# Weylandt dies in Giro d'Italia crash



## lactic acidosis (Jul 24, 2006)

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/weylandt-dies-in-giro-ditalia-crash

I know he was racing in a grand tour, but hopefully we can all use this tragedy as motivation to ride safe.


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## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

thats terrible  i wonder if it was on a descent?


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

Tragic, yes, but what do you have in mind to motivate "safe riding"?

When was the last time a pro rider was fatally injured in a race? I don't follow that closely, so I'm thinking back to the Motorola days, but I'm sure there have been others since. 

What is the incidence rate on something like this?


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## nOOky (Mar 20, 2009)

That really sux to hear, my condolences to his family and friends.


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

The last one I recall was Kivilev in 2003, and his death is why the pros are required to wear helmets today.


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## PlasticMotif (Aug 1, 2006)

nyvram said:


> thats terrible  i wonder if it was on a descent?


There is a video out there. It's not pretty.


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## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

more details



> Weylandt, 26, was left bloodied and unconscious and requiring a cardiac massage after a crash which occurred on the descent of the Bocco mountain pass around 25km from the finish line.
> Race officials later claimed his left pedal got stuck in a wall at the side of the road, forcing Weylandt to tumble around 20 metres to the ground below.
> He received emergency medical treatment by race doctors and was scheduled to be airlifted to hospital but had to wait as an emergency helicopter looked for a suitable landing spot.


http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j9kLbnwehZQxCYpsx0WI_imOHwiQ?docId=CNG.0dcf0a834f06b523ea5a0034e7cfefad.7e1

horrible.


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## parity (Feb 28, 2006)

I was watching this live on Universal and the images they were showing was pretty horrific. You could just tell from how he was laying and the blood it wasn't good. Then you could see they were performing CPR. I was hoping it wasn't worse then it looked but sadly it was. At this point there are no details as to why he crashed, so you can't attribute it to "unsafe riding".

Also I wonder how this will impact future stages were the descents are much scarier and Contador is being repeatedly quoted as being afraid. I wonder if we'll see a rider protest now.


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## PlasticMotif (Aug 1, 2006)

The images were awful. It's horrible.


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

mohair_chair said:


> The last one I recall was Kivilev in 2003, and his death is why the pros are required to wear helmets today.


Thanks. If that is truly the case, not to downplay the tragedy, but 1 death in 8 years with the amount of time these guys spend screaming down mountain sides isn't a bad incedence rate. Sports are risky. There are going to be accidents and errors in judgment. Some of them are going to be fatal. I wish his family strength and support in their grieving, but I'm not sure how you'd further reduce those risks.


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## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

krisdrum said:


> Thanks. If that is truly the case, not to downplay the tragedy, but 1 death in 8 years with the amount of time these guys spend screaming down mountain sides isn't a bad incedence rate. Sports are risky. There are going to be accidents and errors in judgment. Some of them are going to be fatal. I wish his family strength and support in their grieving, but I'm not sure how you'd further reduce those risks.


this sounds like a real freak accident..the way his pedal caught on the wall and caused him to fall 20 meters..a helmet isn't going to save you in this situation.

i think they said the last death at the giro was like 1986 so 25 years is a pretty good run.


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## lactic acidosis (Jul 24, 2006)

krisdrum said:


> Tragic, yes, but what do you have in mind to motivate "safe riding"


What I had in mind is to use an unfortunate tragedy as motivation to take less risks and be more careful when you have the option. . Im not here to police speed or riding style. Pros in a grand tour were not my intended audience. When I see someone go down and stay down, I usually dial it back a notch.


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## Cni2i (Jun 28, 2010)

Sad day indeed! I know it was a freak accident and is relatively rare....but still makes me think about flying down some of the hills on club rides, sometimes over 50mph 
I am definitely not sharing this story with my wife.


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## SlurpeeKing (Jul 23, 2010)

wow, video was not good.


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## asciibaron (Aug 11, 2006)

krisdrum said:


> Thanks. If that is truly the case, not to downplay the tragedy, but 1 death in 8 years with the amount of time these guys spend screaming down mountain sides isn't a bad incedence rate.


six in the past 16 years. that's more than 1 in 8 years.

