Tuesday's Hipp ride crash - an open letter

Well people it happened again last night - another bad crash on the prairie. I missed the carnage because of a (lucky?) flat but rode up on the scene a few minutes later. What I saw sickened and depressed me. Why does this keep happening? I know that we all strap on helmets and willingly jump into the fray but something needs to change. We need to get it through everybody's head that you are responsible for your actions on the bike. They affect everyone around you. Think hard about how what you do on the bike affects the person behind you. If you are in the rotation you have a responsibility to keep it safe. Don't jump in unless you have the endurance to rotate several times so those around you know what to expect. Don't jump through or leave gaps ahead or behind you because of the uncertainty that creates. If you decide you simply must launch off the front in a bid for momentary glory, don't suddenly sit up when the pack inevitably reels you in because that creates a sudden bunching up of the pack and overlapping wheels. You may not crash, but you may have caused others to crash. In a race, your obligations to the pack may not be as great, but the Hipp rides are training rides. There is no prize list except in your own head. New riders should carefully watch the actions of experienced riders for a while until they get the hang of it. The worst thing a new rider can do is blow up in the middle of a hard effort with others counting on them to maintain their safe line. Know your limits and make sure you have the reserves of strength to ride safely around others. In closing I would like to propose that for a while we agree to cross the prairie in a smooth group rotation with no attacks allowed. The shoulder is not getting any smoother and many people are too near their limits of endurance to be safe. After we climb out of the prairie we can resume our quest for sprint glory as desired. Anyone second the motion?

Kerry

Kerry was very diplomatic and right on about the Hipp rides. When I did my first few Hipps of the year this summer, I immediately noticed something had changed (besides me being desperately out of shape), and yet many of you insisted they hadn't. Well, the wrecks speak for themselves.

There is some history to this that newer riders should know.

There was a day when the ratio of experienced riders to newer riders was large, so that cycling was a "good ol' boy sport" even if its participants didn't always mean for it to be. These were the days when the popularity of the sport briefly skyrocketed post-Lemond, then fell off again with mountain-biking and Lemond's retirement. This was before several Americans were Lieutenants or Stars in the Euro peloton. I'm not talking way back, just like about the mid-1980s when I started training with a former Olympic Camp participant, Peter Aubin. He was a big-balled jackass, as some of his detractors noted, but he was the fastest rider in South Texas and the borderlands, and he took a lot of time to talk to, preach at, and encourage young riders, men and women alike. He was a real safety nazi and also a diplomat (he learned enough Spanish to get in good with the Mexican teams and always at least steal a second place for helping out).

I still remember his shame explaining to my Dad that he hadn't made me wear a helmet on a training ride where I got a concussion. I also remember him saying, "James was going too fast, forgetting to drink water, trying to keep up with me--what an idiot." Pete could be a jerk, but he was never wrong about things like that.

That is how most people got into cycling where I was from, or at least how they got good. Without a mentor, there were just too many things in the sport to learn on your own, and even then I never really understood full team tactics and rotation safety until I raced for UF. I still remember my first Hipp rides, with thousands of racing miles under my belt, and getting yelled at, rightly so, by the Old Salts. Just because you're fast, and smart, and riding a nice bike, doesn't mean you get to make the rules. The Hipp ride has very specific protocols and etiquette that have been refined by experienced road racers for, what, 16 years??? Why mess with a good thing? Silly flyers, personal training intervals, mad over-the-yellow-line dashes, exhausted fall-backs from inside the rotation--these are the causes of wrecks and of being unable to see and call out obstacles.

Now, good ol' boy sports are not great, and I wouldn't want anyone to suffer my old buddy Pete's tirades. Attitudes and testosterone often discourage some very fine and capable riders (I went back to running for much of the mid and late nineties because of the jerk factor in our sport, especially among some arrogant University of Texas riders). BUT, I will say this--we need a lot more mentoring and personal attention by EXPERIENCED riders for NEW riders. I'll take a Pete Aubin over a quiet introverted A rider any day of the week. If you are experienced, and not speaking to and encouraging new riders about safety and training within your means, then YOU are part of the crash problem. Unlike Mountain Biking and Triathlon, road cycling is a collective effort, even when we're trying to hurt each other in rotation.

Fundamentally, "innovation" and "personal training goals" take second wheel to the logic of the rotation. Accelerations and sprints should only ever be done by non-exhausted riders from within the rotation, and with respect to the safety of the rotation. That usually means accelerating off the front, which a very small percentage of the Hipp Riders can do. And you should only ever stay in the rotation until WELL BEFORE you reach the breaking point. If you can't scream "OFF" or "COMING IN" at the top of your lungs, you probably need to take a break.

Watch Coach Dan. He'll look behind him and kind of let people know he's accelerating the rotation. Sometimes the rotation breaks during his efforts, but no one ever gets pinched. People point out that Mike Gann "breaks up the ride" sometimes too, but he's also doing it in a very disciplined manner, typically by accelerating in the saddle off the front. Others let their consistent efforts over hills or after sprint signs speak for themselves--these are not only safe times to impress us with your power, they are also the most likely times during races when breakaways will actually work. Some of the finest Hipp breakaways in the last few years have been after the long hill after the middle sprint on the long day, or after the second sprint sign on the short day.

The bottom line is: there is a reason cycling is called a "discipline." It needs teachers, students, respect, and humility. If you are new, pay especial attention to the last three. If you've been around, help out with the first.

My Two Cents,

James T