Crash at Back Roads

[Tania]

Anyone know if the rider who crashed (hopefully he was the only one) at Back Roads is ok? It was in one of the few quiet country roads through an apple orchard (not a fan of their route at ALL) at the top of a long descent and just after a tight left curve that was marked with “slow” warnings.

The ambulance had been called when I came through and he was still laying on the road but conscious. Hopefully he was just being cautious and waiting for the medics before moving. There was a group of 10 or so with him and I asked if I could do anything and they said no (with thanks).

I did the 50 mile route (traveling with a 10 year old means time is relative so we didn’t start pedaling until 9am) but I’m fairly sure this was on a shared portion of the course.

I really didn’t like this route and I’m glad I only did the 50. The roads were fairly busy and the speed limit pretty high (even when we didn’t have a decent shoulder). Maybe I just noticed it more because of the 10 year old but I felt compelled to ride behind them and slightly to the left to absorb any close passes (and there were several).

[Judd]

Didn’t hear any talk of this at the after party. I did see one guy with some wicked road rash from an encounter with a pothole.

There were a few short sections on the Century route with fast traffic and no shoulder but I’ve done worse. Lots of potholes and rough pavement on certain sections.

Riders were mostly well behaved except for the total fucking asshole who was passing across the double yellow (everyone was single file with plenty of room in the lane) and then right crossed a tandem as he realized he was missing the turn off to the metric route. The tandem wiggled but thankfully recovered.

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[Rootchopper]

I thought the course was a vast improvement over being harassed by Barney Fife in Berryville. https://rootchopper.wordpress.com/2016/09/18/backroads-more-better-since-2015/
The crash victim lucked out. A friend of mine was right behind him. My friend stopped and found a doctor in the field two riders back. The victim had first aid within a minute of crashing. Don’t have any idea about the severity of his injuries though.

[Tania]

@Rootchopper 146091 wrote:

I thought the course was a vast improvement over being harassed by Barney Fife in Berryville. https://rootchopper.wordpress.com/2016/09/18/backroads-more-better-since-2015/
The crash victim lucked out. A friend of mine was right behind him. My friend stopped and found a doctor in the field two riders back. The victim had first aid within a minute of crashing. Don’t have any idea about the severity of his injuries though.

The doctor right there explains why he was still on the road, not moving. I didn’t have any sense as to injuries either, just hoping he was playing it smart and being still. Thanks to the other riders around who did some impromptu course marshaling.

As far as the route, I’m probably just spoiled (or fussy). Every long, organized ride I’ve done so far has been on super quiet country roads or on roads with a massive shoulder (Indian Head was just lovely!). I didn’t like the majority of the roads (on the 50 anyway) and there were an equal number of bad passes by drivers and cyclists alike. Saw one guy switchback up a hill crossing the yellow line repeatedly – if a car had come the other way over the top of the hill he’d have been smushed. Our route also crossed the entrance/exit to 81 and I saw a driver cut off a cyclist to make the right onto the entrance ramp. I had a several “whoa” moments.

But on the flip side, all of the police officers helping out were super friendly and the ride on Saturday around Antietam was so much fun!

[consularrider]

@Tania 146094 wrote:

The doctor right there explains why he was still on the road, not moving. I didn’t have any sense as to injuries either, just hoping he was playing it smart and being still. Thanks to the other riders around who did some impromptu course marshaling.

As far as the route, I’m probably just spoiled (or fussy). Every long, organized ride I’ve done so far has been on super quiet country roads or on roads with a massive shoulder (Indian Head was just lovely!). I didn’t like the majority of the roads (on the 50 anyway) and there were an equal number of bad passes by drivers and cyclists alike. Saw one guy switchback up a hill crossing the yellow line repeatedly – if a car had come the other way over the top of the hill he’d have been smushed. Our route also crossed the entrance/exit to 81 and I saw a driver cut off a cyclist to make the right onto the entrance ramp. I had a several “whoa” moments.

But on the flip side, all of the police officers helping out were super friendly and the ride on Saturday around Antietam was so much fun!

Interesting, you should have ridden with Chris Watson and me. I was very surprised a how reluctant the WV drivers were to pass, very polite on curves and hills and did not have a single close pass by a motor vehicle in the 100 miles, a first. In general the road conditions were well below the level of this year’s Indian Head, but not horrible.

You must have been just in front of us at the crash site. By the time we got there there was a SAG vehicle at the top of the hill making sure everyone slowed way down and there must have been over 20 cyclists around the down rider. We passed the responding ambulance about 30 seconds later. Shortly after that a different ambulance went by the rest stop.

[Rootchopper]

I agree about the drivers. They were very careful and I did not have a single bad experience with them. It has to be frustrating to drive through an event like that so hats off to the drivers around Shepherdstown. I also did not encounter overly aggressive pace lines of riders which was an issue at Indian Head and past Backroads events.

[consularrider]

@Rootchopper 146165 wrote:

I agree about the drivers. They were very careful and I did not have a single bad experience with them. It has to be frustrating to drive through an event like that so hats off to the drivers around Shepherdstown. I also did not encounter overly aggressive pace lines of riders which was an issue at Indian Head and past Backroads events.

Of course my ride through DC this morning was full of badly behaving drivers running red lights, a couple of scofflaw cyclists, and a DC trash truck making a right on red without stopping as I was in the intersection (or does this belong in Missed Connections?). 😡 I want to go back to west Virginia! :rolleyes:

[Author]

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