Track Crash - For real this time

[Dead Man]

Erf... see below

[Dead Man]

LOL...

Looks like I posted the wrong video in the OP

Here's the video I MEANT to post.... significantly more relevant, I promise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rulb_KCzSo

[juanj]

Those Russian dash cams were way funnier! (Not to say that there is anything funny about that bike crash.)

[nooneline]

That is Irene Aravena from Chile during the south American Games in March. She was probably going close to 40mph when she hit it. She broke a bunch of bones in her legs.

The ····ing officials should have removed the starting gate.

[oldpotatoe]

LOL...

Looks like I posted the wrong video in the OP

Here's the video I MEANT to post.... significantly more relevant, I promise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rulb_KCzSo

Orange shirted morons....oooo a crash, that I caused, don't think I'll do anything...

[Dead Man]

Orange shirted morons....oooo a crash, that I caused, don't think I'll do anything...

I love the way the just immediately turn away, as though first instinct was to try to pretend like they had nothing to do with it.

[mike p]

Those orange shirted dorks should beat to within an inch of their lives! Not sure why the lead racer didn't move over a bit sooner? Was this an actual race in progress, practice? If it was a race why the hell were they setting up on the track?

Mike

[Dead Man]

That is Irene Aravena from Chile during the south American Games in March. She was probably going close to 40mph when she hit it. She broke a bunch of bones in her legs.

The ····ing officials should have removed the starting gate.

I was hoping someone would have some more info. Such a nasty crash. I just don't see how you can hit the deck like that and not break stuff, but you always hope.

Hope it wasn't a career ruiner for her.

[bikinchris]

One of the great things in track cycling is that there is no street furniture or stop signs or anything you need to watch for. The riders don't ride around looking for obstacles. They expect to be able to ride the measurement line (the black line that is marked with the distances) all the way around on every track in the world, except this one. That's why they didn't look up as the came around turn 4 at full speed. The riders were expecting a clear track and they have no reason not to. If they couldn't remove the stand, they should have fired the starting gun twice to end the race and restart when they could do it right. The officials were wrong to place riders in danger.

[false_Aest]

I hate it when you ass hats post videos like this.

[Louis]

Idiots - they were more concerned about the damage to the starting gate than to the cyclist.

[shovelhd]

The officials are in the blue shirts. I don't know what the orange shirt guys are doing. Maybe they were supposed to clear the gate out of the way. The officials were trying desperately to stop the riders using the proper procedure but someone was not watching the gate. Very unfortunate.

[bikinchris]

The officials are in the blue shirts. I don't know what the orange shirt guys are doing. Maybe they were supposed to clear the gate out of the way. The officials were trying desperately to stop the riders using the proper procedure but someone was not watching the gate. Very unfortunate.

The proper procedure to stop a race important enough to use starting gate is to fire a starters pistol twice. You should never have to swerve around such a device in racing.

[ultraman6970]

That happened last march in Santiago, Chile, for the ODESUR games I believe. Brand new velodrome and crap. she is the daughter of 1981 elite panamerican road champion Manuel Aravena... remember when her mom used to take her to the races when she was a baby. Got surprised when I read her name because I felt old as hell LOL

[11.4]

The officials didn't fire a gun, didn't flag the riders. There should have been an official coming out of turn 2 to monitor the start and to flag risks. The lead rider had her head down and didn't look up in time. The second rider, who crashed, theoretically should have been watching but in that position your head is always down and you are getting ready to take over the lead. The coach saw it but had no way to do anything. The whole thing was a complete eff-up.

That being said, it happens more than I'd like to say. At the last world cup in Los Angeles, there was a similar incident when there was a problem with a rider exiting a gate. The riders on the opposite side didn't get a double-shot so they came around into the back straight and ran into a gate with one rider still trapped in it. I really thought I had seen a death on the track that day.

The only thing in the defense of officials is that the first half lap is really fast -- you have less than 5 seconds to know the back straight gate is removed if you are going to stop the event in time, and at that point you are half a lap away from the riders who need to hear it, the crowds and loudspeaker are going, and it's probably going to happen anyway. Whenever dual gates are used, officials really have to be positioned and alert at both gates and have to have their full focus on whether both their own gate and the opposite one have been removed. Every major event counts pennies and they rarely spend to keep enough officials on the track. The local track-hands who are usually moving the gates can be really spacey at times -- they think the officials are supposed to be in charge, the officials think the promoter is in charge, and the track-hands think the promoter or the officials will tell them what to do. When those accidents happen, they just happen.

[nooneline]

More officials and helpers should know that if anything happens you gotta aggressively flag down riders on the track, and aggressively clear the track.

I think a lot of people don't realize the level of focus that happens, especially on the track. They were riding for a bronze medal in international competition. You don't just pull up if something seems off - hell, you don't even see it if something seems off. The countdown timer goes down, the start gate releases, and then you're off on a 35-second all-····ing-out effort. It's really hard for information to break through that barrier into your consciousness.

[gavingould]

this was covered pretty well when it happened months ago.

what I was told by people who are way faster on the track than i ever was:
they didn't remove the start stands because there was a false start, and the riders did not hear the whistle/second shot/whatever was meant to signal them. the whole thing sucked though, there might need to be a procedure review/revamp or someone didn't do what they were supposed to do.