a spoke. They didn't say much to me, they called someone to pick them up and the rest of us carried on.


So firstly I slowed everyone down, then I broke one man and two bikes, I got dropped on the final descent and did the last 10km solo, but worst of all I didn't do one single kilometer on the front.

On the positive side, 2 PRs on Strava.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2342340099

Replies

  • Yivs_87
    Yivs_87 Posts: 246 Member
    Well, kudos for finishing!

    I'd seek those two guys out and apologize, maybe treat them to a beer or something. I'm sure this kind of things happen quite often and after all it's part of the biking world.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    You got 2 PRs and hopefully learned something from your mistake. Not sure why it's a total failure to not lead at all on your first ride with the fast group but I don't know the group rules. Perhaps consider making that a longer term goal.
  • megamom
    megamom Posts: 920 Member
    That is what I don't like about group riding, I usually only ride with my husband and even then we have had some near misses. Glad it wasn't worse and good job finishing the ride.
  • Shepeess
    Shepeess Posts: 17 Member
    Oh dear that all sounds rubbish for all of you but no doubt something the other riders could have experienced before... we only learn by our mistakes so next time talk more ... I thought using hand signals or shouting out was one way of letting fellow cyclists know your intentions but I suppose not easy to do if things happen quickly. Learn forgive and move on?
  • Bocch
    Bocch Posts: 191 Member
    Stuff happens on the road when your plan was something different. Crashes happen they are called accidents because a crash is not planned. Riding a fast paceline is difficult. It sounds like you were doing pretty good for it being a first at that pace. Holding a paceline going up or downhill is not easy either. You know this but gonna say it anywway - don't panic. Hitting brakes in a paceline will cause problems. Did you know in most states that a cyclist is not allowed to pass another cyclist when there is a car approaching the group? This would also be true of a cyclist dropping off the lead. You experienced the result of doing so.
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