Kevin's Twitter


Afraid #TCRNo5cap268 is no more. We parted due to disparity in speed near Viane. Later a couple of navigation issues caused me to quit. 1/2


Neither of the issues were major costing me maybe an hour but bad effect on my already flaky morale. Heading home & retiring from racing 2/2

Man, that's a real shame.

Having ridden with both Kevin and Chew (though never together) and I'd have thought they'd be pretty well matched pace-wise (as both are similarly-ish paced to me). Both sensibly steady without any heroics and able to keep that pace all day. But apparently not so much.

On the plus side, being retired, he can always have another pop if/when he fancies and won't have blown all his holidays for the year on one event attempt.

It'll be a big solo ride now then for Chew - good luck fella!

At least Kevin returned home*

Rider 172, Frank Simons was involved in a fatal collision this morning. So sad to hear news like this

Edit - just reread that and didn't mean it to come across harsh to Kevin

Sh*t!

Reading the Facebook comments someone mentions that self-supported races are clearly unsafe but I don't see how that can possibly be claimed.

Riding on roads is inherently dangerous and so any event that has large numbers of riders on open roads will have a high chance of an accidental happening.

Add to this the high public profile of these events now it's no wonder there are misguided claims made by those feeling upset by yet another needless death.

Just seen that about rider 172 ffs

gairym wrote:Sh*t!

Reading the Facebook comments someone mentions that self-supported races are clearly unsafe but I don't see how that can possibly be claimed.

Riding on roads is inherently dangerous and so any event that has large numbers of riders on open roads will have a high chance of an accidental happening.

Add to this the high public profile of these events now it's no wonder there are misguided claims made by those feeling upset by yet another needless death.

All of that is true but, as a professional driver, I'm constantly aware of the dangers of driving when tired. Endurance racing encourages participants to ignore these dangers and so could put them at additional risk *


*I'm not suggesting that tiredness was a factor in this, or any other, incident.

Driver flew away, apparently. http://m.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20170729_02993432

Very sad news, especially as it seems to becoming the 'norm'.

To pick up on Gairy's post - I can fully see why there might (almost certainly will) be calls to ban such races. We live in a highly risk averse society and given that it would be very easy for someone to argue that all the recent deaths were avoidable because it's fairly safe to assume those killed would be alive had they not being racing, then, it's no surprise. IMO Colin's point about tiredness is also very valid and brilliant ammunition for anyone looking to oppose such things.

Thoughts to the rider's family and friends - RIP.

Bearbonesnorm wrote:Very sad news, especially as it seems to becoming the 'norm'.

To pick up on Gairy's post - I can fully see why there might (almost certainly will) be calls to ban such races. We live in a highly risk averse society and given that it would be very easy for someone to argue that all the recent deaths were avoidable because it's fairly safe to assume those killed would be alive had they not being racing, then, it's no surprise. IMO Colin's point about tiredness is also very valid and brilliant ammunition for anyone looking to oppose such things.

Thoughts to the rider's family and friends - RIP.

Echo those thoughts.Thoughts to the organisers too, especially after the loss of Mike earlier in the year.

With regard to the ban endurance events thing, I wonder how reactions may vary between UK and continental Europe, Australasia, USA, etc.? Is risk aversion a Brit thing or more universal?

RIP Frank. Truly sad to hear that news.

RIP Frank another tragic loss.
One thing on the risks, doing these events i have certainly ridden on many roads i would never consider riding on normally.
On two occasions i have truly feared for my life on a bike, in the TCR and in the Transam. Yet still i do it thinking i have the risks managed.
Any other time it would be onto the slow backroads.
Do us riders need protecting from themselves?

I'm sure it's of zero comfort to his family but one of the alternative options is to croak on your sofa from a heart attack watching love island.

RIP Frank. Such a shame to start the day with expecting ro have the time of your life and have it end like that instead.

