It seems to me that this year, in both the domestic and the European pro pelotons there have been more serious crashes than in years past. It just might be that the crashes are happening to high profile riders or guys and gals I know, but you name an important race on the pro calendar and this year, there was probably a serious crash.
By serious, I mean broken bones. To be sure, when you have 150+ riders on small roads somebody or a few somebody's will go down. However, they usually get up and finish the race albeit with some nasty road rash. What I am talking about is a big tumble where racer separates from machine and the only way the rider is going anywhere is in an ambulance.
For me, it all started in the Tour of California when Astana's Vladamir Gusev and one of my buddies, Jelly Belly's Bernard Van Ulden both went down on stage six. Gusev and Van Ulden broke their collarbones. Then there was Saunier Duval's Angel Gomez's altercation with a traffic island in the Tour of Flanders(AKA De Ronde). At the Tour de Georgia, three riders went down with Slipstream/Chipotle rider Tim Duggan carted off to the hospital with major head trauma.
At this year's Tour of Gila, the hero of the Tour of California's stage 7, Bissel rider Tom Zirbel went down hard on the final stage while wearing the leader's jersey and he, too, finished the race in the an ambulance. But, the worst crash at Gila involved Mexican rider Fausto Munoz who is now paralyzed from the waist down. In a great show of sportsmanship, Team Toyota United donated all the prize money they won at Gila to Munoz to aid his rehabilitation. Bravo!
That brings us to the Giro d'Italia where crashes to Dave Zabriskie (broken vertebrae), Stuart O'Grady(collarbone) and Brad McGee(collarbone) marred the initial stages. A couple of days ago, 2007 Tour de France winner hit the pavement for about the 5th time during the race, this time he fractured his elbow. On the women's professional side of things, Katheryn Mattis has broken her collarbone twice this season, once in Australia and just recently in Belgium. Ouch!
Obviously, crashing is a downer. However, the silver lining is that these pros are passionate about their craft and dedicated to the sport and they usually come back better than ever after a crash. It is sad to see Fausto Munoz as a paraplegic, but the cycling community showed its character by rallying behind the rider. Here's hoping that things settle down some. Knock on wood.
Bruce
It's unfortunate that the number of crashes, and seemingly the severity of these crashes continues to climb. I know, I know, true 'bike handling' is a lost art but what is the reward for being able to bend it around a tight corner when today it's the light-headed VO2 machines that rule? Just ask Michael Rasmussen; famous for doping, climbing and not being able to stay upright long enough to hold on to the yellow jersey on a dry time trial course (what, three crashes?) a few years back in the TdF.
Us old timers know that a major contributing factor to these crashes is the 'advancement' of the clip-less pedal. Frequently in the peloton one sees the old "ghost rider" trick - you know, a guy gets a bit tired and decides to fall off of his bike, maybe just to lie down and take a nap before the helicopters show-up and the real race begins. Well, the old "ghost rider" trick was a pretty rare event years ago because my old friend Alfredo Binda made sure that every man stayed upright upon his mount; synched in good and tight - both feet no less. If you went down, odds were you would only hit your hip, your knee and your ankle bone and ready to fight for another day.
Today, a lad may opt-out of rubbing a few wheels and go for a good ol' 'ghost ride.' And as fast as Paul Sherwen can say, "The little clochard has hit deck!" one sees the old ghost rider ambling next to the field - a bicycle without a rider. Somehow drawn by energy of the field, the ghost gives-up (thus the beginning of the term "to give-up the ghost"). Inevitably the lad's 14 pounds of carbon fiber goes shooting across the unsuspecting peloton, taking multiple riders down like a 7-10 split in bowling. I can hear Alfredo Binda rolling over in his grave a' top that hill in Cittiglio.
To reduce the number of crashes we need to keep each rider on this steed. I propose the development of a 'powder strap,' similar to those that skiers use to keep their skis near them when skiing in deep powder. The cycling 'powder strap' is a strap that goes around the rider's waist, then clipping onto each of the rider's seat rails. This would keep each rider on his mount and prevent those who want to abandon their ride and in essence toss a pile of carbon fiber into an unsuspecting field of riders.
For the good of the sport it's time to re-examine the powder strap and the time has come for all riders to give up the ghost; as in ghost riders, vous ne pensez pas? And someday my name may be up there in cycling infamy right next to Alfredo's.
Rik DeRoosteer