Another serious accident on Waterfall today (not DHBC)

[weiyun]

As noted by a number of us today, there was another serious accident today on the way to Waterfall.

As witness by us sitting around 20m behind the East's bunch going just past the Audley entrance of RNP, a rider attached to the end of the bunch suddenly flew out from the bunch towards the roadway, crossing the outer lane and collided with a pick-up truck in the inner lane. The bike and rider both flew and ended in the middle grass section. Fortunately there weren't any other motor vehicles behind or the rider would have been history. The rider remained conscious and mobile with primarily soft tissue injuries. The bike, a red Cervelo Soloist Carbon had its front forks smashed in pieces, the front wheel tuco'ed. As noted by others in the East's bunch, the accident was caused by a touch of wheels.

[T-Bone]

Lucky they weren't hurt too badly!

I needed to get extra sleep this morning after staying up learning inverse dynamics.

[Simon Llewellyn]

I think that was a good call by us to let Easts go. It's always safer to maintain a smaller bunch...

[fenn_paddler]

As noted by a number of us today, there was another serious accident today on the way to Waterfall.

As witness by us sitting around 20m behind the East's bunch going just past the Audley entrance of RNP, a rider attached to the end of the bunch suddenly flew out from the bunch towards the roadway, crossing the outer lane and collided with a pick-up truck in the inner lane. The bike and rider both flew and ended in the middle grass section. Fortunately there weren't any other motor vehicles behind or the rider would have been history. The rider remained conscious and mobile with primarily soft tissue injuries. The bike, a red Cervelo Soloist Carbon had its front forks smashed in pieces, the front wheel tuco'ed. As noted by others in the East's bunch, the accident was caused by a touch of wheels.

I was wearing a gps yesterday. From the track you can ascertain that the accident occured where my speed abruptly slowed to 13kmh - as we slowed to avoid the bunch stopped (and arguing heatedly amongst each other!) in the breakdown lane:

The oval line is where the broken cervelo & rider ended up. Dotted square is where the bunch and silver ute were stopped.

Cheers,
Alan

[mikesbytes]

So they were going uphill. Possibly the guy in front got out of his seat and then got hit from behind?

[weiyun]

So they were going uphill. Possibly the guy in front got out of his seat and then got hit from behind?

Or the guy behind was on limit going up that hill, leading to a lapse in concentration. The guy on the red Cervelo wasn't decked out with East's gear but fully decked out in private Assos gear. Along with the fact that he was riding towards the tail of the bunch, he may not have been a regular. But as Alan said, there was a verbal shouting match within the bunch with lots of 4 letter words. Given that he remained conscious and was able to walk, two of us assisted by organizing the ambulance for him. I can't remember the last time I had to call 000, but I was surprised by how long I was on hold. Took ages. And then there was a call back by Ambo control to confirm the request. Just as well we didn't ride off earlier or I may not have heard the call back.

Interesting also was that there was a 3-series "club car" trailing SCC's bunch yesterday.

[micklan]

Weiyun - do you remember we've seen this before. That Sunday just in front of Hanrob pet bording kennels. At the end of last hill up prior to the run down to the turn round over the waterfall bridge. A lady cyclist must of clipped a back wheel and shot out across both lanes and crashed on the medium strip, it was so close. At first, I thought she had hit a catseye - but its clear now a wheel clip is why these kinds of exaggerated bump-outs from the bunch occur, up hills when the rider in front slows and gets up on the pegs it causes a lag and is telegraphed

Well done, great work on assisting.

[weiyun]

Weiyun - do you remember we've seen this before. That Sunday just in front of Hanrob pet bording kennels. At the end of last hill up prior to the run down to the turn round over the waterfall bridge. A lady cyclist must of clipped a back wheel and shot out across both lanes and crashed on the medium strip, it was so close. At first, I thought she had hit a catseye - but its clear now a wheel clip is why these kinds of exaggerated bump-outs from the bunch occur, up hills when the rider in front slows and gets up on the pegs it causes a lag and is telegraphed.

Yes, I clearly remember that episode too. She was one lucky lady too. Looking back at the 18 months or so since I started riding with the club, I have to say that I've seen a fair share of accidents. It's no wonder that people consider cycling to be a high risk sport. But I just love it...

BTW, how the heck can you remember "Hanrob pet bording kennels"?!? I read that three times and had no ideas what you were talking about, until assisted by your later description of the event. Then... Bing!

[micklan]

BTW, how the heck can you remember "Hanrob pet bording kennels"?!? I read that three times and had no ideas what you were talking about, until assisted by your later description of the event. Then... Bing!

The Hanrob kennels on the left, last hill, it's there each and every sunday - thats if you don't turn early
They've an outlet at the airport too
http://www.hanrob.com.au/
It's the "ultimate pet destination"