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Danger is: other people - study finds collisions main cause of race injuryCrash (CC 2.0 BY-NC Edmund white|Flickr).jpg

Danger is: other people - study finds collisions main cause of race injury

One in six amateur racers injure themselves in each competition, research finds
by Sarah Barth
Sat, Apr 02, 2016 10:44
8

Collisions with other cyclists are the most likely cause of injury during racing, a study in Belgium has found.

In the admittedly small research into amateur racers in northern Belgium, the authors found that
nearly one in six non-professional cyclists suffers an accident during a race, usually due to a collision with another rider.

Dr. Alexander Van Tongel of Ghent University Hospital, writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, said that: “Although the number of accidents is quite high, luckily most lesions are minor,” said senior author.

The study investigated 777 documented reports of accidents for a total of1230 injuries for the years 2002 and 2012.

Researchers found that the most common severe injury was generally to the hand, and almost 1 out of 6 non-professional competitive road cyclists had an accident during cycling races in 2002 and 2012 in Flanders.

There were also 30 concussions in 2002 and 35 in 2012.

Dr. Mark Greve of the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University said that there was no link to utility cycling injuries and the type seen in competitive cycling.

“Cycling events, over all, have a six times higher rate of injuries than normal bike riding in the community,” he said.

“The most important risk is head and severe brain injuries,” added Dr. Alexander Van Tongel.

“In our opinion, it is very important to wear a hard-shell helmet,” he said. “Smaller pelotons and more training on steering skills instead of speed training may be helpful to reduce the risk during competition.”

Riders taking part in any British Cycling sanctioned race or Sportive currently have to wear a helmet conforming to a recognised safety standard. UCI rules make helmets mandatory at all times for professional racing.

 

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8 comments

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RGRHON | 8 years ago
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New amateurs should start with road races, not crits. The proliferation of crits puts new racers at higher risk because they don't get time to learn handling technique. Also, take the classes offered by USA cycling to get a leg up. You'll get extra points too...

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aladdin pain | 8 years ago
2 likes

i know such nitpicking is lame, but:

 

"One in six amateur racers injure themselves in each competition."

 

Hard to imagine they'd ever hold another race again if 17% of every starting field ended up in a sling.  Alternately it sounds as if there are cyclists who are injured every time they line out.  

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arfa | 8 years ago
0 likes

I'm with Wolfiesmith on this one. It isn't much to ask someone to get a basic idea of group riding before taking it up a level at the very least for the sake of courtesy to other riders, let alone their safety.  The ride London is a good example of where it is lacking with riders racing through feed stations, abruptly changing line without warning, not calling out hazards or dropped bottles etc.  I could go on but it isn't much to ask and there are plenty of cycle clubs that give you free try out rides so you can get the idea of what to do and what not to do.

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StuInNorway | 8 years ago
1 like

I guess I'd better call myself an ambulance now . .  as I'll be in a cycling event in June with up to 12,000 entrants (admittedly we leave in groups 10 minutes apart, but still around 200 per group)    That said, the main cause of injuries is collisions with the scenery, not other riders.  Most injuries are caused in1 of 2 ways,the "impressive crash" on one of the downhill sections, on gravel and losing control heading at speed into a ditch, often with a solid stone cliff face behind it, or simply extreme gravel-rash.  The 2nd is the "embarrasing" getting stuck in a queue on some of the short sharp uphill bits where a sheer numbers mean getting off and walking is required, as once one stops, everyone has to.... People try to ride up, get sandwiched between folks, and don't get unclipped. Cue landing on uneven gravel on a hill. One of my friends on the run last year ended up with his leg in a frame for 4 weeks afterwards. (Admittedly he did cycle the remaining 60km to the end before deciding it hurt)

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whobiggs replied to StuInNorway | 8 years ago
1 like

StuInNorway wrote:

I guess I'd better call myself an ambulance now . .  as I'll be in a cycling event in June with up to 12,000 entrants (admittedly we leave in groups 10 minutes apart, but still around 200 per group)    That said, the main cause of injuries is collisions with the scenery, not other riders.  Most injuries are caused in1 of 2 ways,the "impressive crash" on one of the downhill sections, on gravel and losing control heading at speed into a ditch, often with a solid stone cliff face behind it, or simply extreme gravel-rash.  The 2nd is the "embarrasing" getting stuck in a queue on some of the short sharp uphill bits where a sheer numbers mean getting off and walking is required, as once one stops, everyone has to.... People try to ride up, get sandwiched between folks, and don't get unclipped. Cue landing on uneven gravel on a hill. One of my friends on the run last year ended up with his leg in a frame for 4 weeks afterwards. (Admittedly he did cycle the remaining 60km to the end before deciding it hurt)

 

It took them 4 weeks to untangle his leg? The blimmin NHS these days tsk! 3

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WolfieSmith | 8 years ago
1 like

If you enjoy sportives and fancy racing please - join a club or chainy and learn how to ride in a group. Please. 

I've stopped racing now as so many non club riders are joining start lines of upwards of 40 riders and then panicking and taking people down. 'Crash magnets' is the expression. The basic skills of holding a straight line and judging the wheel in front and free wheeling - rather than grabbing the brakes - need to be practiced. 

I'm in favour of more people racing and we all have to start somewhere but please make sure you have at least a couple of months of chainys under your belt first. You might kill yourself or someone else. 

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mtbtomo | 8 years ago
2 likes

It really needed a study to find out

Quote:

Collisions with other cyclists are the most likely cause of injury during racing, a study in Belgium has found

kiss
 

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crazy-legs replied to mtbtomo | 8 years ago
2 likes

mtbtomo wrote:

It really needed a study to find out

Quote:

Collisions with other cyclists are the most likely cause of injury during racing, a study in Belgium has found

kiss
 

Well, it sort of does - if injuries are being caused by road furniture, oncoming traffic, potholes etc then that's a different fault to riders bouncing off each other! It kind of sounds obvious reading the headline but I suspect the wording of the survey results has been put into some sort of clickbait-friendly format to dumb down the actual facts, figures and statistics.

And to all those people saying about riding chaingang, riding with clubs. There are plenty of awful club riders out there too. Massively increased levels of traffic, rubbish roads, a definite lack of a club "patron" and mixed-ability groups have all served to make club runs a mess of half-baked ideas and execution with some people's idea of 2-abreast being half a lane apart, some people afriad to do 2-up because of irate drivers, holding a line being nearly impossible due to constant avoiding of potholes and a much more selfish attitude where people simply don't like being told what to do. Couple that with the occasional Strava-hunting idiot who'll jump out of the group to sprint for every hill and you can see why an awful lot of what people do learn in a chaingang is wrong.

 

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