Hard to really put into words what I am feeling and thinking. As cyclist we never stop to think that each time we strap on a helmet it may be our last. In 1998 I had my own near death experience on a bike. A few seconds or a few centimeters difference and I would not be here writing this.

Ever since that incident I have not been able to watch crash videos, even the funny ones where no one really gets hurt. I understand all to well how lucky they are, the flip side of what could have happened and I do not find amusement or enjoyment in it at all. I just moved and have been cursing the internet connection in my new place. I tried to log on this morning to watch the live feed and my connection was just not stable so I cursed and went on with my day. I am so glad I did not see any of the footage. I only hope Wouter’s friends and family were so lucky.

Godspeed Wouter. All of us at Big Ring are thinking of you, your family, your friends.

I wonder if David Millar threw his bike further than Bjarne Riis?

Yesterday I was riding with Blaze and we were talking about all the crashes in road races. At the local level there is a glut of guys that can put out the watts but somewhere along the line never really learned how to handle their machine. Swerving 2 feet to miss a hole when they could swerve 2 inches, looking over their shoulder and moving in that direction, reachiing for a bottle and moving across half the road. You get the idea and I am sure have seen it first hand at your weekly world cup. In the old days you just needed to stay in the front to avoid the Fred’s. Now there are super Fred’s, with fitness honed by hours of faithfull SRM devotion. These guys are nitro burning funny cars on an F1 course.

I blame one thing. Coaches. Whenever a cat 5 says they won’t be doing the group ride because they have to do 40 minutes of L6 intervals and then send the file to coach, Jesus kills a kitten. No wonder no one knows how an echelon works or how to ride in a group anymore. Back in the day (when the races were really hard) our local group rides were savage double paceline affairs. You were either the hammer or the nail. I spent many lonely miles limping home after getting shelled 40 miles into an 80 ride. My goal was to make it 41 miles next week. Eventually I wasn’t getting dropped. The rides I show up to today we never even work a paceline, we regroup to let the weak get back on. It is rolling T-Ball!

In the interest of safety here is my 3 pronged approach to make better bike riders (3PATMBBR).

- Minimum of 5 ‘cross races completed to learn basic handleing skills before anyone is allowed to enter a crit.

- Group rides are double paceline Lord of the Flies type events. They should be harder than any race.

- No coach or power meter until you get a Cat 2 upgrade. Of course by then you won’t need either.