Addiscombe Apocalypse - cherstey 5/5/07

[Stu Merckx Man]

dear oh dear a bit of a disatser. sylv me and adam watched the 4th cat sprint finish only to see a big crash which sent carl flying into the gravel, then further up the road matt robins and andrew where in a crash. matt was pretty dazed and couldnt even remember how he got to the race, hope its nothing too perminant! so thats 3 our of 4 acc down in the 4th cats.

3rd cat race started off well, the A team tried a few breakes but they all got pulled in.

then the sprint started.... heres what i saw-

well about 20m from the line and i was in the top 15, then 3 bikes ahead someone went down sending sparks flying, along with his bike! matt ives was infront of me and he hit the bike and went down, but slid infront of me...thats when it went into slow motion, i had no time to break and i slammed into matts side and flew up into the air. all i could see was the ground getting a too far away for comfort! but what goes up must come down, and down i did, and a little faster than i had hoped!. but the thing is although this probably happened very fast it seamed to take forever. eventually i felt the predictable slam all down my left side. i started skidding along on my hip, elbow and leg, then felt a wheel hit my right leg which was simon on the specialzed.

as quickly as it had happened it was all over. i looked about and there were 4 people down, me, matt, simon, and the bloke who went down first. luckily today i was wearing my arm warmers, i thing that saved me alot of road burn on the rest of my arm. even so when i pulled it off there was lots of skin all inside it.

i think simon must have come out of it worse and hes gone to hospital with perhaps a broken arm.

matt was skinned alive, with ripped shorts and bad road burn all over his leg, and smashed the back of his helmet in, good job not his head!

me- deepish cut on my knee aswell as the usual road burn down my leg, my hips a bit swollen and stiff, with some bad road burn, my elbow is swollen and got road burn, and my right middle finger is a bit nakered at the end. some of the nail is gone and theres a hole in the finger tip which had a small stone stuck into it.

i count myself lucky though, as i would have expected to come off a lot worse the way i flew through the air at about 30mph! i just feel sorry for simon! hope his arm isnt broken. and im suprised i didnt break matts rib the way i hit him.

from my birds i view i think i saw adam get 5th (only joking) but i think he got 5th.

thanks all the other acc lot for helping us clean up/get up etc etc. im hoping that this bieng my 3rd bad race in a row will be the end of my unlucky streek!
cheers
stu


p.s i would be really intrested to hear other peoples take on the crash, especialy matt and simon.

and i hope carl andrew and matt are ok from the 4ths, any news of matt robins??

[-Adam-]

That just about sums up the day really. Apart from the crash in the 3rds race ACC were kicking ass big time. With 8 of us out today the force was strong! At one point Paul H, Sylv, Stu and myself all got to the front in one line and majorly stretched out the field, we rocked! All through the race whenever a break tried to go there was an ACC jersey with it, which was fantastic. I have to hand it to Sylv, whenever i looked to the front to see what was going on, it was he who seemed to be permanantly on the front controlling the breaks. Which meant the race stayed together and came down to the bunch sprint, good for me, not so great for Stu, Simon and Matt

My view of the sprint was relatively clear luckily, a guy nearly knocked me off before the sprint started. But one the sprint was on i had a clear run to the line and can't complain. Consequently i heard but did not see the crash, which was all i needed to know at the time. When i got back to the finish line after a warm up lap however it became all was not well as Stu and Matt were on their feet but bikes at the side of the road. Off more concern was a dazed Simon sitting on the track with the proverbial birds flying around his head. Not Good.

Stu seemed ok about it all, but Matt seemed quite shaken up. Im sure he's ok but he was certainly quieter than usual. I don't blame him. I always have the though of crashing hard in a race in my mind somewhere, but i just try to put it at the back of my mind and get on with it. But when its your team-mates that go down, it makes you think. I really hope Stu an Matt wake up tomorow feeling ok, if a little sore. And my thoughts are really with Simon. He went off to hospital in quite a stated, with fears that some serious damage had been done somehwere to his arm. He thought it was his elbow. Hopefully its just badly bruised and he'll be back on the bike as soon as poss. He was looking super strong at time during the race.