1995 - Fabio Casartelli
1999 - Manuel Sanroma
2000 - Saúl Morales
2000 - Nicole Reinhart
2003 - Andrei Kivilev
2006 - Isaac Gálvez


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## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

Cni2i said:


> Sad day indeed! I know it was a freak accident and is relatively rare....but still makes me think about flying down some of the hills on club rides, sometimes over 50mph
> I am definitely not sharing this story with my wife.


yeah no kidding..the downhills after suck creek and sand mountains from this past weekend..i had more than a couple of 'oh ****' moments on the hairpins.

meaningless descents because it wasnt a race..i was just enjoying the speed.


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## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

asciibaron said:


> six in the past 16 years. that's more than 1 in 8 years.
> 
> 1995 - Fabio Casartelli
> 1999 - Manuel Sanroma
> ...


5 of those were before the mandatory helmet law which i think was the other person's point.

with the exception of cars taking out casual cyclists on the open road, i think the pro racing circuit is pretty darn safe.


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## asciibaron (Aug 11, 2006)

SlurpeeKing said:


> wow, video was not good.


can't find video of it - 20 meter fall does sound good. very sad news.


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## heathb (Nov 1, 2008)

Where's the video. I've searched, but every link has been shutdown. 

I wouldn't say cycling downhill at 50+miles an hour is safe now matter what you do. You know if you hit the deck at that speed in spandex it's going to be savage. Throw in exhaustion of a grand tour and I don't know how these guys keep their wits about them at those speeds.


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## SlurpeeKing (Jul 23, 2010)

huffingtonpost has a vid of the aftermath, not the actual fall. not sure if there's a vid of it.


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## easyridernyc (Jan 10, 2008)

PlasticMotif said:


> The images were awful. It's horrible.



was watching celtics heat saturday night, they showed a guy's elbow disconnecting. some things i only need to see once. some things i really dont need to see at all. 

condolescences to his family, a real tragedy rip young man.


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## stevesbike (Jun 3, 2002)

a dozen pro riders have died since 2000 according to a wiki site. That makes it much more dangerous than NASCAR and Formula 1.


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## Cni2i (Jun 28, 2010)

lactic acidosis said:


> What I had in mind is to use an unfortunate tragedy as motivation to take less risks and be more careful when you have the option. . Im not here to police speed or riding style. Pros in a grand tour were not my intended audience. When I see someone go down and stay down,* I usually dial it back a notch*.


Same here.


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## Ken_Birchall (Apr 21, 2004)

Total tragedy.

not naming names but some of the posters seem to be commenting from a position of blissful ignorance with regards to the safety issue.

Think back to '09 when Pedro Horrillo almost died http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/5335768/Pedro-Horrillo-Munoz-suffers-horror-crash-in-Giro-dItalia.html

Riders were openly protesting the lack of safety measures on a lot of the giro sections then and not just where the crash happened. Yes it's a dangerous sport but the race organizers have a duty and obligation towards riders to design safe routes and minimize the risks.


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## heathb (Nov 1, 2008)

stevesbike said:


> a dozen pro riders have died since 2000 according to a wiki site. That makes it much more dangerous than NASCAR and Formula 1.


Anyone that is riding 40+mph in a large group going through corners at full speed within inches of each others wheels are kidding themselves if they think this is a safe activity. 

I've had too many guys crash next to me in races to know that hitting the deck can be like getting fed into a meat grinder. 

Cycling at a pro level as far as I'm concerned is the toughest sport out there.


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## vancouver-rider (Apr 14, 2011)

There is no activity in life without risk. Professional cycling and its demands on the riders involves a degree of risk. Yes, the death is tragic.


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## GetReal (Jul 26, 2010)

Terrible!


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## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

stevesbike said:


> a dozen pro riders have died since 2000 according to a wiki site. That makes it *much more dangerous than NASCAR* and Formula 1.


seriously? 

let's go back 30 years.

i count 12 NASCAR deaths in the 1980s, 10 in the 1990s and 8 in the 2000s for a total of *30*.

pro cycling has 5 in the 1980s, 3 in the 1990s and 12 since 2000 for a total of *20*.

dont cherry pick your data to make it sound like cycling is more dangerous than other sports.


