Of all the forms of cyclesport that exist out
there, there’s a good argument to be made for mountain biking, and particularly
mtb racing being the one that depends most on its practitioners to be able to
take calculated risks. In a mountain bike race, there are so many variables we
as riders are in control of, and which we must make decisions about. Someone’s
riding with you, do you pedal harder up the hills to try to drop them, do you
take faster but dodgier lines on the descents to shed them, or do you rely on
your sprint to dispatch them at the finish. Like Jason Bourne, we have to make
a decision based as much on impulse and instinct as racecraft, and after a few
races, we all become capable of making a split-second call on what to do.
The crucial word in what i’ve written above is
“calculated”. Mountain bikers are viewed as reckless by roadies - we crash, we
bounce, we get back up and keep riding, surely we must be overdoing it all the
time. But the truth is, if you want to race well, you have to be conservative -
if you spend all your time upside down in bushes, you’ll always be too bruised
or injured to race well. It’s all about knowing your limits and the dangers you
face, and riding within yourself most of the time.
It therefore seems particularly sad and
dispiriting that two international-level mountain bike racers have lost their
lives to road traffic incidents in the last three months. I found myself
genuinely shocked and distraught on hearing the news that Burry Stander had
been killed by a taxi in South Africa. He was a young man in his prime that i
remember as a youthful, vibrant 18-year old racing at the very front of an NPS
race in Thetford forest during an unusually warm April day in 2007. He had
since risen to become an under-23 world champion, and a multiple national champ
and world cup winner, arguably one of the very best XCO and XCM racers in the
world. You don’t get that good by taking needless risks. It seems so deeply
shocking and indescribably sad that even Burry’s incredible powers of risk
minimisation (much talked about after the collision was the fact that he was
super-careful when riding on the roads of SA) were not enough to keep him from
harm
0.00000067. It’s a number that sticks in my
head. It’s not just because i’m a mathematician by training, and a physicist by
trade that i remember this particular number so clearly. It’s the numerical
chance that, based on the cycling statistics for London, i will be killed or
seriously injured on any given day i choose to commute to work. I can strive to
reduce this number, but like Burry, there’s only so much i can do. It takes a
concerted effort by politicians, city planners, road designers, automotive
companies and above all drivers and the DVLA to make a significant dent in this
number, a number that chases all of us who use bicycles on the road for
transport or pleasure. If you haven’t already, i encourage you to sign this
excellent petition;
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/44059
I am the eternal optimist. I think we can all
get along. I don’t see why a tonne of metal, plastic and fossil fuel should put
up a barrier between human beings. i think that all it takes is a realisation
that we’re all in this together - we are all entitled to our place on the roads
of this crowded little island we call home, and with that great freedom comes
great responsibility - to look out for one another. How hard can that really
be?