Being the lucky one for some reason i managed to stay upright and nabbed 5th place. Which is some consolation but not much. It is a very difficult sprint to judge there so i can't be dissapointed. But next time i would play it a bit different, but we live and learn huh.

So out of 12 ACC'ers racing today 6 came to grief in one way or another, not a great day really. But i guess thats racing.

Positives that can be taken from today, again there were mutterings about the strength of the mighty ACC. And certainly in the 3rd cats we were probably the strongest team. Nice! We even gave Dynamo a run for there money.

But once again, i hope all that hit the deck today recover quick and don't get fazed by it!

A slightly peturbed Adam signing off...

Cheers

[-Adam-]

Yeah, Simon Haylor...

So what time is Beer Circus anyway Seanie!? I'll fill you in on what more sketchy details there are then!

[Sylv]

Could anyone on the committee or other who has Matt R's contact send him a text or a call to check he's ok? He seems to have driven off, as the St John's nurse told us he refused to go to hospital. I wouldn't thought she's left him off as he did seem concussed.

[Stu Merckx Man]

matt robins

[Matthew Ives]

Wow...that was a bit surreal.

I didn't have a good feeling about this one and the race was nervy from the start.
Basically I think the field was too big with too many inexperienced bike handlers out there. Almost makes me want to take up TT-ing.

From what I hear, the place has a reputation for crashes, and I'm not suprised.

To be honest, my heart wasn't really in this one today, even though I felt good. I think I prefer a circuit where more of a selection can be made with a couple of decent hills in.

Anyhow, I got up near the front for the sprint since I thought there'd be less chance of getting in a crash at the back. Oh how foolish I can be sometimes!

From what i remember, I was sprinting and I saw a guy a couple of bikes ahead of me start to go over. He had sparks flying out of his pedals, which I remember thinking was a bit surreal. Next thing I know, he's fighting his bike and he goes down sideways and the bike goes flying off into the air the other way. Then I see his bike , sans rider, flying through the air at about chest height. This is even more surreal, I think. Then it all becomes a horrible blur as I veer left to try and avoid flying bike but don't quite make it and it wacks me and takes me down. I remember hitting the back of my helmet really hard on the tarmac and skidding along whilst various other riders took turns riding into my back and head......which was nice.

I've got road rash on both hips, both legs, both arms and shoulders one wrist and a couple of cuts to both legs and elbows together with , even more surreally, a cut behind my right ear. My helmet is split open like a melon at the back, which almost certainly saved me having to sit in a wheel chair the rest of my life eating my meals through a straw. Apart from that my hip is painful and I can't move my right leg very much but I'm sure it'll be fine in a few days.

Simon looked in a bad way after the crash and he's almost certainly broke something like a collar bone or an arm. I hope you get well soon mate. I know Aiden took him to the hospital, which was luckily just round the corner.

I'll try and get a new helmet for Palace on Tuesday

[Andrew G]

Good result Adam, but the sun really wasn't shining on the yellow and black today.

4th Cat race
As soon as it started my legs felt like lead. I had been planning on having a dig towards the end to see if any of the suffering at Palace these last two weeks has given me any extra strength, but with heavy legs my mind was made up very quickly to just sit in and hope for a bunch finish.

The race itself was a very scrappy affair, it didn't seem as though anyone wanted to race and the pace wasn't very high for most of the time. A bit of "surge and brake" which only made things even more ragged. I was keeping myself up towards the front but only the odd single rider tried a break, which was soon pulled back.

I thought Keiran would have a go a couple of laps out as he's said before he's not keen on bunch sprints. Sure enough 2 laps out and he jumped. I was a bit boxed at the time so couldn't do anything, but by the time we dropped on to the straight Keiran still had a small gap, so I sped up and shot to the front of the bunch before slowing things up by about 5mph to try and help Keiran stay away. Sadly a couple of others came past after a few hundred metres and Keiran got pulled back.

Last lap, I was near the front but on the second little hill the bloke in front dropped in to a tiny gear and I almost had to stop to steer round him. This dropped me back a bit but on to the finish straight and I started winding it up. I was about to move up a bit when someone in a pale blue jersey (Dynamo I think) swung right over easing up and caused the crash.

