Accident while out for a ride yesterday

[auswi2]

There were 4 of us and a rider behind me clipped my rear wheel and hit his ribs going over a wooden bollard landing in some long grass that would have helped.

He suffered a a broken rib and some bruising cuts and abrasions. I thank God it was not worse. It shook me up pretty good and was felling responsable for the accident all day yesterday.

Thank you to all that stopped and to help and the off duty paramedic

I say to all riders when you are in front of another rider please keep your speed consistant and if you are following or drafting then please keep at leaset a good 1/2 metre behind and always look ahead of the rider in front of you.

Thanks

auswi2

[sogood]

Common for inexperienced bunch riders. Front rider should ride consistently while rear rider should be prepared. Give extra distance if sucking wheel of an unfamiliar rider.

[Aushiker]

Hi

Sorry to hear about this but glad it was not worse.

Very important to call and signal when riding in groups and look ahead, not at the wheel/backside in front of you. This way you can have a sense of what is coming up.

Hope the rider heals quickly.

Andrew

[il padrone]

One error that inexperienced riders make when drafting is to look at the rear wheel of the rider ahead. What you look at you go towards

The best thing to do is to look at the shoulders of the rider in front (or just over their shoulder to be aware of what's ahead) and judge your distance from this.

[trailgumby]

Owww! Broken ribs... ouch.

[Mulger bill]

That's a nasty way to learn how to group ride, hope he heals well and fast.

[open roader]

It shook me up pretty good and was felling responsable for the accident all day yesterday.

Damn offs - only downside to cycling........

It's good that you felt moved enough to post this distress here, means you have taken note of cause and effect. However, you can only ever be held responsible for your own actions, not the actions of others. The rider behind has a duty of care to avoid rear ending the rider in front. Sure unforseen factors kick in and collisions occur and sometimes riders just zone out and BANG.......not your fault but very healthy that it shook you up and illustated the occasional pitfalls of group rides.

Best you can do is take note, be thankful you stayed rubber side down this time and follow your own plea for distance and visual awareness when drafting. I take my hat off to you, I'm too chicken to ride in a group of more than 2 - reminds me of the horrors of C grade motorcycle racing with corner cutting + drafting checking + speed = ugly ..........

[Sydguy]

Last week a guy at work crashed whilst riding, the cyclist in front lost his front wheel whilst riding over some leaves/flowers that had fallen off a tree.

So old mate behind hits him comes off and fractures his pelvis. Very unlucky result, they were cycling in loose formation, it was dark and I gather the roads were ever so slightly wet.

Needless to say accidents happen but take care that is a nasty outcome!

JM

[martin_12]

A very common cause of wheels touching is the rearward movement of the bike when a rider gets out of the saddle. This movement is due to conservation of momentum - cyclist's body moves forward so bike moves backward (both relative to the other riders in the group. Some cyclists make things worse by pausing their pedaling action for a fraction of a second as they stand up. I have ridden behind cyclists whose wheel moves back about one metre when they stand. Quite scary.

If you want to maintain the spacing between you and other riders in the group you have to consciously keep the pressure on the pedals as you stand and give a little extra kick to overcome the effect of your body weight moving forward. If you watch the distance between your front wheel and the wheel of the rider in front when you stand up, you can see how your bike moves when you stand.

To reduce the chances of touching wheels, I always try to ride a little to one side of the rider in front of me. Then if his wheel moves back more than I anticipate, my front wheel won't touch his back wheel.

[uncle arthur]

A very common cause of wheels touching is the rearward movement of the bike when a rider gets out of the saddle. This movement is due to conservation of momentum - cyclist's body moves forward so bike moves backward (both relative to the other riders in the group. Some cyclists make things worse by pausing their pedaling action for a fraction of a second as they stand up. I have ridden behind cyclists whose wheel moves back about one metre when they stand. Quite scary.

A good rider can pop up out of the saddle without the bike popping backwards, and like you said, good bunch riders watch what's going on around them. It's a habit that comes with experience though,can be hard for noobies.

Hope your riding buddy recovers soon.

[Baldy]

It happens. Unless you are launching your bike back a meter when you get out of the saddle, its not your fault. Its natural for you to have concern for the guy that hit you and went down though.

I did the same thing a few weeks ago, lucky to get out of it with grazes and bruising.

People are pointing out its a problem with inexperienced bunch riding and that is true. But it happens to the pros all the time, in training and during races. Not just in sprints or a 12 wide bunch either, a lapse of concentration can happen to anyone and usually when the pressure is off.

The bloke I hit felt bad too, that just tells me you are good people

[il padrone]

A very common cause of wheels touching is the rearward movement of the bike when a rider gets out of the saddle. This movement is due to conservation of momentum - cyclist's body moves forward so bike moves backward (both relative to the other riders in the group. Some cyclists make things worse by pausing their pedaling action for a fraction of a second as they stand up. I have ridden behind cyclists whose wheel moves back about one metre when they stand. Quite scary.

A good rider can pop up out of the saddle without the bike popping backwards, and like you said, good bunch riders watch what's going on around them. It's a habit that comes with experience though,can be hard for noobies.

The best trick to avoid causing this problem for those behind is easy - change up a gear before you stand up, and equally, change down when you sit down. Standing in a higher gear will propel you forwards faster, the reverse for sitting down to avoid hitting a rider in front.

[jules21]

bunch riding is inherently dangerous, particularly with people you don't know who might be clueless. apparently the North Road Ride bunch went down the other day.