I was looking forward to racing Beverly after the Tour of the Catskills the weekend before. I had really struggled with fitness at Catskills following a month of doing nothing after being mis-diagnozed with a hernia in June. But now I was confident I had enough racing in my legs to be competitive and was raring to go. Also starting from Threshold were Ken , Jason and Matt M, who had been really strong at Catskills. The course was dead flat and consisted of five turns, all but one right-handers. The first lap was a good warm up. I was feeling pretty good going into the second lap, about 10th in line coming into the entry to Turn 3. I took the same line as the first lap. And then it happened – bang! The big one.
I have never experienced anything like it on a bike in over 20 years of riding and racing. It was so fast and unexpected that I was really just a passenger – I tried to correct but it was no use and I hit the deck very hard on my left side. I’m still not sure what caused it – it felt like I was nudged from behind but I’m not 100% sure. It was a pretty straightforward corner and the crash happened on the turn-in, not mid corner, so it was odd. The guy behind me went down also, someone else riding over the top of us (they both managed to carry on racing). Going down is always a surprise but after a few close calls this season, having managed to thread through the Sunapee mess and touching wheels in the Sprint for 3rd at Myles Standish amongst others, to go down like this was surprising and perplexing. I’ve never crashed like that and I’d really like to know what happened. Double fracture to the pelvis was the end result – could have been worse I guess. I initially thought it was a hip injury and I overheard the folks at Beverly Hospital saying my pelvis was shattered.
Thanks to the nice Beverly lady who picked up my bike and unwittingly captured additional footage on Threshcam and to the Beverly Ambulance Service. They arrived very quickly indeed, almost like they knew exactly where the accident was going to happen – The EMT with ESP. And thanks to all my team mates and in particular Matt M for all the help afterwards.
So, I’m already working on getting healed and looking forward to riding with everyone again by the end of October and racing again next year. I will miss the tail end of the season, as the Fall is my favorite riding time of the year and I was looking forward to the GMSR and Jamestown in particular but those gems will have to wait for 2011. Threshcam will be back but in the mean time, here is the last video of 2010 from me.
4 Responses to “Beverly Gran Prix 2010 – race (crash) report”
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First I wish you a speedy recovery. Second, that is the weirdest crash ever. I couldn’t see a thing wrong. Initially, we thought someone clipped a pedal on the turn in and took you out but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Lastly, there is nothing worse than seeing someone crash and I only wish you the best.
Thanks for sharing your first hand account of the accident. I’ve enjoyed your other vids from the season and wondered if you caught all of this. I can’t imagine the pain you must have felt when they tried to lift you without a board. You’re one tough hombre! Best of luck with your recovery, and have a great season in 2011!
I heard the crash in the race, and thought it must have been pretty close to me, I did not realize just how close (I am the guy who’s wheel you are on). I did have some lingering fear that I had taken out someones wheel or something, going into that corner, but it seemed like you were a safe distance behind me.
Strange crash, I assume someone must have nudged you from behind, you were not even in tight part of the corner yet where you could have lost traction.
Anyway, sorry to hear about the outcome, get better fast, and thanks for all the camera work this year.
I have just seen the video and have to say how horrible the crash is to see and listen to, someone behind you must know how this happened and it would be the decent thing to do if they would at least apologise to you. If of course they did this maliciously then be it on your concious and I hope someone does this to you.