He made one bloke go down, who fell in to a friend of Jon's (MIG) - can't remember his name I'm afraid - He fell in to Matt Robbins and they both went down fairly hard. I think Matt broke either Jon's friend, or his bikes, fall a bit with his head which caused the slight concussion.

I was just behind, slammed on the brakes, wanted to go right but that was blocked. Knew I couldn't stop in time so had to go left and off the circuit. I almost made it to a halt but the front wheel dug in to the loose stones and threw me over the bars. I hit my knee quite hard on a stone, but thanks to the ice pack the medical lady strapped on it (which I kept on 'til I got home) it didn't swell up and looks okay. Apart from that just some scratches on my leg from the thorny sticks trackside. Jon's mate was okay after he'd washed his face. He had it scrapped by the thorny things and had blood all over his face, but after a wash it didn't look bad. Matt was very woozy, but gradually started to remember things. I think Carl took him to the hospital to get checked over as it was a head injury. Checking my computer the max was 34.5mph, so that's the speed the crash started at. (it ended at 0mph!)

Apparantly the bloke who caused our crash managed to get back in to cause the second one that brought Carl down. Carl seemed to have got away relatively unscathed, hope you're okay.

3rd Cat race
I got down to the finish line to watch the last 10 laps. As Adam has commented it looked from the sides like all our guys were well placed and riding well. And yes Sylv was up the front and looking good whenever the group came past.

The crash - It was a nasty one, and happened right in front of me as I was getting ready to try and place the ACC riders over the line.

Very untidy sprint. No lead out so a wide spread of riders were all sprinting towards the line abreast. Some riders were switching about a bit and not sticking to their line which may have caused the chain reaction.

A bloke on a silver bike suddenly went down, didn't see anyone touch him, it just looked like he'd lifted his front wheel from underneath him as he tried to sprint for the line. He fell in to a guy on a yellow bike who fell in to the Addiscombe riders (might have been his bike that hit you Matt). Not sure exactly who went down when, but the silver bike was spinning up in the air, the Addiscombe riders all ducked to try and squeeze underneath it, but sadly didn't quite make it.

Matt hit the deck hard and broke his helmet. He seemed a bit quiet and had some nasty road rash. I hope you've had yourself checked out Matt. You should see someone if you hit your head hard enough to break a helmet. May also need some new glasses and watch.

Stu was "lucky" in that he skidded along the track a bit and was also thrown clear of the flying bikes. Lots of nasty road rash, and I'm sure some very sore joints. A very concerned Mum watching but luckily he was on his feet quite quick so hopefully no serious damage.

Simon - Nasty, I think the flying silver bike hit Simon. He hit the track hard and didn't slide so a real sudden impact. Struggled to move his arm and thought his elbow might be broken as it was "cracking" when he tried to move it. Aodan took Simon to the hospital for a check over and treatment. Fortunately Simon seemed very "with it", just in pain, so no bad knock on the head.

Bikes - A few new sets of bar tape and maybe the odd new pair of hoods apart from Simon. His wheels looked knackered, the sti got a bash but may be okay. Poss damage to bars. It's a carbon frame so I'd be tempted to get it checked over professionally as it took a real whack.

I hope everyone's okay and nothing alarming swells up. I hope Matt's okay, and Simon's back as soon as he can, a real shame.

[kieran]

f**k 'in hell, what a day, I thought ACC had used up all of its bad luck in the 4th cat race, and there was me thinking I wish I wasn't a 4th cat and could ride in the safer 3rd's. I really hope everyone is ok, Brian, Jon's friend was also involved in the first 4th cat crash but seems ok, despite his bandaged knee and cuts to the face, I travelled back on the train with him. Andrew and Carl will both have bruises and have cuts and scrapes. Matt R was dazed and when I first went back to him he couldn't remember anything about the race. I hope he's ok. I didn't stay around for the 3rd cat race but I hope everyone injured is okish, especially Matt Ives and Simon who sound the worst off. It'll be a smaller ACC field at CP on Tuesday I think.


