Crash Course

One certainty of our sport: Ride enough and eventually you'll go down. But there are things you can do to maximize your odds of staying upright—and minimize the damage when your time comes.
September 29, 2011
Photo by Velophotos

Years from now, when people recount the 2011 Tour de France, they'll talk first about the intrigue over the final days that culminated in Cadel Evans's dramatic win. Storyline number two? The crashes. Especially during its first two weeks, the Tour was notable for the quantity of wrecks that took place.



While they predictably made SportsCenter, the crashes have a deeper resonance for anyone who loves to ride. Maxim Iglinsky clipping a spectator like a roadside trash can, various riders sliding on wet descents, and Juan Antonio Flecha and Johnny Hoogerland getting sideswiped by a car all speak to us because we fear those same scenarios--or have already lived through something similar. And we marvel when, somehow, many of those riders stand up with mere road rash and ride on.


"You always bounce back," says Craig Lewis, of the now-defunct HTC-Highroad team, who nearly died after he was hit by a car at the 2004 Tour de Georgia. "I've crashed many times. A lot of people would have stopped racing, but I'm glad I stuck with it. If you put those limits on, you miss so much in life."


You would, for example, miss out on those seemingly mystical moments when you came within a whisper of crashing--something went wrong and you were on the brink of auguring the shoulder of a local road--but you somehow saved it. Like on Stage 17 of the Tour, on the technical descent of the Pramartino, when race leader Thomas Voeckler carried too much speed into a tight left-hand corner. Instead of trying to make the turn--which would have sent him into an outside wall at 40 mph--he spied a gate to a small courtyard and pointed his bike into a run-out zone. He lost maybe 20 seconds on his lead, but stayed upright and unharmed.


We can't teach you how to do that. Voeckler's save resulted from instinct and reflexes honed over many years. No one set of instructions would suffice, and you wouldn't remember them in the heat of the moment anyway.


But we can offer helpful advice. Here we present a primer on avoiding common scenarios and mistakes that can lead to falls. Remember these tips and practice a few key skills, and eventually they'll become hardwired for when you need them most. And for those moments when you go down, we offer a few tips on the fine art of limiting collateral damage.

Next: Make the Save