Maddest Monkey,

Thank you for your usual insightful response.

In response to your Duhhh, I was just making a point that this was unusual for
this particular race. I was, in no way, scolding anyone as you are implying.
Sorry if you read it that way.

At any rate, I hold no hard feelings or blame towards anyone. This was simply
bike racing.

Rich
> >Gene Petrella <Gene.Petrella@...> wrote:
> >It should never happen and wouldn't happen with more experience.
>
> OK, Gene, enough is enough. I know you're new to the area, but that doesn't
give
> you an excuse to vacate your 25 years of experience and start admonishing the
> the entire masters field in new england because you got taken down in the
first
> race of the season. That Tom Mannion called to apologize if he was the culprit
> speaks to his class and professionalism, but to speculate over the factors
> leading to his actions, and then to claim that a few cornering classes would
fix
> the problem is presumptuous and downright naive. Crashes happen all the time
for
> a variety of reasons, the predominant reason _hardly_ being inexperience.
Think
> of Scott Wade at the Palmer Road Race. Inexperience? Hardly. Let's replay the
> tape of stage 1 from last years TdF. Inexperience? I think not. On a more
> serious note, lets remember Fabio Casartelli, Andrea Kivilev, and Nicole
> Reinhardt. Inexperience? Not even close.
> I was behind the crash, I'm pretty sure I was the guy who rode over your bike,
> sorry, couldn't be helped. One of my teammates went down in the crash also,
but
> the topic of conversation after the race wasn't which legal firm to call. I
know
> Joe Rano and I feel badly that he was so seriously injured, but you need to
get
> over establishing blame. A sequence of events took place, and the end result
was
> that someone was seriously injured. This will happen again, probably before
you
> get back on the bike. Pointing fingers accomplishes nothing.
> I understand that you're upset over putting the next two months on hold, but I
> don't appreciate being scolded simply for being part of the group. How about
the
> guy that caused Tom to swerve? Did someone else make a move that cause him to
> make an abupt line change? Maybe someone at the front tossed a clam and hit
the
> guy in the face? The point is, you can keep going down the line to try and
> establish whose fault it was, and it will end up being a butterfly flapping
its
> wing in south america.
>
>
> >It seemed there was always an
> >acceleration before the downhill
> Duhhhh. Sundays crash is a classic example of why. Certainly I would get up
from
> a crash and unleash a string of expeltives if I had gone down, but I wouldn't
go
> public and scold all the guys I race against every week for it.
>
>
>
> Gene Petrella <Gene.Petrella@...> wrote:
> Rich - thanks for the well wishes and explanation of what you saw. Tommy
Mannion
> (CCB) was most likely the guy who took out your front wheel. He called me and
> was sick with remorse about what happened. He's not at fault. Turns out that
he
> hit his brakes when someone in front or next to him swerved to avoid the
manhole
> cover. THAT action is what caused the chain reaction. That unecessary swerving
> is EXACTLY what I was refering to in my posting. It should never happen and
> wouldn't happen with more experience.
>
> I'm glad you're not hurt badly and I'll see you before long.
> -Gene
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: hazelnutp@... [mailto:hazelnutp@...]
> Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 8:34 PM
> To: Gene Petrella
> Subject: Re: [necyclocross] Riders down at Marblehead
>
>
> Gene,
>
> I was also involved in this wreck. I am very happy to hear that Joe is going
to
> be OK. It was really awful to see him in such a condition. I hope that you
also
> will heal quickly. I, thankfully, walked away with bumps, bruises and road
rash.
>
> On the crash, I am really confused why this happened in the first place. The
> rider in front of me cut hard right when he saw something happening in front
of
> him. This, in turn, took out my front wheel and sent me sliding across the
> ground. The thing I also didn't understand is why the pack went into this
> section with so much speed. It seemed there was always an acceleration before
> the downhill? I'm not sure if it was inexperience that caused this crash but,
> more so, overreaction and maybe some cobwebs from not racing for months. This
> was my 8th year doing Marblehead (3rd year as a Master) and I have never seen
> this happen.
>
> At any rate, again, please pass along my well wishes to Joe and I hope I see
you
> both out racing later this season.
>
> Rich Perrotti
> Team Rage
> > 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
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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