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## lactic acidosis (Jul 24, 2006)

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/weylandt-dies-in-giro-ditalia-crash

I know he was racing in a grand tour, but hopefully we can all use this tragedy as motivation to ride safe.


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## Cni2i (Jun 28, 2010)

heathb said:


> Anyone that is *riding 40+mph in a large group going through corners at full speed* within inches of each others wheels are kidding themselves if they think this is a safe activity.
> 
> I've had too many guys crash next to me in races to know that hitting the deck can be like getting fed into a meat grinder.
> 
> Cycling at a pro level as far as I'm concerned is the toughest sport out there.


You're absolutely right. When I mentioned going occasionally over 50+ on my sunday group rides, I should have been more clear. The group usually thins out to maybe 5-7 riders and when we do sometimes hit those high speeds, I was referring to straight aways or pretty wide turns....and definitely not through tight corners. But either way, I agree that it's very dangerous and foolish really.


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## JustTooBig (Aug 11, 2005)

Reports say he clipped the wall on the left with a pedal. Don't think there was a "20 meter fall", but he may have ended up 20m from where he made that contact. Speculating that since the race Dr. states he died of fractures to the front of the skull, he may have initially come down on top of that short stone wall. 

Tragic.


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## Time2ride (Apr 12, 2009)

*Paramedics?*

I just finished reading the article. I was very saddened by it. It was nice to see that the paramedics were close by. Not knowing much of what went on, I have to wonder what sort of care the paramedics were capable of giving? Was the course doctor with them, and if not, did they have a telephone connection with him? Although they probably covered all bases in trying to revive him, I still can't help but wonder if there was more that could have been done if they perhaps were more equiped. I was thinking along the lines of the old TV series called Emergency. They did a pretty acurate account of what goes on in the field and what can be done.


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## GetReal (Jul 26, 2010)

There is already a thread same exact title started two hours ago with 29 replies.

same poster?


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## GetReal (Jul 26, 2010)

Sad news!


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

GetReal said:


> There is already a thread same exact title started two hours ago with 29 replies.
> 
> same poster?


Yeah, WTF. Sorry if we took your other thread in a direction you did not intend, but such is life in an open forum.


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## rgordin (Oct 22, 2010)

nyvram said:


> seriously?
> 
> let's go back 30 years.
> 
> ...


Interesting. Huge leap in pro cycling deaths for the past decade.


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## killerRabbit (Mar 7, 2011)

Very tragic news.. Condolences to his family.


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## stevesbike (Jun 3, 2002)

nyvram said:


> seriously?
> 
> let's go back 30 years.
> 
> ...


I said since 2000 to compare the state of things today - auto racing today is not comparable to 30 years ago - Formula 1 hasn't had a fatality since 1994.


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## Hawkeye16 (Apr 29, 2011)

heathb said:


> Cycling at a pro level as far as I'm concerned is the toughest sport out there.


What's that saying again? "Ignorance is bliss"?


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## GetReal (Jul 26, 2010)

Watchign Universal, one reporter spoke with a person in a team car, He said the guy clipped the wall and flew down onto the road next level down. Gogo said he heard reports from a Radioshack rider who witnessed the crash that said Weylandt was alone, ahead of a small group then looked back which lead to him clipping the wall.


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## jrm (Dec 23, 2001)

*Yup*



JustTooBig said:


> Reports say he clipped the wall on the left with a pedal. Don't think there was a "20 meter fall", but he may have ended up 20m from where he made that contact. Speculating that since the race Dr. states he died of fractures to the front of the skull, he may have initially come down on top of that short stone wall.
> 
> Tragic.


He was in between two groups on the descent trying to catch the group ahead of him, when he apparently turned around, clipped his pedal on a small wall and was "catapulted" some 60 f before landing on his face/head.


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## rward325 (Sep 22, 2008)

lactic acidosis said:


> What I had in mind is to use an unfortunate tragedy as motivation to take less risks and be more careful when you have the option. . I'm not here to police speed or riding style. Pros in a grand tour were not my intended audience. When I see someone go down and stay down, I usually dial it back a notch.