This will focus my mind when we set off tomorrow.

johnnystorm wrote:I'm sure it's of zero comfort to his family but one of the alternative options is to croak on your sofa from a heart attack watching love island.

You say that, but I've said to my wife that if I die doing this sort of thing, I died doing what I love... and there are far worse ways to go.

I think she'd definitely take a tiny bit of comfort in it. Same for me if anything was to happen to her when climbing.

^ I've said this to my wife many times too. And to go with Stu's comment about societal risk aversion, people who like to call for bans of these kind of events should know that riders undertake these challenges in the knowledge they could get hit, and maimed or killed. It's happened a lot this year, probably as a result of two factors. Popularity, therefore higher number of accidents, and also people pushing themselves harder (it is their decision to do so) to compete in a tougher and tougher field.

I still don't think cars and the morons in them are good things to go out and play roulette with though, but it'd still be a much better end than being in a care home rolling around in bed in yesterday's dinner.

Reason number #543 why I don't ride road...

Vehicles and bikes 'sharing' the same space just does not make sense...

As for risk averse society some things are worth the risk - like climbing in the high mountains...

Every time I've had to be riding on the road after every SWISH as a car or truck passes I think I'm still alive...

My viewpoint is that we should ride on roads as it will ultimately make things safer. There will always be accidents when you have objects moving around in the same space but they are genuinely rare. Our perception of risk is disconnected from the reality.

Saying we shouldn't ride on roads is just doing the car lobby's job for them - roads are for cars, etc.

I went for a long road ride yesterday - a mixture of rural, urban, main roads and country lanes - no problems or antagonism. My commute is two thirds road, one third canal tow path and again it's rare that there's a problem.

Years ago I was chatting to an actuary about the increased risks in climbing and its effects on insurance premiums. He noted that the health benefits of physical activity balanced out the risks and that lounging around doing naff all was a greater risk.

My viewpoint is that we should ride on roads as it will ultimately make things safer. There will always be accidents when you have objects moving around in the same space but they are genuinely rare. Our perception of risk is disconnected from the reality.

Saying we shouldn't ride on roads is just doing the car lobby's job for them - roads are for cars, etc.

I'm torn here ... I am in no way risk averse, far from it really but I know that any altercation with a car will leave me on my arse or worse and not the driver. Ultimately, the rights or wrongs won't matter because regardless of fault or blame, I'll always come off worse.

I used to buy into the idea of 'died doing something they loved' then saw way too many (8 in 6 weeks at one point) friends die while doing what they loved. It didn't matter to them - they were dead but the wreckage and perhaps surprisingly guilt it inflicted on those left behind was the saddest thing.

Surely, finding something you'd die for, then living for it is a much better option than doing things the other way round?

Im really sad at what has happened and on instagram there appear to be a few people who have reconsidered their oarticipation. For me the world is a richer place with these events and these competitors.

I aspire to be able to take part, let alone compete.

My attempts at watching this are currently frustrated by the site not showing peoples coveed distance or race oosition other than the numbers on the map. Is it working for anyone else?

BreninBeener wrote:.

My attempts at watching this are currently frustrated by the site not showing peoples coveed distance or race oosition other than the numbers on the map. Is it working for anyone else?

It's because there are checkpoints not a set route. You make your own route.

Ah ok...my bad!

Thanks

Looks like Chew just passed checkpoint one.

Good effort sir!

Looks like Chew just passed checkpoint one.

Yay

BreninBeener wrote:I(...)

My attempts at watching this are currently frustrated by the site not showing peoples coveed distance or race oosition other than the numbers on the map. Is it working for anyone else?

https://www.frrt.org/tcrno5/
Better than Trackleaders in my opinion but I use both. I have 13 tabs open following riders etc...I hope I get some sleep tonight.

Ace. Thanks for the link to different site

Ian

Looks like Chew might hit checkpoint 2 before dawn tomorrow. I know he's put a lot of effort into this, so nice to see him riding well