Who's at fault?

[Stéphane Tran]

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2014/08/why-y ... ap-wheels/
Seems to me the crash is not caused by an overlapping wheel, but by the front rider riding dangerously.

[Josh.E]

I'd say the back rider.

The front rider's move was sketchy and erratic, his signal was vague, and I'd be pretty ticked if someone pulled a swerve like that on me. At the end of the day though, I think it's your responsibility to protect yourself from those in front of you, and always expect anything to happen.
With a more experienced group, you'd be pretty safe in assuming that move would never happen, but that guys was obviously not a very experienced rider. I think you should always be assessing the skill level of those around you, and giving spacing accordingly.

[JohnT]

It looks to me like a group passing an independent rider. Camera guys passes and the guy in his draft tries to stay with him, despite independent Joe needing (or at least feeling the need) to move right to avoid some obstacle (or rough pavement).

On rare occasions we do that, but shouldn't. Independent riders, unlike this guy who forced his way out, end up pinned to the curb (e.g., by the fourth row of our two-up peloton) with upcoming sewer grates or cars.

Vote #2 for guy behind at fault.

JT

[mfarnham]

If taken literally, the commandment to "never overlap wheels" would not allow passing, and cycling would become pretty boring. Anytime you fall back from your pull at the front of the group to the back, you cross the wheels of everyone else in the group. None of us would suggest that's bad riding. I think of the rule as applying to situations where riders are proceeding together in tandem--not situations where riders are passing one another (when wheels must overlap, and reasonably so). In particular, if you cross wheels with the person in front of you in a paceline, you're courting disaster. I don't interpret this as a crash caused by a "crossed wheels" violation. It's an accident caused by poor communication and (especially) erratic riding.

I think blame is shared, but I'd place the vast majority of blame on the rider in front. The rider behind should have given some verbal notice of passing. But he was being sensible otherwise. He gave lots of space and slowed up (albeit not enough) in response to the signal. As for the rider in front, his shoulder checks are half-hearted at best (he looked like he was just going through the motions--not actually looking), his signalling is unclear, and his change of position in the lane is erratic.

Riders in back have to protect their wheels (because they have the most to lose), but I don't think the rider in the back was unreasonable to think he'd given enough space (laterally). In my view, 999 times out of 1000, what the rider in back did would have led to a perfectly safe interaction.

Martin

[leftcoaster]

I think #2 was at fault. When overtaking a rider not with your group you have to be very cautious about what they may do. The independent rider gave a couple of glances and a (half-hearted) hand signal. That was the cue to get out of the way, particularly when you are the most vulnerable.

Slow down, let him swing across, and when you pass him let him know he should give a little more/better warning before swinging across. Rider #2 got himself and a number of his friends taken out by not being alert and giving an independent rider sufficient space.



Viewed it again a few times - definitely #2 didn't respond enough to hand signal. When rider #1 looked at #2 the last time, #2 had stopped pedalling. After he looked ahead, rider #2 started pedalling again. Rider #1 seemed to believe #2 was giving him enough space. That slight difference may have been enough to clip the wheel.

[David Hill]

Regardless of who was at fault (that was a really sketchy dive into the gap), isn't anyone else impressed with rider #3's avoidance of the crash???

He slips between the bike and the rider seemingly as they are going down... Sign that guy up for 'cross!

[sylvan]

That was just a train wreck on the Fredlington Northern line. You can't learn anything from dudes like that going down.

[Stéphane Tran]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE97iUvSHk0

An interesting contrast to the 1st video: riding 4-5 wide at top speed with lots of contact and overlapped wheels galore, yet no-one goes down. Watch how the IAM rider comes across the Lampre rider at 0:28, and then the BMC and Astana riders wheels coming sooo close at 0:54. Crazy.

[roadflasj]

The difference between pros and newbs is staggering. Even if someone hits the brakes ahead and overlaps wheels unintentionally the back person can lean like hell into the oncoming wheel. I've had guys scrub my wheels during the Bastion crit and after heavy tire to tire contact both ride away (thankfully) unscathed.