I agree with the idea that there are a lot of guys out there who came
over from other sports with incredible fitness but no bike handling
skills. But still, they have to move up through the ranks from cat 5 to
cat whatever and, in the process undoubtedly acquire the requisite
skills to sit in a field.
However, I don't think carbon, titanium, aluminum etc. has anything
to do with this. The big crashed occur in crits and they are not
particularly faster than they used to be. Maybe a mile an hour or so
but back in the 70's cat 1/2 crits could easily average 30mph. And, as
we keep saying, "back in the day" there were tons of crashes. In fact
it was a joke that one reason to win races when you first started was to
get out of cat 4 as quickly as possible so you could live to tell about
it.
But even in the major criteriums like Somerville and Nutley crashes
were absolutely the norm. At Somerville the crowds would always be
packed on the third turn because that was, inevitably, where the big
crashed occurred. Too many guys trying to fit into too small a space.
Today I think that more races are like Somerville was in that unlike
in the 70's and early 80's today the fields are much bigger. even a 50+
master's race might get 100 guys or more. You gotta expect that guys
will go down it is part of what they used to call the "racing game."
Very little if anything to do with the equipment being too fast for
the riders. IMHO.
Edward Albert
Chappaqua, NY, USA