CRASHING

 As we had a pile-up at our last event, I thought it worth reminding everyone on the way we should be riding.  This is plagiarised from the web.

​Most crashes happen when one rider ‘hooks’ another by moving into their front wheel.  On the track, this

generally happens when a rider is moving up-track, and a rider behind can’t get out of the way in time. This isn’t the only way crashes happen – but it’s the main thing to watch out for. 

In practice, this means two things.  

• First, before you move up-track, check over your right shoulder for a rider that might get ‘hooked’. 
• Second, beware overlapping your front wheel with the rear wheel of the rider in front of you – particularly on the outside.   

It’s natural for the front rider to move uptrack at some point, and when that happens, you may go down.  If you are overlapping on the inside, it’s less of an issue in practice – they can come down on you, but usually not as far or as fast as they could if riding uptrack.
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​You will have to overlap to overtake of course, but you should be far enough out for the front rider to see you when they check behind.