I will definitely second this! Yes, it was a freak accident but it will stay in my head for awhile. Those descents on city streets at 45+mph will be curtailed for awhile. I don't think it will be easy to forget this on for awhile.This guy was sprinter, he knew how to handle a bike in crowds, he wasn't afraid to bang bars so to see him get a pedal stuck on a wall is a little frightening. I will definitely tone it down a notch.


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## Ride-Fly (Mar 27, 2002)

Such tragedy. My Heart goes out to his family and friends.


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## PlatyPius (Feb 1, 2009)

JustTooBig said:


> Reports say he clipped the wall on the left with a pedal. *Don't think there was a "20 meter fall", but he may have ended up 20m from where he made that contact.* Speculating that since the race Dr. states he died of fractures to the front of the skull, he may have initially come down on top of that short stone wall.
> 
> Tragic.


It was a terraced road. He clipped the wall and went over the side to the road one level down. About 20 metres.


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## bruce_wayne (Apr 30, 2010)

May the bike gods be with all of us and keep a careful watch out.
RIP Wouter, you gave it your best...


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## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

"Riding safe" and racing, don't seem to go together.


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## heathb (Nov 1, 2008)

MR_GRUMPY said:


> "Riding safe" and racing, don't seem to go together.


And yet if he hadn't turned around to see what's behind him he might still be alive. When you're going downhill it would always be best to keep your eyes surveying whats up ahead and pay no attention to what you just passed or who might be coming from behind. 

Mindfulness could keep a lot of racers out of trouble.


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## Axe (Sep 21, 2004)

Bad. BSBD.

I am in no mood to watch crash videos. Would not have helped here I guess - but folks should be encouraged to use bike helmets with more coverage in the rear and on the side - like some newer MTB helmets.


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## saf-t (Sep 24, 2008)

nyvram said:


> 5 of those were before the mandatory helmet law which i think was the other person's point.
> 
> with the exception of cars taking out casual cyclists on the open road, i think the pro racing circuit is pretty darn safe.



Nicole was wearing a helmet when she crashed. I was watching the race, but fortunately wasn't where the accident occurred.


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## JustTooBig (Aug 11, 2005)

PlatyPius said:


> It was a terraced road. He clipped the wall and went over the side to the road one level down. About 20 metres.


ah, that makes more sense. 

terrible and tragic


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## cda 455 (Aug 9, 2010)

heathb said:


> And yet if he hadn't turned around to see what's behind him he might still be alive. When you're going downhill it would always be best to keep your eyes surveying whats up ahead and pay no attention to what you just passed or who might be coming from behind.
> 
> Mindfulness could keep a lot of racers out of trouble.


Especially going at those crazy speeds.

Since racers ride 20 to 30 thousand miles a year; I guess, like most other things, one gets complacent and gets sloppy and multi-tasks when they should be focusing on steering/riding the bike.

Earlier in the race during the refueling stage I watched a domestique almost get run over by his support vehicle because, while he was shoving bottles in his pockets and in his shirt with both hands, his bike swerved left and then right and if he'd not caught the handlebars in time he would have went under the drivers side rear tire.


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## Salsa_Lover (Jul 6, 2008)

I was called a wimp on a thread when I said I keep my speed low on descends, not more than 45-50Kph.

guys here were proud of their 70Kph descent speeds.

I think if I crash at 40 it would be very very bad enough, why recreational riders risk that much ?


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## dcl10 (Jul 2, 2010)

Axe said:


> Bad. BSBD.
> 
> I am in no mood to watch crash videos. Would not have helped here I guess - but folks should be encouraged to use bike helmets with more coverage in the rear and on the side - like some newer MTB helmets.


Helmet standards these days are incredibly week. The impact speed for EN 1078 is only 11-12mph. CPSC is not much better. Most helmets used to be Snell certified, which is a much stricter standard, and think now specialized makes the only road helmets that meet Snell.


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## AJL (Jul 9, 2009)

I had a bad feeling when I saw Weylandt lying on the road during the US broadcast; it didn't look good. His body position looked wrong, his head looked misshapen, there was a lot of blood, etc. When I read the news online that he had passed away, I felt sick. Far too young to die  

My prayers and heart go out to his family and I hope today that he will be in paradise.


