Sometimes bike racing can turn into some pretty serious business.
Yesterday, I spent the day in the emergency room alongside my
teammate, Joe Rano, who sustained a serious head injury at Marblehead
in the master's 35+ race. I sustained a broken collarbone in the
same wreck but I was so panicked when I saw Joe lying in a pool of
blood, unconscious, that I didn't feel anything.

I think Joe is going to be O.K. He spent the night in the ICU,
mostly for close observation, and will have follow-up MRI and CAT
scans today to make sure that there is no injury-related bleeding in
his brain. He'll race again soon. So will I.

The person who caused the wreck knows who they are. I am not writing
to berate them. Accidents are part of the sport and I've been in the
sport for close to 25 years and accept the risks. But here's
something to think about:

We (myself included) should all consider our skill level when we
enter races. Masters racing, in particular, allows virtually all
skill levels to be involved (e.g., yesterday's race allowed category
1-4, I believe). The accident occurred on the downhill sweeper, a
seemingly innocuous but reasonably technical turn. Someone got
bumped or slipped a bit and over-reacted. Skills clinics can prepare
one for these circumstances. Let's consider participating in either
formal clinics or tapping into our more experienced racers for
informal lessons so that a minor bump within a field doesn't turn
into a catastrophe. People like Adam Myerson and Tom Stevens come to
mind when I think of local skills coaches. I'm sure that there are
others.

Being relatively new to the area, this is the only newsgroup that I
subscribe to. I would really appreciate it if any or all of you
could circulate this message to other news groups, clubs, officials
or anyone you see fit to particpate in a discussion, etc.

Thanks and I'll see you at the races in eight weeks, if all goes well.

Gene Petrella
Gearworks/Spin Arts