Whoa... Don't expect this in a gravel race.. tragic..
Sule Kangangi of Team Amani tragically dies at 33
The Kenyan professional cyclist succumbed to injuries sustained in a crash while racing in Vermont.
www.velonews.com
From what I read, they don't seem to close it, but I thought it was just him riding off the road or hitting something immovable...
The organizer put out a condolence statement, but I don't expect he'll say anything further into and unless it's very clear that doing so won't become a liability issue. I'd be shocked if he hasn't already reached out to the previous organizer, who is a lawyer, for guidance, and was told to be very careful about public statements.Dead silence from the organizer, despite questions on the event facebook page. And elsewhere I'm sure.
I get what you are saying, but is it "fear of lawsuits" etc. or just respect for the family and fighting the urge to rubberneck? I won't pretend to know.Truly sad moment in cycling and a real time commentary on the available infrastructure around the sport. This shows that during remote races here in the U.S. you're pretty much on your own as my search for information regarding the crash has led to SkiTalk having more info that any bike info source, local or otherwise. The lack of information and "fear of lawsuits" trumping actual information that could help us to better organize future events is disheartening and a statement about the state of "sports" in our larger society....... Truly saddened by this tragedy and the information vacuum that followed.
Interesting.One more thing, I just want to add that this comes only a few weeks after Lea Davison retired from gravel racing (after only a few months) citing safety concerns. Exactly what she said would happen happened.
It's worth noting that in the article James shared, she specifically cited USAC safety measures as being reasonable. I've been out of that world for five or six years now, and I haven't been to an Overland since the first one, but the scenario in this case—a rider off the back of a chase group crashes and is seriously injured—I'm aware of very few, if any, USAC races would handle that much better. I don't want to go very far down the road of speculating about what happened or what mitigation tools would have resulted in a different outcome, but I think it's worth considering a similar scenario in a USAC race.One more thing, I just want to add that this comes only a few weeks after Lea Davison retired from gravel racing (after only a few months) citing safety concerns. Exactly what she said would happen happened.
That’s what I was alluding to in my first post on this thread. She had a long interactive exchange on her Instagram account about safety. Mostly women specific, but some general stuff as well. Personally, I’d like to see marked courses, and some signage of hazards for folks that don’t have local knowledge. E.g., washboard at speed with a sharp turn that you don’t know about can definitely get your heart rate up.One more thing, I just want to add that this comes only a few weeks after Lea Davison retired from gravel racing (after only a few months) citing safety concerns. Exactly what she said would happen happened.
Yeah, doesn’t sound like it, sounds like it is just “normal” danger of racing like that. The points she raises are in addition.I think there is merit to what Davison said. I just don't know that it would have helped in this scenario.