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## cda 455 (Aug 9, 2010)

dcl10 said:


> Helmet standards these days are incredibly week. The impact speed for EN 1078 is only 11-12mph. CPSC is not much better. Most helmets used to be Snell certified, which is a much stricter standard, and think now specialized makes the only road helmets that meet Snell.


I think Snell has similar crash-test minimum: 13MPH :eek6: .


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## 55x11 (Apr 24, 2006)

stevesbike said:


> a dozen pro riders have died since 2000 according to a wiki site. That makes it much more dangerous than NASCAR and Formula 1.


do you have many 3-week auto-races with 200+ NASCAR and Formula 1 drivers competing for 6 hours every single day?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_racing_drivers_who_died_in_racing_crashes

Somehow I doubt that car racing, per time spent racing per athlete, is really much safer than bike racing.


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## heathb (Nov 1, 2008)

cda 455 said:


> Especially going at those crazy speeds.
> 
> Since racers ride 20 to 30 thousand miles a year; I guess, like most other things, one gets complacent and gets sloppy and multi-tasks when they should be focusing on steering/riding the bike.
> 
> Earlier in the race during the refueling stage I watched a domestique almost get run over by his support vehicle because, while he was shoving bottles in his pockets and in his shirt with both hands, his bike swerved left and then right and if he'd not caught the handlebars in time he would have went under the drivers side rear tire.


If one starts meditating and following the breath and eventually staying focused on only one thing at a time it's amazing just how much your mind resists this. The mind is like a crazy chimp in heat that wants to bounce all over the place, so it's no surprise that racers look around constantly for stimulation in a long road race and end up taking their attention off things that matter most.


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## orlin03 (Dec 11, 2007)

Salsa_Lover said:


> I was called a wimp on a thread when I said I keep my speed low on descends, not more than 45-50Kph.
> 
> guys here were proud of their 70Kph descent speeds.
> 
> I think if I crash at 40 it would be very very bad enough, why recreational riders risk that much ?


I haven't called anyone a wimp, but I am one of those riders that love downhill speed. Yesterday, though, I had the closest (high speed) call in a while when descending into a headwind. After fighting for 45 minutes into the wind (10-20 mph winds), I figured I'd have some fun and bomb a long descent. I hit around 43mph when the wind really picked up, coming right up the hill and sending me into a nasty wobble. I sat up and gently applied the brakes, but it still got worse before it got better. 
When I got home I heard the news about this horrible wreck, and it really brings things into perspective. I don't want to slow down, but I also don't want to leave my fiance alone because I am reckless.


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## 55x11 (Apr 24, 2006)

Salsa_Lover said:


> I was called a wimp on a thread when I said I keep my speed low on descends, not more than 45-50Kph.
> 
> guys here were proud of their 70Kph descent speeds.
> 
> I think if I crash at 40 it would be very very bad enough, why recreational riders risk that much ?


I think we should all take less risks, especially on descends where speeds are high. Good thing you can resist the groupthink mentality and go at whatever pace you are comfortable.

But I just want to point out if you are going with a group, or sharing the road with cars, often going deliberately too slow, say, 45 kph (28mph) is actually often much more dangerous than going at more natural rolling speed, say, 65 kph (40 mph), especially if the rest of the group has to break and go around you.

The danger is also not so much in top speeds or average speeds on descends, but in speeds one takes steep corners, especially blind corners.


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## Cableguy (Jun 6, 2010)

Salsa_Lover said:


> I was called a wimp on a thread when I said I keep my speed low on descends, not more than 45-50Kph.
> 
> guys here were proud of their 70Kph descent speeds.
> 
> I think if I crash at 40 it would be very very bad enough, why recreational riders risk that much ?


Because they're not wimps  Not all descents are created equal too


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## Axe (Sep 21, 2004)

dcl10 said:


> Helmet standards these days are incredibly week. The impact speed for EN 1078 is only 11-12mph. CPSC is not much better. Most helmets used to be Snell certified, which is a much stricter standard, and think now specialized makes the only road helmets that meet Snell.


I was talking more about coverage in the back of the head and behind your ear.

