Tour of Utah

[kccougar]

Those guys would make piss-poor race car drivers. Do cyclists not understand the concept of a racing line through a corner? Geez.

[PaloAltoCougar]

That was really awful. How seriously were the first guy's injuries?

[LiveCoug]

That was really awful. How seriously were the first guy's injuries?

According to the cyclist "it's all good in the hood"

Yes, I think that car for sure saved him from careening off the mountain.

[kccougar]

That was really awful. How seriously were the first guy's injuries?

Significant but sounds like he will recover.

Race officials say the cyclist suffered broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and a punctured lung. He was transported to a local hospital where he is reported to be in stable condition

[Dwight Schr-ute]

That was really awful. How seriously were the first guy's injuries?

Embedded Tweet

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/08/news/matt-brammeier-injured-in-high-speed-crash-at-utah_381009

[Donuthole]

Embedded Tweet

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/...at-utah_381009

I think he meant "All good over the hood".

[BigFatMeanie]

According to the cyclist "it's all good in the hood"

Yes, I think that car for sure saved him from careening off the mountain.

Agreed on the save. Right before the crash you can see that his back wheel is going sideways - he's lost control of the bike. I think without the car he totally goes over the edge.

[BrutusBuckeye]

I watched this one yesterday. Brutal. I almost think it saved him from careening off the mountainside, though.

He likely wouldn't have gone off the mountainside, but he was headed straight for a very solid steel gate that could have very well done more damage to him than the car.

[RC Vikings]

Hadn't seen this view, nor the following two crashes, until today.

https://youtu.be/hRM3bFXlyNk

I'm still wondering why some of them look like they have no idea a corner was coming up.

[creekster]

I'm still wondering why some of them look like they have no idea a corner was coming up.

I am not familiar with the road. What is the road like just before that corner? They way so many were coming into it far too hot I wonder if they had impeded vision? Like they popped up over a rise and the corner was on them before they knew it.

The sideways wheel movement may have happened when he locked up his rear brake.

[Nakoma]

The motorcyclist managed to take out two cyclists.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

The sideways wheel movement may have happened when he locked up his rear brake.

This is exactly what happened.

As far as the approach, if you scroll to the bottom of this KSL article, there's a map. I wonder if the hairpin below this got all the recon and this one ended up surprising many. In just the video clip, most had a bad approach into this corner.

http://ksl.com/?sid=35877620

[creekster]

Those guys would make piss-poor race car drivers. Do cyclists not understand the concept of a racing line through a corner? Geez.

Surely you jest. Most of them know exactly how do do that. Which is why it is hard to understand why so many were coming into the corner too hot.

[creekster]

My wife and I volunteered last Wednesday on the Antelope Island to Bountiful stage, as course marshals.

I took the day off work, and wandered over to the volunteer check in around 10:30am. We each got a goody bag that included a lovely t-shirt, trucker snap back cap, and a pair of cheap sunglasses. We also got a subway sandwich for lunch and a bottle of water. Now, if that doesn't make it worth the price of admission, I don't know what will!

We were assigned to an intersection at the bottom of the hill, right where the riders head up and around the temple. It happened to be only 3 blocks from our home, which was cool. We sat at home and watched the race online until around 1:10, and then walked to our assigned area. We met a local cop there, who helped us close the intersection with barriers and basically told us to just tell people to stay out of the road - and if anyone wanted to hassle us he would take care of it.

It was fun to see all of the people start to gather at the road. There was a group of about 20-25 kids that looked like they must've been from a local day care that the teachers had all lined up sitting on the curb to watch. They had signs they'd made at the daycare and were having a great time cheering.

For the most part our only role was to watch vehicles in driveways to make sure they didn't back out, and then stop folks at the intersection where we were assigned. That said - there wasn't much that happened and only a couple of vehicles needed to be turned away. Of course, there were also the folks who had no idea what was going on and stopped to ask us why the road was closed (never mind the 100's of signs on the road telling them why, or the other signs posted for 3 days stating no parking on the street because of the race, or the fact that the mayor did a robo-call to all of the Bountiful City residents the day before. Where have you been, people!!!)

Because of where we were located, we got to see the riders go by twice - as they did a 9 mile loop up 400 N to Bountiful Blvd to Indian Hills, then down to Main St and back up again. There were a few cyclists who showed up before the racers - mostly overweight dudes decked out in race team regalia that my wife was embarrassed for - who wanted to ride the KOM before the racers did.

As the race approached, they were led by a vehicle with a loudspeaker, letting everyone know how far back the racers were. Of course, the best indicator was actually watching the helicopter overhead - seeing the angle of the camera slung beneath it and estimating how far away they were from that.

As the racers came, there were basically two groups. The lead group - which seemed to have about a 90 second lead - and then the pelaton strung out behind them. As they approached for the second round, they were MUCH more spread out. There was one rider in the lead (I learned later that he had broken from the rest during the first climb) followed by probably 8-10 different groups of riders. While they had been relatively close together during their first loop, they were MUCH more strung out at this second lap - with there being several minutes between the first rider and the last. As the groups of riders passed, several tossed expended water bottles to the group of kids from the day care - to loud squeals of delight. One rider tossed an empty my way - but I was able to contain my excitement and it was more of a quiet squeak than a squeal.

After they had all passed, we walked down to the finish line. We were too late to see the winners, but there were several groups that came in while we were there. It was fun to see the riders just peel off at the end and ride through the neighborhood back to their team vehicles. I can't think of any other sport where the athletes are this available and accessible to fans.

I checked my watch while watching the groups pulling in, and I think it might've been 2:30 or 3:00? Anyway - all told our commitment to the event was less than 2 hours.

Definitely a fun experience that I would do again.

Thanks for the report. I have always enjoyed my volunteer experiences.

[TripletDaddy]

Surely you jest. Most of them know exactly how do do that. Which is why it is hard to understand why so many were coming into the corner too hot.

great example of irony!