For the club rider in my part of the UK whether leisurely or competatively ones safety can be reasonably assured this will not happen , but for me with one except ion. If my safety is ever in danger it will be in my home town of Gillingham due to the appalling driving and lack of consideration for cyclists. With seemly non e xsistant Police patrols nothing ever gets done to alleviate the problem.
Back to the years of little traffic , there was more chance of coming to gr ief whilst using a bike on public roads for work and domestic use than on any club run , road racing or track events. My choice was always to compete in time trials on r oad and pursuit events on the track. No way would anyone catch me riding in a mass start or track racing where bunch racing was present , being honest I did 'nt have t he nerve and would been a liability to all those taking part .One incident I remembe r was whilst riding a double harness pursuit and on the change over I overshot the banki ng went over the railings and fell on to spectator and broke his leg. My training r ides for the next few weeks was to a Brighton Hospital to visit the chap I had injured.
Maybe it would have been safer for him to have gone for paper instead of wa tching cycling!! we 'll never know !!
Doug Smith North Dorset UK. SP8 4LJ
UK
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