Personally, I ride with Kong Scarab and Uvex XP. But of course I do not count grams or care about my aerodynamics... But I guess they could make it for the pros, if they wanted.


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## AJL (Jul 9, 2009)

Axe said:


> I was talking more about coverage in the back of the head and behind your ear.
> 
> Personally, I ride with Kong Scarab and Uvex XP. But of course I do not count grams or care about my aerodynamics... But I guess they could make it for the pros, if they wanted.


I imagine that it's pretty hard to make a strong and well ventilated bicycle helmet. And it's probably nearly impossible to make them strong enough @ 350 grams or less.


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## JustTooBig (Aug 11, 2005)

PlatyPius said:


> It was a terraced road. He clipped the wall and went over the side to the road one level down. About 20 metres.


well, as it turns out, that wasn't the case.

the vid on VeloNews about the memorials at the crash site shows the end of the wall where WW first hit his pedal, with the spot where he came to rest against the stone wall on the right further down the road. In between are marks diagonally across the road made by police showing the path he took from left-to-right across the road.


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## vismitananda (Jan 16, 2011)

Very sad news indeed.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*and in Nascar*



nyvram said:


> seriously?
> 
> let's go back 30 years.
> 
> ...


there are not 200 guys in the race


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## ashpelham (Jan 19, 2006)

I'd like to add how very sad and tragic I find this racers' death to be. Prime of his career, and was on his way to a prolific career I might add. He seemed like a guy who could be a one-day race superstar. Indeed, had already had some great success. 

Let me also add, FWIW, that all of us recreational people DO take too many risks on bikes. Running stop signs is a biggie with me, but also just doing crazy stuff on the Tuesday nights Worlds rides in your metros. Mixing with heavy traffic just after or during rush hour. Taking crazy chances on blind turns, of which there is one notable one in the Birmingham, AL metro area Tuesday ride that everyone does. And, as much as I enjoy it, riding in large packs on non-closed roads, sometimes at high speeds, is pretty doggone high risk as well. Sure, if everyone is competent and paying attention, rarely does anything happen. But one new rider, or one dog run astray, and bad things result.

Cycling is dangerous. Kids and adults both should always be wearing helmets. Odds are, you'll never land face first at 60 mph like this unfortunate incident. But I've crashed a couple of times myself on the road, and got the busted helmets to prove it, to know they are probably life savers at their greatest, and at their least, they keep you awake if you hit hard.

Everyone ride safe.


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## 88 rex (Mar 18, 2008)

For the "which is worse crowd" lets not forget how many casualties we have had in the off season due to training accidents. They seem to be a little to frequent IMO. There were a handful around the world last year involving professional cyclists of all disciplines.


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## rward325 (Sep 22, 2008)

Please take the time to remember all of these lost Cyclists. Most killed by motorists while training. All very young! Here is one to remember, Carla Swart of HTC.


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## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

everyone knows about this right?

http://stomachofanger.com/108.shtml


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## rward325 (Sep 22, 2008)

I just bought 3 of them yesterday. Only wish they would be here sooner!


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## lactic acidosis (Jul 24, 2006)

partial proceeds go to his fam and they're using american apparel for the tees? done and done.


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## 55x11 (Apr 24, 2006)

dcl10 said:


> Helmet standards these days are incredibly week. The impact speed for EN 1078 is only 11-12mph. CPSC is not much better. Most helmets used to be Snell certified, which is a much stricter standard, and think now specialized makes the only road helmets that meet Snell.


Helmets won't save against everything. Like 20-meter vertical fall. 

I am actually still a bit unclear about what happened to Weylandt - did he fall over the wall and onto the next level down, (the way Frank Schleck and Mathias Kessler did at some point, over the barrier), down to the road below, or did he skid 20-meter distance along the road? Very different scenarios...


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## AJL (Jul 9, 2009)

55x11 said:


> Helmets won't save against everything. Like 20-meter vertical fall.
> 
> I am actually still a bit unclear about what happened to Weylandt - did he fall over the wall and onto the next level down, (the way Frank Schleck and Mathias Kessler did at some point, over the barrier), down to the road below, or did he skid 20-meter distance along the road? Very different scenarios...


20 distance down the road. Massive head trauma. Autopsy results indicate instant death.


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