Otherwise the 4th cat race was pretty boring in that it stayed as a bunch all the way with no one realy trying to break away, on the 3rd and 2nd last lap I tried to go off the front, hoping that someone would join with me, no one did, as I was trying to avoid a mass sprint finish.

[Stu Merckx Man]

had a chance to inspect myself properly in the shower. now it appears the end of my finger is producing a pea, or perhaps a peace of sweatcorn (something of that size), my elbow appears to be about to lay half an egg, and my hip looks like its growing a melon (its about half way), other than that its all good. i think andrews right, i was pretty 'lucky' to be thrown clear, as it kept my crash 'clean' so to speak, as in i left all that tangleing of bodies and bikes and behind me. i dont think i will be able to do palace next tuesday as thats when im collecting my bike, ive sent it in for a service. but i can still ride my winter bike (though i wont race on it).

glad you came out of it ok andrew, and good to see your able to type matt!

stu

[Sylv]

Get well soon all six of you - this was a very unlucky day.

My view of the sprint/crash: with a couple laps to go I saw Paul T move upwards, he looked the business and having worked probably more than I'm able I focused on following his wheel (he must have been very fresh as it was the first I was seeing him of the race), getting a bit of shelter in the penultimate lap then moving back up the field on the way to the last series of small climbs.

I was tempted to stay back in around 15-20th, but on the final climb several riders seem to slow down, and on the super-fast downhill onto the final bend I got a better line on the inside than most, which felt great as I moved up almost to the front, but then I realised I had no-one's wheel to sit in for a bit as the string of riders alongside me wouldn't allow me in, and kept moving upwards from me. I could hear some guys behind me preparing for their final move, as I was already struggling to keep up the pace on my own. I did the whole straight with no-one to drag behind, so was struggling well before the end. Saw Adam make his move on the left, and was again trying to follow Paul T. Then the crash before him happened, and I saw him swerve left to avoid things, I managed to swerve also, can't even remember if after this I freewheeled to the line or finished the sprint.

There was another crash a few laps before, when Paul H was alongside me on my left, just a half bike behind, someone must've hit the stupid bollards, and then I couldn't see Paul anymore and was getting real worried about him. I was relieved to see him again when we hit the climbing bit.

Kevin was also close to the crash and was a bit shaken by it. Carl was up for a top ten finish until he went down in the 4ths.

Tim got in a break on the last lap and got what looked like a 7th place in the E/1/2

[Andrew G]

Paul T was indeed using all his race craft to good effect. Whenever you came past the start/finish he was safely tucked in, well out of the wind, not too near the front, but close enough to always be within spitting distance.

I think it's no bad thing for a 3rd to follow Paul's wheel for a while in a race, would probably learn a lot fairly quickly. I followed Keiran's wheel today for a couple of laps and the way he positions himself was a good lesson. Keiran's easily a 3rd in ability and craft, only still classed a 4th as nearly all his racing is at Palace.

[carl f]

don't know how the same guy managed to cause two crashes but he did.Don't even know if he went down in my crash!,all i remember is flying down the home straight hoping for my first point and then bang hitting the guy in front who went down and head
over bike into the gravel and them pesky brambles which i'm still picking out of the shoulder.slightly bruised and cut but not to bad.There were a few twitchy riders out there that made the whole bunch nervous.Drove back to Palace with Matt.R(he's ok bit concused).Bike came out of it with one scratch which i'm relieved about.Sorry to hear about the 3rds hope the guys gone to hospital are ok??would have stayed to watch but felt a bit battered,not a good day at the office me thinks

[richv]

Hope everyone gets better soon. The road rash will be painful tomorrow It's always surprising how people manage to cause crashes on what must be the widest straightest finish around

[Stu Merckx Man]

carl i think that bloke did go down. was he london dynanmo? when we went over to you, the other bloke who crashed with you was not very happy with him.

the paramedic lady was saying there were a few words exchanged in the back of the medic car between them that cant be repeated on this forum

[George]

Oh well Addiscombe can't kick ass every week I suppose

Hope everyone gets well soon and is back to fight another day.

Few am I glad I rode the CR today:shock:

See everyone at the Circus later