# Woodside Noon Ride Bicycle Accident



## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

All I know is there was an alert put out to hospitals today that there was an accident in Palo Alto that had multiple injuries. 

The alert came in around 12:30. All I could think of was the noon ride. 

Anyone know anything?

Hope everyone is O.K.


----------



## neverflw (Jan 31, 2012)

Word is "at least three bad injuries and about 30 folks went down" during the Noon Ride.
No further information.


----------



## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

Thanks. 
Sorry your first post was on this subject.


----------



## sbt (Jan 26, 2010)

Yes, it was the noon ride, on portola. Two women went down very hard, and one guy banged his head. Several others got also may have hit the deck, but not as serious.


----------



## Slave2Gravity (Jul 13, 2007)

No cars involved I take it? My friend and I rolled up on the accident from Alpine and we had to turn around because the road was blocked. Really sorry to hear, but glad I didn't end up trying to make the ride today.


----------



## sbt (Jan 26, 2010)

No cars. Mid-pack pileup.


----------



## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Ouch, that sounds awful - I hope that the injuries are not severe, and that everyone involved gets better soon.


----------



## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

some info from Stanford Cycling Group:
--------
The safest group ride is the Morning Ride. 
On Jan 31, 2012 7:06 PM, "Evan Pickett" <[email protected]> wrote: 
Hi all. I don't think any Stanford riders were around, but there was a 
crash on the noon ride today, I think at the Woodside sprint. Yukie 
Nakamura, a Bay Area legend (at least on Twitter), broke her collarbone, 
and a rider named Janet is in a medically induced coma (presumably at 
Stanford Hospital and presumably due to head trauma). As best I've 
gathered, someone unclipped going for the sprint, went down or bounced into 
someone, and things snowballed from there. 
The noon ride is usually safe, but these incidents (they're not really 
accidents) demonstrate that contesting field sprints on group rides is 
risky. With the Stanford group, we're mostly aware of one another's 
abilities, and rarely do you have more than 4-6 people really contesting a 
sprint. The peninsula group rides are larger, faster, less controlled, and 
there are more riders around who may lack the skills you assume they 
possess. 
I woudn't go so far as to recommend against going on these group rides, but 
I do recommend a good deal of pragmatism and risk analysis when it comes to 
deciding if you should contest a sprint on these rides. Personally, I 
almost always led out the sprint, or attacked 1-2 km before; this wasn't 
the best practice for learning how to contest a field sprint in a crit, but 
that method of participating in rides like Spectrum or the Valley Ride was 
where my analysis of the risks involved led me. Historically, the Valley 
Ride and the Noon Ride have been the safer options - the Valley Ride due to 
the inclusion of a hard climb up Huddart, and the Noon Ride due to a 
smaller/more experienced/more cautious group of riders. Try to be aware of 
the general vibe of the ride - if it's negative, hang out off the back or 
go ride somewhere else. 
I definitely prefer the methods this team has for working on sprints... you 
go out and work on your sprint! 
Ride safe, 
Evan


----------



## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

Makes my surgery on Tuesday not seem as bad.

My best to all who need to heel this year.


----------

